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., a young psychiatrist, chronicles the harrowing account of his time working at a dreary mental hospital in New England. Through this … in New England. Through this internet message board, Parker hopes to communicate with the world his effort to cure one bewildering patient.
We learn, as Parker did on his first day at the hospital, of the facility’s most difficult, profoundly dangerous case–a forty-year-old man who was originally admitted to the hospital at age six. This patient has no known diagnosis. His symptoms seem to evolve over time. Every person who has attempted to treat him has been driven to madness or suicide.
Desperate and fearful, the hospital’s directors keep him strictly confined and allow minimal contact with staff for their own safety, convinced that releasing him would unleash catastrophe on the outside world. Parker, brilliant and overconfident, takes it upon himself to discover what ails this mystery patient and finally cure him. But from his first encounter with the mystery patient, things spiral out of control, and, facing a possibility beyond his wildest imaginings, Parker is forced to question everything he thought he knew.
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.
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“The Patient” by Jasper DeWitt walks the thin line between therapist and patient. In a first person narrative, the writer, a therapist, talks directly to the reader sharing thoughts and fears. The writer is not sure if he privy to a terrible secret or if he himself is actually insane. Readers are introduced to Joe, the patient whom the narrator is treating. Joe has no criminal record with the police, and he is nonviolent, and his parents are obviously wealthy enough to pay for this intense treatment, but yet…
The story continues as clinical descriptions of the treatment of Joe. The narrator describes the manipulation, anger, nightmares, and monsters he observes. He is well trained in the treatment of what he diagnoses as dissociative identity disorder, but he also wonders if he will be able to produce positive results.
DeWitt created a narrative that quickly erases the line between treatment and power, between cerebral illusions and stark reality. Readers watch as personalities crumble and monsters envelop everyone. I received a review copy of “The Patient” from Jasper DeWitt and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishers. It is a terrifying tale of predator and prey, of haunted nightmares and disturbing realities.
You can start this book anytime you want, but do not finish it alone, at night, just at bedtime.
I struggled with the rating for this one. Liked the spooky story, but not the animal abuse.
This was a Goodreads Giveaway win. I love winning books! Thank you to Goodreads and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. I received this book for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
If you’re looking for a creepy Halloween read, this one fits the bill. But beware there is a scene of animal cruelty.
As usual, I went into this blindly, not reading the synopsis. So I wasn’t expecting this to be more horror/supernatural. That’s not what I was prepared for, but it’s October and the perfect time.
Dr. H is telling his story by posting online, in a forum. He’s a psychiatrist working for a dilapidated psychiatric hospital and becomes fixated on treating a patient in the facility, like several providers before him. The patient, called Joe, has been a patient since he was a young child and has been proclaimed incurable. He is allowed little contact, and there are numerous stories about strange behavior plaguing anyone who has contact with him. Joe is creepy and you wouldn’t have to ask me twice to stay away from him!
This is a quick, spooky read that’s perfect for October.
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I have to admit that I was skeptical at the time that I downloaded the book as it seemed like it could just be derivative of Alex Michaelades’ The Silent Patient. I needn’t have worried, though, as this was an original take on the set up of the psychiatrist trying to fix the mental patient that others have given up on. Genuinely spooky at times, and thoroughly enjoyable, especially the first two thirds of the book. Wonderful prose, and I finished it in two sittings.
When I saw this advertised as a cross between The Silent Patient and Stephen King, I was immediately interested. While it does deal with a patient in a psychiatric hospital and the doctor intent on curing that patient, it skews way more to the Stephen King side. It’s more of a horror story than a thriller. I enjoyed it and it’s a really quick read at just over 200 pages. I tend to get scared easily but this was manageable for me. However, as a mom, some of the things regarding children in this story made me sad and uncomfortable. The book hooks you from the very first page, setting up the premise that this story was posted on an online thread entitled “Why I Almost Quit Medicine”. I was completely engrossed in this story from start to finish. The ending left me feeling really unsettled and I was thinking about this book hours after I finished it. I would highly recommend The Patient for horror/thriller fans.
The Patient
Jasper DeWitt
An amazing debut that scared the bejeezus out of me. I was trying to read this and needed to put it down because I was so scared, but picked it right back up to finish because I just couldn’t help myself it was amazing and so so good. It was really terrifying to read about a very dangerous patient Joe who had been in the mental asylum since 6 yo and no one can ever cure him, and anyone that tries either has a mental breakdown or commits suicide. Enter young and overly confident psychiatrist who needed to prove to himself after a failure at treating his own mother. The story is told through Parker’s entries in the internet message board as he recounts his time at the asylum and working with Joe.
Creatively told story that is horrifying, scary and utmost creepy chilling fast paced novel – could not sleep for two days, but so amazing and worth the read. Check this one out.
Thought this was a very good book. Really enjoyed the supernatural twist. Hard to put down.
Such a strange book, but I was impressed with Jasper DeWitt’s creative way of telling this story. The story is told as if our young psychiatrist is writing a blog. I forgot it was a blog, however, when he started quoting the other characters in the book. Parker H. finds a long-time patient of the mental hospital he just started working at, and he becomes more and more intrigued with this patient known as Joe. Finally, he convinces himself he can cure this patient, only to find the true horror called Joe. I felt like the book wasn’t really finished, and I was left with many questions. It was a quick, intense read.
Meet you on the dark side.
I am an avid fan of Stephen King. I’ve read his books and they scare me. This book scares you too; however, to the bone. Lol. Imagine Stephen King’s ”IT” times a thousand. This book takes it to the next level. Superbly written in first-person narrative as a physiatrists report on a patient in a mental institute who’s doctors have committed suicide, or have gone insane. It feels intimate and almost as if the reader is snooping through private reports. I love the intimacy of the book. I really felt I was inside Dr. Parker H’s head. I would have loved to be in the patients head as well but maybe not. Lol. I devoured this book in two days, dying to find out what was going to happen next. Now, I have trouble sleeping and I keep looking at the wall behind my bed distrustfully. Lol. I obtained this book from my local library b/c I wasn’t able to get it at my regular ARC’s Outlets. (They rejected my request lol). So i wanted to share it with you anyway. This book is disturbing. Physcologyically disturbing not graphic or gory. So read this at your own risk. I am so glad I eventually got to read it and I am now a fan of Jasper Dewitt. I look forward to reading more by this new author in the future.
This reads more along the lines of a thriller, than horror to me. There is a creep factor involved.
It’s written like a secretive manuscript, and little by little the story unfolds. It begins with a new hire, Dr. Parker H, who as a young boy experienced his mother being institutionalized and vowed from that point on that he was going to help people. Parker begins his career as a new hire at a psychiatric hospital in Connecticut. It is here that he learns of a patient only referred to as Joe. Parker becomes obsessed that he is the one that can cure the incurable patient.
Joe, was first brought to the hospital at age 6, after a solution was found, Joe parents took him home, only to return to the hospital a few days later worse than what he had been before initially. Now an adult, Joe has been locked in a room with very little interaction; that is until Dr. Parker H is hired.
Does Parker have what it takes to be Joe’s doctor?
There is a lot of suspense packed in this short story, that was an enjoyable read!
I won this in a Goodreads giveaway, and I have voluntarily reviewed this book.
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.
I initially read a Bookish First Impressions excerpt of this book and was hooked. While waiting for raffle to end I found it on NetGalley where I was granted an ARC!
When narcissism rules over logic you can expect a thriller ride!
On March 13, 2008, Dr Parker writes a journal post filled with vagueness and pseudonyms as he cautiously shares “secrets” he has discovered as a psychiatrist. He goes back to his early days of training at prestigious schools yet choosing to work at an underfunded “Connecticut State Asylum”. Trouble lies ahead when this novice, well educated physician decides he can help the most notorious violent patient in the history of the institution.
Dr Parker’s mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he a child which prompted him to become a psychiatrist. His ego and desire to be a trail blazer sets him on the path of danger. He learns of a “resident “ who has been at the facility since he was admitted at age 6 in 1973 initially with night terrors. Dr Parker learns from Nessie the nurse director that the patient has been isolated due to his tendency towards violence. He is further warned by almost every staff member to stay clear of “Joe” as working with him has caused many staff to either commit suicide or end up in a facility themselves.
Undeterred by such stories, Dr Parker believes that there must be a logic solution. He begins to secretly, or so he thought, investigate the story of Joe. He spends much of his time researching the scant history in Joe’s medical records. He goes so far as to obtain audio recordings of therapy sessions. The history describes an extremely volatile person with whom traumatic events occur in his presence. His violent, aggressive abuse towards his roommates lead to his isolation for the safety of others. Joe seems to know which “buttons” to push in order to further traumatize others around him.
Eventually, he is approached my the medical director who grants him permission to see the patient. Dr Parker’s initial sessions with Joe seem to be going well so he is allowed to continue to treat him. So, of course, Dr Parker’s sense of self importance doesn’t allow him to recognize that Joe’s cooperation with him is just a manipulative ploy. This leads to disaster and danger for everyone.
Admittedly, I don’t think I was aware that in some book listing the “genre” includes supernatural. It was advertised mostly as a horror psychological thriller. While the story was unnerving in the typical thriller fashion, I was lost at the end. It didn’t seem like the story was brought to a tidy conclusion incorporating all aspects I was expecting. There were a lot of unanswered questions and not in the thoughtful, reflective manner. They more more like the missing pieces of this puzzle. Joe has a fiancé Jocelyn who is mentioned occasionally with not much character development. Also, we are also left to wonder about Joe’s sister who was briefly mentioned as well as a father who died. For me the ending felt unsatisfying and empty after a great start which pulled me in immediately.
OMG WOW! I have heard so much chatter about this one and it certainly didn’t disappoint! In less than 200 pages, this debut author has written the most terrifying book using someone’s Reddit posts.
It is a true account of Parker H.’s experiences as a psychiatrist while working with a particular patient named Joe at a mental institution. Joe is a forty-year-old man who was originally admitted to the hospital at the age of six. Joe has no known diagnosis. Every person who has attempted to treat him has been driven to madness or suicide.
Parker takes an obsessive interest in Joe, thinking he is the one to save Joe! The Patient is a perfect, creepy book to read with the lights on! I highly recommend it!
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.
The Patient is written in the form of a series of blog posts by an overconfident, bright young psychiatrist called Parker H. He takes his first job at a state mental hospital in New England and really wants to make a difference.
He is assigned a mysterious, dangerous, uncategorizable mental patient called Joe who has lived in the hospital for decades, since he was a young boy. Doctors, nurses or other staff who interact with or treat this patient often go insane or commit suicide. I will not reveal the twists and turns or the end, which I did not guess. It is fast moving, relatively short and I consider it to be both horror and a psychological thriller. It was well-written, creepy, and dark. The blog post format made it even more terrifying. Keep the lights on while reading this one. Recommended for fans of Stephen King.
4 stars Fast Paced! Riveting!
The Patient is the perfect summer read! Think Stephen King! I thoroughly enjoyed Joseph DeWitt’s debut novel. At first, I had a little trouble getting used to Parker, a new psychiatrist, posting on an online forum; however, I got used to this format quickly. It added to the excitement of reading this book.
Parker takes his first job at the Connecticut State Asylum that is housed in a gothic looking building in decay. He is out to make a name for himself! Parker takes on a patient named Joe who came to the asylum when he was six with night terrors. It is now thirty years later and Joe is still there, The mother in me was very sympathetic to Joe at first. How could a six-year-old be in such horrible shape to be there years later? You need to know that something has happened to all of the medical people who tried to help him. This is a quick read and I will be thinking about it for awhile.
My thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was a good, quick read. It was written as if it were social media posts. If I had known that before I read it, in all fairness I probably would have rated it a little higher. Regardless it is entertaining and keeps you turning pages so I would recommend it with the caveat about it being written in social media posts.
*NetGalley Review*
I was excited to read this book due to the hype I’ve seen on social media. The story started off strong and held my attention, but slowly it took a turn for the unbelievable. There is a supernatural element to this story and honestly I felt it ruined the storyline. I do like books with supernatural elements, but I went into this book thinking it was going to be a medical thriller and that’s NOT what this book was and caused me to be disappointed. I did listen to this book on audio which is why I kept going as it’s only four hours.
Don’t all crazy people think they’re the rational ones?
Overall, this story is an interesting metaphor for mental illness and how it can feel like the monster in our lives. I also think it’s like how helpless people we love or who love us feel when they see us hurting or feeling the pain of mental illness. As a horror story, I didn’t feel more than chilled. I think that this author does a great job building up to the reveals. I also think that the message board post format is unique and kept me reading. I will say that I guessed pretty early on what was likely going on, considering the genre. THAT being said, it was still an entertaining read and made me think about mental illness from a unique light.
The book is written as if Dr. Parker is writing his memoir in an online blog. I might be the minority here, but I did not particularly care for this style, it didn’t add anything to the story itself. I usually found myself trying to read past those parts to get back to the story. Don’t get me wrong, the book was well written, I just didn’t like him talking “to the reader.” Speaking of the story, there were some parts that I was flying through because it was so good and really sucked me in, but then there were other times I was zoning out.
This book seems like your typical psychological thriller with your young, overconfident psychiatrist brand new to the mental asylum who wants to take on the most difficult mental health patient the facility has to offer, but at the end, it turned into something out of a horror movie, which honestly is the reason it lost stars from me. It definitely caught me off guard and could have been very creepy but the ending wasn’t as developed as the rest of the book was, it was too fantastical for me given the plot of the story.
Joe’s character was very well developed. The author went into great detail really letting you understand Joe, why he’s been trapped in the mental asylum for 30+ years and why he’s a danger to the outside world. Parker was also developed really well, and the author does a great job helping the reader understand why Dr. Parker wanted to become a psychiatrist. I do wish there were more interactions with Joe and Dr. Parker though. They had a couple of very good sessions, but a lot of it was backstory on Joe and the research gathered from the other doctors who tried treating him. It was missing the real deep connection and interactions of the book’s two main characters. Overall, it did hook me, but with the surprise ending and the lack of a true, deep connection beyond their short time together, it gets a solid 3.5!
First off, I read and really enjoyed The Silent Patient and the ONLY similarity between these two books is a mysterious patient in a pysch ward that a doctor tries to cure…end of similarities, period. My rec is to not pick this book up if you think it will be similar to The Silent Patient.
Now, the Stephen King comparison seems much more applicable and while this story was short and entertaining and kept my interest it just wasn’t what I expected at all, mostly because it bordered on horror which is not something I typically read.
I liked the journal entry style story telling but yet also didn’t like it. The narrator seemed to try and impress his audience with his big vocabulary and I would have preferred less poetic comparisons and more facts please (the narrator is a medical practitioner after all!) I had an inkling all a long of what was really wrong with Joe and while I wasn’t exactly right I wasn’t too far off and therefore not surprised by the outcome. Like I said, I enjoyed the narration style and way the style progressed more than the story itself.