3.5 stars
I really enjoyed this and was able to binge through it in just an afternoon. I loved the concept and plot and thought it moved along quickly.

The style of writing, each chapter being written as a forum post, is definitely unique and interesting but being so withdrawn from the story left me feeling removed and not able to get sucked in and truly experience it as I had hoped to. It also left a disconnect between the characters for me. Despite this, I did enjoy the story and would recommend it to anyone who loves paranormal stories.

3.5 stars

In this short, creepy, dark story we find Parker, a young doctor who's convinced he's the right person to diagnose and cure a patient that's been in a mental hospital for thirty years. Joe was admitted at the age of six and during his long confinement has baffled his care givers and has caused them to go mad themselves to the point of suicide. What Parker finds scared the bejesus out the of me. Told as online journal entries, this very quick read had me under its spell for the majority of the book. While it was wrapped up nicely I still feel as if there was more story to tell.
All in all I enjoyed this one and If you're looking for a fast paced, atmospheric thriller/horror story to wrap yourself up in, I recommend you add this to your TBR pile soon.

The format of this book makes such a potentially disturbing story a bit more palatable. This book is perfect for the Stephen King fan, the fan of paranormal thrillers, really anyone looking for a good fright. The book and narration is very well done, to the extent that it is hard to tell whether this is fiction or non-fiction throughout the beginning. I highly recommend this, especially if you're looking for a quick fright.

Well, as a nurse, the medical thriller genre is one I absolutely love. This book has been classified as horror, thriller, suspense, mystery, etc. I would not classify this as a medical thriller even though the name says otherwise. I couldn't stop reading it but the ending fell so flat for me. I cannot talk about the ending due to the risk of spoilers but I can't recommend reading this book.

Dark and twisted. You won’t want to put it down.
Many thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I am so glad I was able to get this book! Thank you! would call it more a novella than a novel. It wasn't terribly long but it kept me reading straight through last night. Jasper Dewitt is a new author for me and I immediately went to look up more of his stuff to order for my library. I was not shocked but a little disappointed to find very few things. I did learn that this was originally published a few years ago under a longer name. (Keep just The Patient and use the entire thing to write a series. I will read every book.) There is one more book in the series from 4 years ago and I need to find it!

This was written as a series of posts to an online forum. (Now I need to go on Reddit. I hate going on Reddit.) A psychiatrist recounts his first job at a mental hospital and the mysterious patient to whom he thought he could get through, though no one had in decades. But with the arrogance of youth, he strikes out to save this poor man. Joe has been in this hospital since he was a child in the 70s. He is undiagnosed and completely sheltered from the other patients. Parker wants to know why. He wants to fix him.

The style of the writing is very internet confessional. However, it is not written in the usual who-cares-about-form kind of way a lot of recent posts are written. Parker, our doctor, is telling us about his past as if he is reliving it in the moment. He takes the reader back to the very thoughts and feelings he was having in each moment without revealing at that moment which were correct and which were horribly wrong. I was brought back to old horror. There was fear and there was tension without any of the normal gruesomeness or jump scare tactics on which so many depend. There is no real closure or sudden explanation. Just a tale of how it happened and what it meant to him.

Jasper Dewitt and Hougton Mifflin Harcourt, I want more.

Structured as a series of online message board posts, this quick read centers around a psychiatrist who took on an asylum patient everyone else had seemed to abandon--because everyone else who had worked with this patient was either dead or committed to an asylum themselves.

This book is a page turner that goes by really quickly. There's a lot of suspense, and the horror is really amped up, especially towards the end. I like that the author is playing with a more unique format with the fictional message board posts.

The message board format left me feeling somewhat disconnected, because the psychiatrist character was clearly talking to the other medical professionals online and so not to the readers. If I had been able to read at least some of the comments constantly referred to, it maybe would have made me feel more part of the story's world.

Also, the ending fell apart for me a little bit. It had some really scary moments, but it felt a little confusing, and a little cliched.

Everything about this book made more sense when I learned that it was originally written as a Creepypasta story on Reddit, which is where the format of the book then came from. Having read the original ending on the Reddit thread, I preferred that one a lot more than the one we got in the actual book.

This is not a bad read, it's an okay read. It's got some really scary parts, but doesn't hold up for me personally when I compare it to other spooky asylum books I've read in the past.

A chilling and dark supernatural horror. A young, ambitious psychiatrist finds himself employed in an asylum.Gradually Parker becomes obsessed with one mysterious patient called Joe, kept in isolation and with a limited number of staff allowed to have any interaction with him. I enjoyed this book very much.

A young cocky psychiatrist, writes about his time working at a mental hospital. While working there he seriously underestimates a dangerous patient and shit gets real and weird!

When I started reading this I had totally different expectations. I thought it was going to be more of a psychological thriller but it was more like one big long online blog post. It was told entirely from one pov but it seemed one dimensional and lacked a real story for me.

The book was engrossing and short maybe that's why I continued to read but I was less than thrilled with it and it had such a huge build up everywhere.

Thanks to Netgalley for my digital copy of the book.

The Patient by Jasper DeWitt is a super creepy book. It is fast paced and very well written. The story is part psychological thriller and part supernatural. If you like dark and creepy mysteries you will love this book. Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this book. It was quick and fast paced, written in the form of journal like entries it told the story of an incredibly demented patient and the man who tried to help him. Once I picked this one up I didn’t want to put it down I was not only incredibly interested in the mental health of the patient “Joe” but in the mental health of his doctor as well which brought an interesting dynamic to the story. I will say that the ending left me wanting more, I’ve read similar books and felt like they could have been cut down however this one I would have liked to see bulked up. Over all a solid read and one that has me more interested in this author.

3.5 Stars - Sophisticated psychological horror

This was an easy read, and impressive in its storytelling prowess for the most part, but ultimately not that scary. Despite being dense with medical terminology and psycho-analytical narrative (which may be off-putting to some), I felt familiar with this kind of language. It was also told in a unique format of archived and anonymous medical forum posts, describing a doctor's confrontation with one bizarre and frightening psychiatric case.

The story follows a young and brilliant psychiatrist who enlists into an old, dilapidated and underfunded psych ward, in the hopes of bringing medical help to those in need. His interest quickly perks over the most dangerous patient, who seemingly caused many staff members to go insane or kill themselves. The secrecy and restrictions surrounding the patient spark a determination in the young doctor to seek the truth. What he finds are beyond his imagination.

I found the characters, plot and environment rich and creepy. The suspense held for the first half of the book. I found the patient and all the descriptions pretty creepy too. However, the story seemed to drag on the same note for a while and there were moments even the behaviour/narrative seemed unlikely or forced (such as when the main protagonist Doctor is confronted with his secret plan and blurts out his whole thoughts; and also how naive his conduct with the patient seems unprofessional - I forget his name because their names are all anonymously strewn as Dr. G or Dr. A etc, so I forget).

I think the main problem was the mixture of attempting to blend the analytical with the supernatural. While our minds crave answers, to have them spelled out so elaborately just feels counter effective to the point of a mysterious and suspenseful horror. And I say attempt, because the plot lingered in limbo, of not quite having enough satisfactory supernatural mystery, and having too much realism which didn't provide answers, but only created more confusion. As such, the ending felt flat and non-rewarding. But personally, I enjoy realistic evil, so a supernatural evil may suit someone else.

Thanks to NetGalley, Jasper DeWitt and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for this free advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review!

TW: animal cruelty (haaaate), rape, child abuse

The conclusion came out of left field, with a jump to reach it as conclusion. Background characters were never developed enough for me to feel for them or for them to serve a purpose outside of buffering the narrating protagonist.

THE PATIENT puts a new face on the horrors of an insane asylum, and uses the modern blogging format to tell the tale. We all have our quirks, superstitions, and phobias so it is easy to relate to the 'this is what I witnessed' and the 'am I going crazy' statements the psychiatrist shares with his readers. At the beginning of the book, it is noted that it was originally posted in installments, under the heading "Why I Almost Quit Medicine," on a now defunct web forum (MDconfessions.com).

The patient in question has been institutionalized for more than 30 years and is given minimal contact with staff. Contact with others seems to produce unexplainable acts on the part of the contactees. What is wrong with this patient? How does our blogging doctor manage to get himself made the patient's doctor of record? All good questions, but you'll have to read the book to get the answers.

THE PATIENT is a well-written, thought provoking foray into the mental health profession and gives a glimpse of real horror. It has definitely put Jasper DeWitt on my reading radar.

Psychiatrist Parker H. had a harrowing and life-altering experience when he was a new graduate from a prestigious medical school and residency in New England. Some years later, he posts his story in segments on an online forum to share what he went through. Because of his lower-middle-class background and having seen the effects being hospitalized in a poorly funded, miserable mental institution had on his own schizophrenic mother, he decided to work at a similarly poorly funded state hospital for a time. What he dubs the Connecticut State Asylum was “both fascinating and dreary,” he writes on the post, and briefly describes a few representative cases of whom most such institutions treat.

“But every hospital has at least one inmate who’s weird even for the mental ward.” And in the case of Parker’s time at the CSA, that person is Joe, an adult who was committed as a 6-year-old and had been a resident for over 20 years. Over time, doctors attempted to treat him, and other professionals had contact with him, but each one had seemed to go mad themselves or even committed suicide. Those who absolutely must enter the room to give him medications or change his sheets have to be very careful to limit their time there and contact with him. Of course, Parker is just the type of brash, very intelligent and well-educated young doctor who is sure if, given the chance, he can cure Joe.

He manages to earn that opportunity, and over the course of some regular visits, he forms an opinion that leads to a dangerous decision. The results of that decision lead him to believe something even more sinister is at play than a complex mental illness. Despite his solid belief in science, Parker wonders if he may have to look into alternate explanations for Joe’s behavior.

The Patient is a short and entertaining thriller that does contain some horror elements. I’m not typically a horror aficionado, but this was a good dose for me. I read it in one sitting.

This was a quick and fun read, I couldn't put it down after starting it. But that was it, it wasn't memorable, and I would have liked it better without the paranormal elements.
I really liked the first part of the story, but it all went downhill for me after the twist.

Wow!!
This book was totally unexpected and I would list it with some of the best I’ve read this year, or maybe ever.

One of the things I enjoyed most about The Patient is the format- if you’re a peruser of Reddit or forums of any kind, you’ll enjoy this. I have a weird attraction to posts which I have to check back to read continuously, because they become like an anthology of sorts, and that’s exactly what the Silent Patient is like. It’s opening will have you glued from the first word. It was in fact published on Reddit first.

It’s just over 2100 pages on my Kindle, but I flew through it. I feel like I was only reading for about an hour, but losing track of time with this book is a possibility. I just couldn’t tear my eyes away.

The twists are probably somewhat what you’d expect, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is how you’ll be gripping the sides of your book (or kindle, or phone) as you reach the conclusion.

5 stars and an ecstatic recommendation!

Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the free arc in exchange for an honest review!

#The Patient #Jasper DeWitt #NetGalley

Really creepy suspenseful thriller.
Written as an on line blog by a psychiatrist about his strange experience with a patient.
Was a quick read, I read this book straight through because I had to find out what happened!
Very well written, engaging plot and creepy mysterious characters make a thrilling experience!
4 stars

"The Patient" was a fast and suspenseful read for me. It was creepy for sure. The story had me hooked from the beginning. I really liked the author's writing style as well. I had no idea where it was going but it was a fun ride overall.

The story is told as if it's posts on a blog. Each chapter is a new post. The reader follows Parker, a confident psychologist fresh out of college who thinks he can cure the incurable patient, Joe.

Joe is a forty year old man who's been there since he was six. He was originally admitted for night terrors, but the doctors soon realize it's something more than that. All the people who work or room with Joe end up mentally unstable. Some kill themselves, some end up having to be admitted into the hospital themselves. Joe knows things about other people. Things he shouldn't know about their past. He knows what scares them.

Joe thinks he can handle it. Besides, his biggest fear is not being able to help someone so the worst that can happen is he doesn't find a cure for Joe, right?

As I read this one, I had a desperate need to find out what was going on. I didn't want to put it down. Sometimes I felt it dragged out too much waiting to get me in the know. Of course, if I knew at the beginning then there'd really be no point in continuing, right? When I finished and knew what was going on, I had to sit for a minute as I took it in. Woah! It was a great book.

I give it four stars.