Reviews

The Patient by Jasper DeWitt

helizabethb's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

4.0

jennay's review against another edition

4.25

Gives Stephen King vibes for sure. Horror vibes. I enjoyed it all except for the mentions of animal harm...  I skipped that part.

soaree's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

2.75

corsontl's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

daniinad15's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

courtc's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

fridasunde's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

I am so disappointed. The story was see-through. Only one part of the book was slightly intriguing, and that was the visit to Joe’s family. The story had so much potential. 

delslibrary1313's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

amullally's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

4.5/5 - this is the first book with this outcome to actually spook me. I wish it was a little longer. 

mmajer's review

1.0

I was immediately intrigued by the premise of this book. Creepy mental asylum story with a seemingly incurable patient who terrifies everyone who comes into contact with him? Sign me up!

I initially liked the format of this book- via a blog, an inexperienced doctor recounts his time at a mental hospital, focusing around his dealings with a particular patient. I soon grew irritated when at the start of each new chapter/ blog entry, Parker would say things like, “Whew. All right, this one I have to write quickly, otherwise I’ll never finish it. Gonna have a killer hangover, but f*** it.” What? Why do you need to say that, it has nothing to do with the story and does absolutely nothing to further the plot. It’s one thing to respond to comments from readers, or talk about how people are responding to his blog (I had no problem with that), but just little comments like writing quickly or “I’m not going to summarize where we are,” become a repetitive nuisance. (Uhh why would you summarize what’s happened if we’ve already been reading the story?) I think that just added to my dislike for Parker.

This book could have been so much more- it was too rushed and I didn’t feel like I got to know much about Joe at all. If that was expanded on, it would have been a stronger story, and for me there would be an actual element of psychological horror. Although, this still wouldn’t have saved the ending. The only reason I pushed through was to see the resolution with Joe, and it was wildly disappointing.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing my review copy via BookishFirst.