As with so many books in this genre, this was a captivating 4-star read until the resolution. I was disappointed it was the father and even more disappointed by his motives but at least it was original and book didn't have a maniacal character and long-winded confessional!

While I was reading, I felt like there was too much going on. An overly accesorized outfit--take one thing off. Her adoption, for example, or the new boyfriend, but I figured they were there for a reason and the ending showed me why though I think either of those could have been deleted. It might have made the reveal even more shocking if we hadn't know Saphy was adopted, etc. The reveal of Jenny/Imogen was lost and could have been more impactful with a later reveal no hints.

I also would have liked more about the legal argument of who killed Flora -- the bad guy or the doctors or more of if Flora was dead or not. I know it was answered with the sister giving Flora meds, but it felt like a missed opportunity for something more compelling than another adoption story.

I was, however, hooked in until the last 20% or so. I will look for more titles by this author ASAP;

When Saffira receives word that a donor has been found for the heart transplant she's been waiting on, she's grateful for the opportunity to live a healthy life.... until she finds out that her donor is Flora, the young woman known to the media as Sleeping Beauty, who recently attacked and left brain dead. Initially uncertain of the situation, Saffie assures herself that the assailant is behind bars. After accepting the transplant, things begin to look up when Flora's family reaches out. They want to know the woman who received Flora's organs and they welcome Saffie into their lives with open arms...... but not everything is as it seems. Long buried secrets rise to the surface and threaten things, including Saffie's life.

It took me a little while to get into this book for some reason but once I was hooked I couldn't put it down. The characters all feel very real, the plot is interesting and unique, and the storyline moves very quickly in the back half of the book. The twists and turns the book takes were well done and the end was surprising. This was my first book by this author and I really enjoyed it! I hope there's a lot more to come!

OMG This is a lot. We lose Flora but the initial perspective is her. It just enough to get attached to her and then you mourn for a while. Was she murdered when she lost consciousness or when they took her organs? Then we switch to her sister, and the recipient.

Her heart recipient is not doing well in general, and she is a complicated character. I was worrying about her.
There are murders, a long lost biological mother, health complications, new friends and enemies, and a lot of relatable situations.

I could not stop listening. I loved it all!
The performance was perfection. It kept me hooked.

I really enjoyed this one! It was part psychological thriller, part domestic fiction and a dash of medical drama thrown in. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was great- different voices and inflections. I was hooked from the beginning and listened to it all in one day. This is my first book from this author but definitely not my last. Highly recommend!

The Patient by Teri Terry is a psychological thriller about our main character, Saphy, who undergoes a heart transplant. Following her transplant, Saphy becomes consumed by her donor, Flora, who died tragically after a brutal attack and was pronounced brain dead. Saphy also finds herself wrapped up in Flora's world after Flora's family reaches out wishing to meet her.

If you decide to read this book, I recommend not reading the entire description shared about this book. It takes quite a while for the story to pick up, and the description spoils things that don't happen until you're over halfway through the book.

My overall rating of this book is 3.5 stars. Undecided on whether I'd like to round up or down. The content was a bit triggering for me, but that isn't a fault of the book nor the author. However, I do feel it's worth noting that the Patient does heavily focus on the ethical and emotional impact of organ donation for at least the first 30% of the book. Also there are tons of mentions of COVID-19 which still hits a little too close to home for comfort.

At first, this book does not give thriller vibes. Then, towards the end of the book, the story takes a turn and it's a crazy ride. I wish the thriller elements were sprinkled in sooner, and there was more anticipation throughout. Because the book waited so long to reach its stride, it felt rushed during what I thought was the best part of the book.

The twists did surprise me! I love a great twist. I couldn't put this book down from about 75% onward, and I really needed to know what happened. The end had some things I liked and some things I didn't. Overall, the ending made the Patient worth the read and I enjoyed myself.

I also got to read this book by audio. The narrator, Sarah Durham, did a great job. It was easy to follow and well read. I do recommend the audio book for an immersive experience.

Thank you, Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for an audio-ARC of this upcoming new release in exchange for my honest review.

It has been a long time since I have read a medical thriller. Teri Terry nailed it with this one. The Patient starts slow, bouncing back and forth between character perspectives. This made it a little hard to get into, but man, am I glad I kept going. The second half of the book is full of page turning twists and turns. As someone who has read hundreds of thrillers, I appreciated that this was a story line I don't know if I have ever read. I will be recommending The Patient to other readers, especially if they like the blend of family drama and thrill!

*4.25 stars

This is described as a psychological thriller, usually my favourite genre. I found this very slow going until the last quarter. The main character was nothing special, and this isn't really a book that I would recommend. Listened to it on Audiobook and the narrator was very good.
Thank you to Net Galley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

Teri Terry's THE PATIENT is a twisty, character-driven, highly entertaining psychological thriller about a heart transplant. When a recipient becomes entangled with the donor's family, nothing is as it appears when dangers are lurking below the surface.

COVER: Firstly, the cover was striking, and I was hooked immediately.

AUDIO: Secondly, I highly recommend the audiobook, narrated by a favorite, Sarah Durham. I have enjoyed her narrations in other books, such as Daniel Hurst and Rona Halsall and others. Her performance was stellar, giving this a 5-star rating! She made the characters come alive!

AUTHOR: Last but not least, this is my first book by the author, Teri Terry, and I was highly impressed. I enjoyed her writing style and look forward to reading more by this author!

Set in London, it is A mix of medical, crime thriller, psychological suspense, mystery, and family drama with unreliable narrators and a killer twist. WHODUNIT!

Saphy has a heart problem that COVID-19 made worse. She is on a waiting list for a heart transplant. Her father passed away recently from COVID, and her mom passed away when she was a little girl. She was adopted.

Zoe is her best friend, and Saphy knows she will die without a transplant. She is unsure even if they call her that a heart is available; she does not know if she wants to go through it because there are many dangers, including infections and the risk of rejection. She is uncertain.

Someone has to die first.
She gets the call.
She is a match.

Fern, a doctor, is Flora's older sister. Flora is gone. She is the donor. She was the beautiful sister, wild and impulsive but possibly troubled. Benji, her boyfriend, was arrested and charged with her murder. She was drugged, tied down, and strangled in a specific way with carotid artery compression for long enough to deprive her brain of oxygen and cause brain damage. The girl from the society pages was in a coma.

However, Benji pleads innocent. If not him, who?

Saphy is the recipient of the heart transplant and becomes obsessed with knowing more about her donor when she discovers that her donor is the sleeping beauty everyone talked about.

Then, the family invites her to their beautiful home and into their lives. She even agrees to a news story about donors after much negative publicity about donors and recipients. This puts her in more danger.

Then, people who are recipients are attacked. Something sinister is going on. Now, Saphy may be in danger. She meets Jack, who may not be who he seems. There are lots of suspects.

Also, Fern's mom seems to be taken with Saphy, but Fern is unsure about her intentions. She begins dressing like her and thinking like her. Their lifestyle wows her since she has no family now.

However, things are not as they seem. Told from the POVs of Fern and Saphy, we also go back to find out about Saphy's birth mother and how she came to be adopted. Then, there is another mystery surrounding her birth.

The last half of the book speeds up with non-stop action and suspense as the tensions are high trying to figure out who murdered Flora and if the same person is killing the organ recipients. Then Saphy goes missing.

A multi-layered suspense mystery that will keep you turning the pages and glued to your AirPods. Smartly written, THE PATIENT is a wild ride, scary and frightening. One of moral dilemmas. How far will the murderer go to cover up his secrets of the past?

I had the privilege of reading the e-book and listening to the audiobook, which I enjoyed. For fans of Daniel Hurst, Freida McFadden, KL Slater, Miranda Rijks and Leslie Wolfe.

Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for introducing this new author to me and a gifted ARC and ALC for an honest review.

Blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: Feb 13, 2024
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Saffy has spent her life with a weak heart, waiting years for a potential donor match. When Flora is taken off, life-support after a coma, Saffy receives her heart

The book alternates between Saffy‘s point of view, and Flora‘s sister Fern’s POV. Overtime the women become close, and an important part of each other’s live

The first half of the book focuses on the ethics of switching off life-support and harvesting the organs for transplant. Eventually, the focus falls on the mystery of Flora’s murder

Although I found the book an easy read, I struggled to feel a strong connection with any of the characters. Considering everything revolved around Flora - her murder, her organs, recipients - the fact that we never got flashbacks felt like a missed opportunity, and something that I craved

In the second half of the book, there was a lot of fast paced discoveries, twists and turns which I enjoyed, but wished it could have been more consistent throughout

I thought the big reveal, although not completely shocking was great! It was fast paced, dramatic and got pretty twisty. If the pace and focus had been more consistent, I’d have been more chipper

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture Audio for access to this audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review

Completely and utterly brilliant!

The prologue sent chills down my spine and that was me, hooked!

When Saphy gets the call that there may be a match for the donor heart she has been waiting for, she becomes obsessed with Flora, her donor who was murdered.

The character development was really effective and as I was drawn deeper into the lives of Saphy, Flora’s sister, Fern and their families. I couldn’t stop reading, knowing something huge was coming.

Once the twists started to drop, they came in thick and fast, shocking and captivating me right up until the very end.

A compelling read. Sarah Durham is one of my favourite narrators and she did another great job with this book.

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Teri Terry and Bookouture, for an ARC in return for an honest review.

The Patient has all the ingredients for a great thriller - a murder victim, a transplant recipient or two, and a rich family. What else would you need, right?

Saphie is the recipient of a heart transplant that turns out to be from a murder victim (Flora), and the crime has yet to be solved. Two others also received organs. Floras family has reached out to all of them, and soon they are dying.

Let me just state that this could have been wrapped up with just the last 25% of the book. It was so slow and there was so much character building that after a while it just felt like it was repeating itself.
I will say that by sticking it out (because there were several times I almost DNF), I finally learned why it was a thriller! Otherwise I would just call this a sloooow burn fiction.

The narrator was amazing though, but the lapse between chapters could be shorter.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for this arc in return for my honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pub date: 13 Feb 2024

A solid 3 and a half star book that, because of the limitations of Goodreads star system, I am forced to make a choice. Tie goes to the runner, so I'm rounding up to a 4.

The Patient is a slooooooow burn. I mean, really slow. That's not a bad thing, because the story kept me listening, but as it appears on Netgalley, this audio book is listed as General Fiction AND Mystery & Thriller. I would consider it fiction, and potentially teeny tiny thriller.

Main character, Saphy (sorry if mispelled - I listened to the book and no where can I find how the author spelled her name), receives a heart transplant from a somewhat famous young woman named Flora. Several others received organs, her family had generosity/dependence overload and quickly made sure to meet all the recipients, strange things begin to happen. Did I mention Flora was murdered, hence the availability of her parts?

This was one of those books where I absolutely knew the plot and ending, and I absolutely guessed wrong. Love those.

Audio narrator Sarah Durham did a fine job voicing the characters and keeping this listener engaged. My one request is to the production team - tighten up the time between chapters. I cannot tell you the number of times the pause was so great I checked my device to see if it had stopped playing.

Premise - after Flora is murdered, her organs live on in the bodies of her donor recipients. It seems like a positive turn to a tragic story, but soon it becomes clear that whoever was after Flora won’t be happy until all of her is dead. Now her organ recipients are all in mortal danger…

This was a very fun slow-burn thriller! It takes a while to get thrilling, but the characters and their world (set in London) are interesting enough that I was happy getting to know them first. I would definitely read more from this author!

📚 Series or Standalone: standalone
📚 Genre: mystery thriller
📚 Target Age Group: adult
📚 Cliffhanger: no

✨ Will I Reread: maybe
✨ Recommended For: fans of domestic thrillers a la Frieda McFadden, Daniel Hurst

💕 Characters: 5/5
💕 Writing: 5/5
💕 Plot: 4/5
💕 Pacing: 4/5
💕 Unputdownability: 5/5
💕 Enjoyment: 5/5
💕 Book Cover: 5/5

Thanks, NetGalley and Bookouture, for the gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review.