A review by michellekiara
The Patient by Jasper DeWitt

3.75

I love how this book is formatted like a series of posts under r/nosleep, complete with Reddit-specific lingo like “I can’t believe the mods stickied my post!” I have been searching for a book that reads like an r/nosleep post, and this one absolutely scratched that itch.

The premise feels like creepypasta, in the best way possible. A young psychiatrist takes a job at a mental hospital and becomes obsessed with the case of a patient who has been institutionalized since childhood. No doctor has lasted more than a few days treating him, and no one can explain why.

For the first 75%, I was completely hooked. The tension kept building, and I could not put it down. But the last quarter of the book fell flat. The setup was so strong that I expected more from the payoff. The premise had so much potential, and I wish they had taken it further.