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skktsh's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
There are some things that I really enjoyed in the story, and some that fell flat for me.
Advantages: the first thing I want to point out is the format it’s written it. We follow the story through the blog posts, published by the main character years after his encounter with a strange and disturbing Patient. I listened to the audiobook for this and would highly recommend everyone to do the same. This way, the story feels like an episode of a horror podcast (I, personally, kept thinking about how well it would fit into a project like “The Magnus Archives” throughout the whole read).
The plot itself is definitely griping. The book gives the reader an opportunity to make theories about what’s actually happening and what’s wrong with Joe as a human being. To be honest, I wasn’t able to guess the right answer and was slightly surprised by what transpired in the end (that being said, the plot twist doesn’t feel out of place; it makes perfect sense and I think it’s my fault for overlooking such a simple explanation).
The end is another thing that I’d like to praise the book for. It makes sure that after closing it, the reader won’t immediately erase the book from their memory. It gives food for thought, even if for a short period of time.
I also appreciated the attempt to tackle such themes as the abysmal treatment of mentally disordered people in the majority of psychic wards, the tendency to brush off the fears and worries of children by their parents (and sometimes even medical professionals), explaining them as their “active imagination” when in reality these worries may stem from very real, harmful things.
Disadvantages: I’m the type of reader who can fully enjoy the story only if it has both a good plot and memorable characters I can fall in love with. “The Patient”, for me, was severely lacking in this last aspect. The main character wasn’t written poorly, but he’s just a generic smart protagonist with a big heart. The only character I was even remotely interested in was Rose (Doctor G.), but her appearances were far and between, and she’s not the best female character I’ve ever read about.
Moreover, I believe my enjoyment of the story was greatly hindered by the use of the first-person point of view. Its usage is explained by the format of the book, however I found that it helped to create “a wall” between me and the characters.
This is more of a nit-picking, but if you’re looking for a horror book that will genuinely terrify you, then “The Patient” is not something you need to pick up at the moment. There are some disturbing images in the novel, sure, but aside from that, there is nothing particularly scary about it.
Overall, I liked the book. It’s a perfect story to listen to in the background as you’re doing household chores or going somewhere. The plot was interesting enough to keep my attention, the gore disturbing enough to make me feel somewhat unpleasant. The ending leaves you with questions (or rather, one big question) on which you can ponder for some time. A good short read if you want to read something easy and enjoyable.
jsdana's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
toree's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
winecellarlibrary's review against another edition
4.0
I just finished listing to the audiobook of this book. I thought it was really well done! I love a book that can toy with you psychologically and make you question the characters and their motives. As is typical with me and horror books/movies, I love it up until the big "reveal." This would have been a five-star read for me if it weren't for the ending. I particularly enjoyed the main character's quippy humor. I do not typically enjoy books that are written in a format that is solely letters or blog posts, but aside from the quick introductions to each chapter, I quickly forgot that the author was writing a series of blog entries. At first I was surprised by how short it was, but by the end, I felt that the book wasn't negatively impacted by its brevity. I'd definitely pick up more works by Jasper DeWitt.
phaedraismyusername's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This was a random impulse read I'd never heard of from the library that I got through in one sitting.
The writing was pretty mediocre, the framing of it being a series of Internet posts could have been interesting if they'd leant into a mixed media idea or even just played with the formatting a little, also the style of writing really drove home that this was more of a longwinded creepypasta rather than an intentional novel - it definitely reminded me a lot of There is no Antimemetics Division in terms of sentence by sentence writing quality.
There were a couple of scenes where I did feel some intended tension but they were few and far between, also the characters never felt as smart as the book kept telling me they were which I'd probably put down to a lack of research on the authors part because psychology is hard and so is writing convincing experts in very specific fields you don't have personal experience in.
But by far my biggest gripe with this book is how early and obviously the story implies what clearly happened to Joe to trigger the events in the book and yet every chapter starts with statements about how no one has managed to figure it out yet... oof it's petty but it bugged me so much lol.
I know this all probably makes it sound like I hated it, I didn't, but it just never got above 'fine' for me and truly these days I think I'm just bitchy everytime a book is a 3 star read because I'm left feeling like what was the point in that lol
The writing was pretty mediocre, the framing of it being a series of Internet posts could have been interesting if they'd leant into a mixed media idea or even just played with the formatting a little, also the style of writing really drove home that this was more of a longwinded creepypasta rather than an intentional novel - it definitely reminded me a lot of There is no Antimemetics Division in terms of sentence by sentence writing quality.
There were a couple of scenes where I did feel some intended tension but they were few and far between, also the characters never felt as smart as the book kept telling me they were which I'd probably put down to a lack of research on the authors part because psychology is hard and so is writing convincing experts in very specific fields you don't have personal experience in.
But by far my biggest gripe with this book is how early and obviously the story implies what clearly happened to Joe to trigger the events in the book and yet every chapter starts with statements about how no one has managed to figure it out yet... oof it's petty but it bugged me so much lol.
I know this all probably makes it sound like I hated it, I didn't, but it just never got above 'fine' for me and truly these days I think I'm just bitchy everytime a book is a 3 star read because I'm left feeling like what was the point in that lol
cassiejones11's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jangirl's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5