Title: The Therapist
Author: B.A. Paris
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia
Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Fiction
Year of release: 2021
Release Date: 6th January 2021
Rating 
Synopsis
When Alice and Leo move into a newly renovated house in The Circle, a gated community of exclusive houses, it is everything they’ve dreamed of. But appearances can be deceptive…
As Alice is getting to know her neighbours, she discovers a devastating, grisly secret about her new home, and begins to feel a strong connection with Nina, the therapist who lived there before.
Alice becomes obsessed with trying to piece together what happened two years before. But no one wants to talk about it. Her neighbours are keeping secrets and things are not as perfect as they seem…
Review
Alice and Leo have recently moved into The Circle, a gated community their house is newly renovated and everything they could want; their dreams are coming true, what could go wrong? Shortly after arriving Alice sets about getting to know her neighbors, it’s during this time Alice discovers a disturbing secret, about the place she now calls home, a secret that not only affects her but those closest to her in the gated community.
Alice becomes consumed with Nina a Therapist, Alice is determined to piece this mystery together once and for all, to restore some normality back into her life, perhaps even the lives of the other residents in The Circle. The only trouble is the neighbors don’t seem to want to talk about the former therapist who called Number 6 her home, Alice cannot understand why that would be? The more Alice uncovers the more she comes to realise life is far from perfect in The Circle as they once seemed.
Alice must ask herself is getting answers about Nina the therapist worth it? Or is it better for everyone to leave the past in the past?
I was immediately drawn to The Therapist, the idea of a house holding a secret in between its four walls especially when those four walls are tucked away in a gated community. After the first few pages, I was pleased my curiosity to read the book was rewarded. The fast-paced plot throughout was a welcome change to some books I had read previously this year, I found myself soaring through the chapters, the reader doesn’t have to wait around long for a new lead to keep the book in motion.
This novel will make it onto my top reads in the Crime, Mystery, Thriller genre and one I still think about it months later, it’s one of the reason’s it earned a five-star rating from me; the other reason being the plot was interesting even slightly predictable but that didn’t tarnish this read for me.
Let’s talk about the characters used to tell this story; I was for the most part disappointed as I had high hopes, I believe Alice could’ve made for a great protagonist, I needed a little more personality to make her feel like a whole character, a character I cared about more, she just felt underdeveloped personality-wise, this reader felt at different times she was just in the story rather than at it’s the helm. I might have felt more connected to her had her back story played more of a role within the plot. Leo does little to nothing to add to this read for me even as a minor character.
“Do you know what Henry David Thoreau believed? “Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you. But if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.”
― B.A. Paris, The Therapist
Author B.A. Paris has done a great job in setting the scene and turning the suspense dial to high, her skilled writing allows me to picture The Circle and its homes in full colour as I am a reader who likes detail and this novel delivers.
For all the flaws with character development, I will say by the time I reached the conflict chapters I just had to know how this was going to reach a satisfying conclusion and not have this reader fill in any gaps.
I recommend this book to mature readers of the Crime, Mystery, Domestic Thriller genre, if you’re looking for a quick read in this genre or experiencing a reading slump, then The Therapist is for you.