by Helene Flood
SYNOPSIS
At first it's the lie that hurts.
A voicemail from her husband tells Sara he's arrived at the holiday cabin. Then a call from his friend confirms he never did.
She tries to carry on as normal, teasing out her clients' deepest fears, but as the hours stretch out, her own begin to surface. And when the police finally take an interest, they want to know why Sara deleted that voicemail.
To get to the root of Sigurd's disappearance, Sara must question everything she knows about her relationship.
Could the truth about what happened be inside her head?
REVIEW
Sara, who works as a therapist, and her architect husband Sigurd have a seemingly normal relationship. Sigurd is planning to spend a weekend away in a cabin with his friends and leaves an answerphone message for Sara that morning to let her know he has arrived safely. A few hours later, Sara receives a call from his friends to say that he never turned up. As the police investigate Sigurd’s disappearance, Sara feels like her life is falling apart – under suspicion from the detective in charge of the case and at the same time, convinced that someone has been inside her house. She begins to question everything including her own sanity – was her husband really who she thought he was and why would he lie to her?
The Therapist is translated from Norwegian but this isn’t your typical Nordic Noir. The author, Helene Flood is a psychologist and this definitely shines through in this tense and frustrating domestic thriller. Her background gives a sense of realness to the story and all of the details from both Sara’s work with troubled teenagers and the psychological toll the police investigation takes on her are very believable.
I love stories with an unreliable narrator - Sara is the perfect example of someone you desperately want to believe, but as the flashbacks gradually reveal more about the state of her relationship with her husband and her own mental wellbeing, her credibility is seriously questioned.
The Therapist is not a fast-paced thriller but the atmosphere is perfect for this type of novel. Intense and creepy, the details learned in the flashbacks slowly piece together the story until all is revealed in a conclusion that I didn’t see coming. A really interesting take on a psychological thriller, concentrating on the emotional impact of a destructive relationship and the effect this has on everyone involved. An impressive debut, I am very much looking forward to the author’s second novel next year.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Helene Flood is a psychologist who obtained her doctoral degree on violence, revictimization and trauma-related shame and guilt in 2016. She now works as a psychologist and researcher at the National Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress. She lives in Oslo with her husband and two children. The Therapist is her first adult novel. It has been sold in 27 counties and film rights have been bought by Anonymous Content. Her second novel, The Lover, will be published in English in 2022.
Thanks to @QuercusBooks, @MacLehosePress and @MillsReid11 for the opportunity to read and review.
Fiction: Psychological Thriller / Nordic Noir
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 978-1529406023
Pages: 336 pp
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