B. A. Paris has quickly become a must-read sensation. As a veteran mystery and thriller reader, there is not much that surprises me. But her latest novel, THE THERAPIST, kept me hanging on almost to the very end. Paris is quite adept at creating a puzzling and complex plot full of twists and a myriad of characters that will keep you guessing as the pages whiz by.

Leo and Alice have moved into a newly renovated house in an exclusive gated community outside of London known as The Circle. Alice finds it odd that when she overhears a few of her female neighbors talking about them, one insists that there is no reason why she would ever want to meet the new couple. What could it be about Leo and Alice that would bring about such a comment?

"THE THERAPIST is another chilling psychological thriller from B. A. Paris that will have you revisiting everything that has occurred right through to the shocking denouement."

Leo insists that they don’t need anyone knowing their business and prefers to keep away from their neighbors. Alice won’t hear of it and extends an open invitation on The Circle’s portal page for any of them to come by for a welcome party and a few cocktails. Leo is not happy about this, but Alice is dying for a fresh start.

Paris has created a novel that reads like an onion with layers of skin --- or, in this case, plot twists in the form of new information --- peeled away bit by bit. The first revelation is that Alice and Leo keep feeling the presence of someone in their house while they are sleeping, even though they can’t turn up any evidence of this. Then Alice learns that Leo kept from her the fact that the previous tenant, Nina, was murdered by her husband Oliver, who then took his own life.

This is followed by the reappearance of a strange visitor who showed up at the party, who now reveals himself to be Thomas Grainger, a private investigator working on behalf of Oliver’s dying sister, who still wants to prove his innocence. They are sure that Oliver was set up and believe that the real killer must be one of Alice and Leo’s strange, close-knit neighbors or even Nina’s therapist. Alice is no stranger to therapy herself as she has never gotten over the deaths of her parents and sister, who were killed in a car accident when she was younger.

Leo travels a lot for work, which means that Alice is left in their creepy house all by herself with nothing to do but to try to continue her work as a book translator and befriend a few of the neighbors. She also shows an unhealthy obsession with learning more about Nina and Oliver, and comes dangerously close to playing amateur sleuth. To make matters much more complicated, she uncovers some potentially disturbing information about Leo, and she is determined to leave The Circle. However, doing so will be easier said than done.

THE THERAPIST is another chilling psychological thriller from B. A. Paris that will have you revisiting everything that has occurred right through to the shocking denouement.