REVIEW: The Good Patient by Alex Stone

The Good Patient by Alex Stone

Genre: Psychological suspense

Read: 22nd March 2023

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Published: 22nd March 2023

★ 1 star

DESCRIPTION:

Appearances can be deceptive...

I was taught that life is pain. That love is pain. It was unavoidable. Acceptable. I never had anything, or anyone I could count on. Not really. Not even myself.

Until I met Dr Menon...

To the outside world Lauren Taylor’s relationship with her boyfriend Josh is perfect. He is supportive and loving and has been there for Lauren during her darkest moments. But behind closed doors, secrets and lies can be hidden…

And when Lauren wakes up in a hospital bed and is told Josh is missing, those secrets come bubbling up to the surface.

Because the police think Lauren knows exactly what’s happened to Josh; that she could even be capable of his murder…

The only person who believes in Lauren's innocence is Dr Menon, who has cared for Lauren as his patient for the last few weeks. He can't believe she's capable of murder.  He knows just how good she really is.

Isn’t she? 

MY THOUGHTS:

I think this is the third thriller I've read by Alex Stone and I have found her to be a bit hit and miss. Unfortunately, this one was a complete miss for me. I couldn't even see the point of it. It is meant to be a psychological thriller...even a domestic thriller would suffice...but it reads more like a messed up romance/love triangle. I made it through 20% of it before I wondered what the hell was going on as nothing was going anywhere. It was just a bunch of back and forth between the past and the present, and a slow build with a speed that was glacial. After 20% I want there to be some direction at least. But all I had was an unsure patient who ended up in a relationship with her treating ED doctor. Um...boundaries, people?

Lauren has had a tough life. She grew up being taught that love was pain. And now she's an adult in the casualty department with a suspected broken wrist. Staff have seen her come through their doors on a number of occasions with similar injuries, and the frequency of them noted. Dr Menon sees through her facade, the wall she has built up around herself. 

Lauren's medical history is extensive, going back to her childhood with a mother suspected of harming her suffering Munchausen by Proxy syndrome. Her boyfriend Josh has always known about Lauren's "illnesses" and when her mother died when she was 15, she moved in with Josh and his family...and they became her second family. They gave her a sense of belonging. Until Josh told her she would always be "just a guest".

Now Lauren wakes up in hospital after a head injury following a jet ski accident. And Josh is missing. The police are there to question her, believing she had something to do with his disappearance. But Lauren swears that Josh was not with her the day she took the jet ski out. So where is Josh?

Throughout the course of the investigation, and the to-ing and fro-ing of the story, Lauren and Dr Menon (Abhilash) have developed a friendship that grows closer despite the boundaries that should separate them. Not only that, Abhilash is due to return to India in a few months to marry a bride his family have chosen for him. What I don't understand is why they continue this affair or relationship or whatever it is, when they know it isn't going to last. That he is just going to leave for India and marry another woman he hasn't even met. I don't get arranged marriages but I do respect that it is part of their culture. What I really don't get is they both knew this and yet they still continued seeing each other. To me, it was pointless. In fact, that is just how I pretty sum this book up - pointless. The whole book to me just seemed pointless.

Maybe I'm in the minority but I just don't get what the author was trying to communicate with this book. What the whole point of it even was. To me, it was just a waste of a few hours I can never get back.

I would like to thank #AlexStone, #Netgalley, #BoldwoodBooks and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #TheGoodPatient in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Alex Stone, originally an accountant from the West Midlands, is now a psychological suspense writer based in Dorset. This beautiful and dramatic coastline is the inspiration and setting for her novels. She was awarded the Katie Fforde Bursary in 2019 and her debut thriller The Perfect Daughter was published by  Boldwood in October 2021 and The Other Girlfriend in July 2022.

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