Book Review
Title: I'm a Therapist, and My Patient is a Vegan Terrorist: 6 Deadly Social Media Influencers
Author: Dr. Harper
Genre: Short stories/Horror/Mental Health
Rating: *****
Review: This is the final book in the Doctor Harper Therapy series, and I am sad because these books are dark, fast-paced, and amazing to read and I want more of them. The first patient file in this book belongs to Shawn, a vegan activist who is attending the island but immediately looks suspicious when a woman is shown to be tortured on a livestream from the island and Shawn wasn’t on the flight manifest. The woman Maggie, is tortured, killed, and supposedly fed to the other island residents sparking panic through everyone including Elliot. However, he quickly figures out that it was a hoax and that Shawn is Maggie and the reason he won’t speak is because his voice hasn’t dropped yet and Elliot helps him come to terms with being himself and being comfortable in his own skin but before Shawn leaves he warns Elliot not to hurt Noah which he doesn’t understand right now. We also get to witness the first date between the pair which was delightful given how dark these books can get, and I also have to say I am changing my opinion on Kierra even though she and Elliot fight like cat and dog. The four do seem to work well together with Zach being the voice of reason among them.
The second patient file belongs to Linus, who is a complete germaphobe who correctly predicts the outbreak of an infectious disease on the island. Linus locks himself and Elliot, Noah, Kierra, and Zach in his bunker to prevent them getting infected. However, Elliot sense of justice won’t allow him to remind somewhere safe when there are people that need help, so he threatens Linus until he releases Elliot who rushes to help with Noah by his side. However, when Noah begins presenting symptoms Elliot is panicked but Linus comes to help. It is soon revealed that this is just another elaborate prank which has set Elliot’s nerves completely on edge. We also get to see Elliot and Noah’s second and third dates, the second is beautiful but the third ends up with Noah getting very drunk and asking questions that Elliot doesn’t really want to answer so he leaves. I am loving the fact we are getting this book from Noah’s perspective rather than Elliot’s because he is an adorable marshmallow and I love him so much.
The third patient file belongs to Zach and it takes us back to Elliot’s childhood. Obviously, we had a glimpse of his battle with self-shame and self-harm but his relationship with Zach hasn’t really been explored. We learn that Elliot’s father left their family because he can no longer cope with his mother’s borderline personality disorder which she refuses to treat and also because of Elliot’s self-harm. However, his mother makes Elliot believe it is all his fault that his dad left leaving him with some psychological scars that he still struggles with today. After that Elliot withdraws and the only person, he willingly spends time with is Zach, but Zach wants him to make other friends. In the aftermath of one of their many arguments, Elliot believes that there might be something psychologically wrong with Zach and makes his first patient files. Back in the present, Elliot goes on his fourth date with Noah and there second “first” kiss is about to happen when Zach interrupts them as there has been a rape on the island.
The fourth patient file belongs to Rocky, a firefighter accused of raping an old woman and even though he was proven innocent he still suffered in the court of public opinion and was left with lasting scars because of it. When the DNA on the new rape comes back, Zach is shown to be the rapist but Elliot refuses to believe it. Zach explains the only reason his DNA is on the record is because he was accused of raping a girl back in the college and as a black man, he was persecuted but ultimately was proven innocent. By the time Elliot, figures out that Rocky is the actual rapist and has been getting sperm samples from sperm banks to frame his victims as abusers, he kills himself meaning Zach is still taken away by the F.B.I. until his innocence can be proven but the other three remain behind to deal with the storm coming to the island. The next date between Elliot and Noah is gate-crashed by Kierra and we get some information about why Noah trusts her but not the full picture, but she still seems to be trying to insert herself between Elliot and Noah wherever she can.
The fifth patient file belongs to Aurora, who is a psychic medium who comes to Elliot and Noah with a message from a dead woman asking Elliot for help. Elliot at first completely refuses to believe anything Aurora says even when she talks about things that very few people know like Elliot’s father leaving them when he was only a child. At first it seems like Kierra might be the woman but when Aurora talks about a mother’s worst nightmare and Kierra turns up fine, Elliot believe it might be his mother. After a brief phone call, we know it isn’t his mother either, but he gets a phone call from a lawyer telling him that the mother of the boy on the beach, James has died and that he and Noah are listed as the child’s guardians. Elliot wants to help James but he doesn’t want to force Noah into a position he isn’t ready for but he seems more than ready to build a life with Elliot after everything they have gone through which was beautiful and we get the see their second “first” kiss again which gave me all the feels.
The final patient file belongs to Kierra as the final attack on the island happens with Rocky apparently faking his death and unleashing an acid attack on the pool which scars Noah and looks like it is going to kill Elliot when Kierra jumps in front of him taking the hit and resulting in over 90% over her body being burned. Afterwards, she asks Elliot to switch off her life support and he agrees but not before he gets answers to all the questions that have been bugging him since the beginning of the book. However, we get two endings, we get one where Zach and Elliot go off on more dangerous adventures, Kierra dies and Noah leaves Elliot for good and takes custody of James and in the second which is the real ending where find out the first ending is the ending of Elliot’s latest book as he changes professions after the events of the island and they all lived happily ever after which these characters rightly deserved but it does make me question how much of the previous books was real and how much was Elliot dramatizing the events for his books. Overall, I loved the Doctor Harper series and I need more like this very soon.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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