The Patient's Secret: A Novel

Loreth Anne White really said trust no one and then proved it on every single page of The Patient's Secret. The story opens with a mystery woman found dead on the beach. This starts a murder investigation that quickly turns into a tangled mess of past lives refusing to stay buried. Lily Bradley has the perfect setup with a dream home, a successful career as a psychotherapist, and a family that looks picture perfect from the outside. Her husband, Tom, is a abnormal psychology professor who adores her. They have a daughter, Violet, who reminds Lily so much of herself. They also have a son, Matthew. Then, Arwen Harper shows up with her son, Joe, a whole lot of questions, and suddenly Lily’s life story starts to crack. I was hooked early by the back and forth between past and present that kept me on edge. I loved how suspicious everyone felt. No one is close to being clean cut in this book. Every time I thought I had a handle on what was happening something new would slide in and make me question everything again. The children in this story are the real victims in this story. Joe absolutely broke my heart. He was drug to Story Cove by Arwen for a mysterious project she was working on. He had barely gotten his footing, and then Arwen is missing. It was so hard reading about Joe showing up to identify his mother's body and then realizing how alone he is in the world. As he grapples with being an orphan, he has to lean on people in the community to help him in the face of tragedy. His girlfriend, Violet, is Lily's daughter. Violet is struggling with finding herself at the ripe age of twelve. She has to learn some of her mother and father's secrets as the detective unravels all of the events that led to Arwen's death. Matthew is a behind the scenes character because he likes to take pictures of people when they aren't watching. He dreams of being a forensic photographer. Now let’s talk about Lily because, wow. Watching her unravel while still trying to maintain control of her life was fascinating. Her psychologist instincts are immediate and intense. The fact that both she and her husband work in psychology made everything feel so clinical. They should understand what’s happening, but they continue to fall prey to the pitfalls of the human psyche. Detective Rue has her own personal demons to face and lots of misogony in her career. Her personal life begins to creep into the case as she uncovers secret after secret. Detective Rue is relentless and leaves no stone unturned. She trusts Matthew's talents and encourages him when he helps to break the Jogger Killer case open. Her son is so sweet, and encourages her to be happy throughout the entire book. He really loves her. I whooped when Detective Rue finally told her cheating husband to get lost! I did not see most of the twists coming! I love when a thriller can still surprise me. The way the past comes crashing into the present worked so well here. You really cannot outrun what you’ve done, and this book makes that very clear. That said, the story did feel a little long in places. Some sections dragged just enough for me to notice, especially before the final reveals. Once the case starts coming together, the story moves fast and does not hold back. The Patient's Secret is messy, twisty, and full of morally questionable people making terrible decisions. This is a great pick if you love a thriller where everyone is hiding something and the truth is worse than you expect.

White is a great author. She knows how to spin a tale. I took one star off for the plot schema being done before and overdone... Starting with a murder then seeing how things play out. She is very good with character development. Read this through Kindle Unlimited, but would have paid more.

Keeps you guessing! I never expected the ending!

I'm getting really burnt out on domestic thrillers.

Delilah