A thriller/ romance crossover with a bored and stressed GP falling for a handsome enigmatic stranger in her surgery. A decent read, though some of it felt a bit unnecessary, and it could have been a bit tighter.

I agree with the other reviews that refer to this as a "slow burn". Although well-written, "The Patient" could have been tighter in its plotting and would have benefited from more immediacy in the action: quite a lot of important events take place off-page or the reader learns of them indirectly, which really detracts from the tension of what could have been an engaging, interesting thriller.

Rachel is a straight laced and highly respected GP, her husband a popular teacher. Life is good apart from a rather fraught relationship with her daughter. But life is also boring, they've become stuck in a rut. So when Luc appears in her life, handsome Gallic charmer personified, the attraction is instant. The problem is he's in the middle of a mental health emergency and she's treating him. They risk everything in being together and soon their affair is exposed in the most dramatic way possible.

When you read the blurb for this you'd be forgiven for thinking it's an emotional domestic drama. But actually it's more thriller and mystery. A slow burning one which at first I wasn't 100% sure on. But as it moves from the romance to the thriller it becomes far more interesting. It proved to be a very enjoyable read with lots of good twists and turns.

The pace moves along nicely with a building menace. The characters are interesting and well-developed. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

I DNF’d this at 25% sadly. The writing did not captivate me and I didn’t particularly care about any of the characters? It just wasn’t for me.

A slow burn of a read, The Patient reveals every twist carefully to ensure you stay engrossed and entertained from cover to cover.

I thoroughly enjoyed this intelligent, well written thriller. Jane is adept at scene setting, and although the beautiful descriptions occasionally slow the pace, the novel is well structured and it's difficult not to quickly become engrossed in the lives of the characters. Great ending, too.

For me, The Patient did have all the ingredients to make up a great book but on reading there were elements missing or a bit clunkily put together. The pace was a times a little slow and then it sped up all of a sudden. Only 3 stars this time.

Loved the storyline but found the pace a bit slow. I did enjoy all the twists and turns. I am glad i stuck with as it was an enjoyable read.

*Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.*

What did I think of this book? Um … Hard to say.

I didn’t completely dislike it; I enjoyed both the plot and some of the story. My major problems were a) with the characters, and b) with the writing.

Rachel is a supposed career woman but reads as a nervous wreck over everything. Nathan is an emotionless bastard. Luc is an indeterminable cipher; are we meant to like him? He really has zero input into his own story and comes off as pretty weak. Ophelia was really the only character with any grit to her. I shouldn’t have liked her, especially towards the end, but I ended up thinking, “good for her”. Rachel’s obsession with making sure Lizzie, a GROWN UP, was safe all the time was nauseating. Lizzie herself was mixed; she went from lovely daughter to ultimate bitch in a few sentences. Victoria was a vague apparition, floating around when needed and then disappearing off again.

Brian was an obvious red herring, and Luc as the murderer was just too convenient to be true. I’d hoped it was Nathan, as that would have least made him interesting but no, it was Blake; slimy, loud and I likeable from the start. I had zero sympathy for Carol; the woman was a bitch for no reason, a caricature of the typical doctor’s receptionist.

And the writing wound me up. The continual “sweetie” and “darling” (mostly between Victoria and Rachel); extra characters that had no relevance to the plot (I’m looking at you, Colin and Helen); overly flowery language orgasming over Van Gogh and then, finally, those sentences that dragged on, a few commas thrown in and the final section out of flow with the rest of the sentence.

There were two obvious mistakes - a male character is referred to as ‘Nathan’ when it’s actually someone else, and the word ‘bought’ is used instead of ‘brought’ - but hopefully one reason for an ARC is to find these and change them?

The whole book read as the flushed fever dream of a woman approaching the menopause, overly romantic and deeply impractical in real life. The ending was potentially the most convoluted thing I’ve ever seen in my life - missing paintings, lies upon lies, sick children, flowers and fucking France again. There was far too much “woe is me” from Rachel, particularly over her relationship with her daughter, and Rachel and Nathan never said what they were thinking to each other so really, that marriage was doomed already. A nasty little rape scene didn’t help that, and annoyed me that it never got mentioned again after Rachel was really cut up about it.

I thought long and hard about my rating. I’m aware this review is fairly scathing but I didn’t *hate* the book. I did hate the formatting being all over the place but that’s what you get with an ARC so I tried not to let it bother me that much. I remember other Jane Shemilt books being better; this one was frothy and meaningless to me.

This was a gripping read, with enough twists and turns throughout to keep me guessing and racing to the end. I devoured this book in one sitting, just couldn't out it down in my desperation to get to the end!

The characters were excellent and the relationship between Rachel and her daughter was very well written - the strains of a mother/daughter relationship coupled with the guilt for being too busy when they were younger is something I can easily relate to.

Overall, this was a thrilling read and one that I highly recommend.

Many thanks to HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction and NetGalley for the review copy.

I did enjoy this with its twist and turns but did find it a bit slow placed and jumpy in places. Loved the characters and the storyline and would definitely recommend it. Its worth sticking with it though as overall its a great read.

Thank you Netgalley.

Excellent read, always go to author. This book kept me gripped throughout, looking forward to more from this author

The Patient is a captivating and tense read with plot twists you cannot predict. It's another great read from Jane Shermitt.

I thoroughly enjoyed this psychological thriller with it’s many twists and turns. The characters were well written and the concept behind the story a good one. I was immediately hooked and read most of it one sunny afternoon.

Thanks to Harper Collins and NetGalley for ARC.

Rachel is a comfortable woman in mid-life. Busy and stressful job as a GP in the beautiful city of Salisbury, grown daughter, husband she loves. But - she's been troubled by odd things while she's out running alone, or walking to her car after surgery. Her husband says she's imagining things, but she remains uneasy. Is it just perimenopause, or is someone following her?
When a temporary patient arrives late one evening, asking for emergency crisis support, she gives him all the time he needs, and finds herself unable to leave the thought of him behind after surgery. As he is revealed to be a new near-neighbour, things change very quickly in Rachel's world and she realises she's in danger. But from whom?
Full disclosure - I have been a GP, although never in such a historic location. Shemlit's assured debut is very good on the medical details and the combination of boredom and stress that such a job entails. I've never been to a 10 day medical conference in Paris, but this is fiction, let's allow it!
Shemlit builds the suspense deftly, as well as painting a good picture of a muddling-along home life that is suddenly fractured.
All of that kept me reading well after I'd worked out the plot. I look forward to reading more from this writer.

I must admit that after reading the blurb I was expecting more of a thriller but found this to be more of a domestic drama/mystery which was slightly disappointing bit that was based purely on my own preconceptions.

This one is definitely a slow burner but once the pace picks up it gets alot easier to read.

Rachel is a doctor working at a General Practice and living in Salisbury. A married mother, going through the menopause and feeling completely unfulfilled with her life. Her marriage to Nathan is falling apart and the relationship with her grown daughter Lixxie is strained at best.

At the end of a long day at the surgery in walks Luc... cue dramatic music. Luc is suffering with his ,mental health and suicidal thoughts. Rachel feels an instant connection with Luc and wants to help as best she can.

Moths later Rachel and Luc are being detained charged with murder... how did a Doctor and her patient end up in this situation? *NO SPOILERS*

Told from alternating timelines purely from Rachel's POV you'll find out just how Rachel and Luc's relationship forms.

I really enjoyed the character development within this story. Rachel and Luc are really the only likeable characters and thanks to the way Rachel is treated by her husband and daughter is makes you feel sympathy towards her and garners more likeability to her character.

Even though I felt the plot was plausible, relevant to this day and age with the basis of mental health and enjoyable enough read I couldn't help but feel that there were a host of loose ends just left dangling at the end. Personally if it's not a book series providing a cliffhanger or promise of another installment I like the books I read to be tied up tightly with a big bow at the end.

3.5*

With thanks to netgalley and Harper Collins UK for the ARC.

This was a lovely, very emotional story. A bit slow at the start but then I got fully involved.A tragedy that turns into victory and peace, Such a great conclusion.

This book was very slow for me. By the time I got 3/4 of the way through I was not caring or believing anything I was reading.

Loved it, really good fast paced thriller full of twists and turns and had me racing through it to get to the end!! Will look out for more from the author…