The Patient by Jasper Dewitt

Star rating: 4/5

Jasper Dewitt's debut novel is a gripping horror story about an undiagnosable, incurable patient in an asylum. 

Summary:

Parker is a psychiatrist who has just begun working at an asylum. He quickly becomes curious about a mysterious patient there, Joe, who has been there for decades since he was a small child. Joe's file has clearly been tampered with, as there is a lot of information missing, but from what Parker can gather, Joe shows antisocial and sociopathic traits, seeming to drive anyone who works with him longterm insane. 

Parker is determined to prove that he can be the doctor to cure this patient who has long ago been deemed incurable. But Parker cannot even begin to imagine what he is getting himself into when he takes Joe on as his patient. 

Review:

*shudders* Creepy, chilling, haunting, enthralling, un-put-down-able. I finished this book in about twelve hours (partly because it is honestly a quick read, mostly because I just couldn't stop reading!) This is overall a very well-told and unique horror tale. There are a few reasons I felt I couldn't rate it higher: 

1) As a mental health professional,  I can say that the asylum aspects of this book and the way the doctors were treating this patient were pretty unrealistic. I would have been more sucked in if there were more of a sense of realism. 

2) The ending felt VERY rushed and unsatisfying.

Overall, this is a great scary story. I recommend this book for fans of Riley Sager, Stephen King, and Shirley Jackson.