The Patient

By Jasper DeWitt

"A clever cocktail of psychological thriller and supernatural horror." Kirkus

The Silent Patient by way of Stephen King: Parker, a young, overconfident psychiatrist new to his job at a mental asylum, miscalculates catastrophically when he undertakes curing a mysterious and profoundly dangerous patient.

In a series of online posts, Parker H., an ambitious young psychiatrist, chronicles the harrowing account of his time working at a dreary mental hospital in New England and his attempt to cure the facility's most difficult, profoundly dangerous case.

Originally admitted to the hospital as a child, the man has no known diagnosis. Every person who has attempted to treat him has been driven to madness or suicide.

Parker, brilliant and overconfident, takes it upon himself to discover what ails this mystery patient and finally cure him. But things quickly spiral out of control ...

Fans of Sarah Pinborough's Behind Her Eyes and Paul Tremblay's The Cabin at the End of the World will be riveted by Jasper DeWitt's astonishing debut.

PRAISE FOR THE PATIENT:

"A stunning debut! DeWitt's The Patient is a thrilling, compulsive page-turner that will appeal to fans of F. Paul Wilson, Sarah Pinborough, and Alex Michaelides." Brian Keene, bestselling author and World Horror Grandmaster Award winner

"'Insidious evil' is such an overused term, but there is no other way to describe what prowls the hallways of this riveting novella. A compulsive read I devoured in one day. And the ending ... it still haunts me." F. Paul Wilson, New York Times bestselling creator of the Repairman Jack series

"The Patient is a fascinating and frightening read that comes at you like the monster under your bed." Reed Farrel Coleman, New York Times bestselling author

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Australia
• Release date: Jul 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781460713075

Jasper DeWitt

JASPER DEWITT lives in New York City. This is his first novel.

Reviews for The Patient

[vanessa_menez-453497 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was creepy, chilling and I actually had goosebumps in the end!

In a series of online posts, Parker H., a young psychiatrist, records his time working at a dreary asylum in New England. Parker hopes to communicate with the world his effort to cure one bewildering patient.

This patient, Joe, who is now a forty year old, has been in the asylum since he was 6 years old. He has no known diagnosis and is determined to be incurable. Every person who has attempted to treat him has been driven to madness or suicide.

The plot was so unique and it was a quick read for me because I was so engrossed in it. But I kept thinking about it long after I finished reading, processing what I had just read.

I really wanted Parker to succeed and prove all the others wrong. I was curious to know about what actually was wrong with Joe and secretly hoped that he was alright and it was just a misdiagnosis.

The only disappointment for me was that after such an intriguing plot, I had hoped for a better ending.

That being said, I would definitely recommend this book to all thriller lovers!

Thank You to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for this ARC!!

[renee581 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I had so much fun reading this book but I am, honestly, still trying to think about and process what happened and all the weird and creepy twists and turns that took place! This was a fantastic read! This book is really interesting because of the way it’s written and told. It takes the form of blog posts or forum posts that the main character, Dr. Parker uses to recount an event or something that happened in the past, that had a pretty profound affect up on him, with a patient he was seeing years ago in a psychiatric hospital. This style reminds me of the way Dracula is written and works really very well to keep the reader interested and to keep the story flowing quickly. This is a very quick read once you get into it; trust me, you won’t want to put it down! And it’s creepy and weird so it has all the strange vibes in it. If you like weird twist and turns, this is your book!

[veronica.sparrow · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I had expected this to be a psychological suspense novel but I was wrong in that it is more of a horror story. The suspenseful lead up was well done but I felt a bit left down by the end.An almost arrogant and ambitious psychiatrist is employed at an asylum. He almost immediately becomes interested in a mysterious patient who has been deemed incurable and locked away from other patients and staff. He manages to convince his supervisors to let him try to help the patient and soon finds he is in over his head.As I said, I did like the slow build of suspense that was brilliantly done by having the psychiatrist use social media to discuss his work with the patient but I did feel let down by the time the psychiatrist visited the mother's house.

[bettytaylor56 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

For fans of Stephen King, Bentley Little, and Robert McCammon…This book starts out with a bang. But then it quickly sank into a feast of gore. (Perfect for hard-core horror genre readers). Personally, I would much have preferred less fixation on the graphic imagery. After about 20-25 pages I wanted to quit because of the imagery, but I couldn’t. I found myself diving back into the story; I was hooked! I did like reading the doctors' notes. I was curious as to what possible diagnosis Patient Joe could be given. There is absolutely no way I would have guessed where this story was going. It is creepy, scary, suspenseful, horrifying. If you can’t handle dark books, don’t come near this one. A short, quick read.Warning – There is one scene of animal abuse. I quickly jumped over that.

[darcia_10 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A remote asylum, a dangerous, isolated, mysterious patient, a new psychiatrist with a little too much ego, and supernatural possibilities are the perfect blend for this creepy gem.I loved this book. The story kept me on edge and engaged. The plot is fascinating. I didn't know what to believe, and I absolutely did not figure out how it would all turn out.This book is short and sparse, which I've seen some readers complain about. While it's a valid point, I don't agree with the complaint. For me, the sparsity is intentional. We aren't meant to deep-dive into Parker's personal life. His background isn't the point here at all. This is written as a case study, a cautionary tale of one psychiatrist's brush with madness, and it totally worked for me.*I received a review copy from the publisher, via BookishFirst.*