A review by librarianleah
The Patient by Jasper DeWitt

2.0

Bleh. I only really finished it because it was short and I was curious to see if maybe a twist would redeem it. It was disappointing, not to mention the clearly harmful rhetoric around people with mental illness: that they can be “cured”, that they’re “insane”, that they’re “mental patients”. Dewitt’s knowledge about psychology and mental illness seems limited and therefore makes Parker seem incompetent in his position (ex: saying he learned the hard way not to challenge the delusions of a person with schizophrenia... this is common sense if you’ve studied psych and worked with people with mental illness). Comparing his work to that of Stephen King is just offensive. This is NOT horror. I didn’t find it scary in the slightest. You’re better off reading a summary of the book and moving on with your life.