The Patient
A Novel
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
A shocking and twisty novel of psychological suspense about a boundary-breaking love affair between a doctor and her patient, by Jane Shemilt, Edgar-nominated, #1 international bestselling author of The Daughter.
What price would you pay for falling in love?
Rachel is a respected doctor who lives in a picturesque and affluent English village where her husband Nathan teaches at an elite private school. Competent, unflappable, and nearing 50, Rachel has everything in her life firmly in her control, even if some of its early luster has worn off. But one day a new patient arrives at her practice for emergency treatment. Luc is a French painter married to a wealthy American woman who’s just bought and restored a historic home on the edge of Rachel’s posh neighborhood. The couple has only recently arrived, but Luc is struggling with a mental disorder, and so he goes to the nearest clinic…to Rachel.
Their attraction is instant, and as Rachel’s sense of ethics wars with newly awakened passion, the affair blinds her to everything else happening around her. A longtime patient appears to be following her every movement, turning up unexpectedly wherever she goes. Her somewhat estranged adult daughter Lizzie is hiding a secret—or at least, hiding it from Rachel. Nathan has grown sour and cold as well—or is that merely Rachel’s guilty conscience weighing on her? But when one of her colleagues winds up murdered and Luc is arrested for the crime, everything Rachel didn’t know about her life explodes into the open—along with her affair with her patient—a disgrace and scandal that will have consequences no one could have predicted.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in the "privileged little town" of Salisbury, England, this intriguing if flawed psychological thriller from Shemilt (The Daughter) opens with Rachel Goodchild, a 49-year-old physician who works at a health center, in a custody cell. In telling the story of how she got there, Rachel admits she and her schoolteacher husband ceased having sex long ago and her 24-year-old daughter holds her in disdain. Earlier, handsome French architect Luc Lefevre had come to the center for a consultation concerning his mild depression, and her attraction to him is sudden and intense. She subsequently meets him at a party organized by his beautiful American wife. It becomes clear that Rachel's interest in Luc is reciprocated, and the two embark on an affair. With all the players in place, the plot simmers to a rolling boil. Rachel is sure she's being stalked, and people associated with her are gruesomely murdered. Whom can she trust in a world with so many liars? Rachel comes to realize she's misread the clues as one version of the truth after another unfolds en route to the anticlimactic ending. Hopefully, Shemilt will stick the landing next time.
Customer Reviews
AWESOME!!!
It was a little backwards and boring to me at first but when everything started to unravel… it ALL made complete sense. I could not put the book down. Your still going to think about the characters after finishing it. Very nice book.
If I Could, I Would Rate This Book With 10 ✳️.
This was one of the best books I've EVER read. Seldom do I re-read a book, but this one is an exception. I will recommend it to friends and have bought it for a friend's birthday next week.
There were many unexpected twists and turns, quite surprising and pleasant ending.