The Patient

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. Agent: Eve White, Eve White Literary (U.K.). (May)