Title: The Patient by Jasper DeWitt
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Genre: Contemporary, Suspense, Horror, Supernatural Elements
Length: 224 pages
Book Rating: B
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley
Summary:
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 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.
Review:
The Patient by Jasper DeWitt is a chilling debut.
In 2008, psychiatrist Parker H. is compelled to blog about his experiences with a patient at the Connecticut State Asylum (CSA). Joe has been at the CSA since the early 70s when his parents brought him for treatment for his night terrors. Not only was no one able to help Joe, but he is also deemed to be a danger to the staff and other patients. Newly hired, Parker H. is intrigued by Joe and convinces his bosses to allow him to treat him. Despite their numerous warnings and Joe’s history, will Parker end up like many of his predecessors?
Written in blog format, Parker H. describes what happens with Joe after he begins treating him. He is ill-prepared and over confident and his reaction to his new patient reflects this. Joe is seemingly affable and co-operative so Parker becomes even reckless over the few days of their encounters. Is it possible this fresh from school psychiatrist can diagnose Joe when seasoned doctors cannot? And will anyone believe him when he discovers what is wrong with Joe?
The Patient is a fast-paced novel with supernatural elements. Parker is a well-developed character but secondary characters are not very well fleshed out. The storyline is quite creative and intriguing. With spine-tingling twists, Jasper DeWitt brings this suspenseful novel that an unexpected conclusion. A clever debut that I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend.
