The Therapist

The Therapist (2021) is a novel by Franco-British author B. A. Paris. Known for writing tense psychological thrillers, Paris won the Nielsen Gold Bestseller Award for her 2016 debut Behind Closed Doors. The Therapist is her fifth novel and charts the experiences of Alice Dawson after moving to London with her partner, Leo. The couple’s exclusive home in a gated community seems the ideal setting for a fresh start. However, when Alice discovers the previous owner of the house was murdered, she becomes suspicious of Leo and the other residents of the Circle. As Alice attempts to solve the murder of Nina Maxwell, she uncovers dark secrets and places herself in increasing danger. The novel’s themes include Trust and Betrayal, The Complications of Community Dynamics, and The Repercussions of the Past.

This guide uses the 2021 HarperCollins eBook edition.

Content Warning: The source material features violence, murder, suicide, and likely instances of abuse.

Plot Summary

The narrative combines the present-day story of Alice Dawson, interspersed with past one-to-one interactions between an unnamed therapist and female clients. The therapy sessions follow a pattern. The therapist initially puts new patients at ease using a quotation by Henry David Thoreau. When clients decide to bring their appointments to an end, the therapist suggests a last session of relaxation therapy.

The novel is set in an exclusive gated community in London called the Circle. Alice has moved to the Circle with her partner, Leo Curtis, who bought the property at a bargain price. The deal allowed Alice to keep and rent out her rural cottage in Harlestone.

Alice hosts a drinks party to get to know her neighbors. When the last guest arrives, Alice assumes he is Tim Conway, the husband of her neighbor Maria. When he expresses interest in the layout changes made by Leo, she shows him the bedroom. Alice finds her guests welcoming, except for a neighbor named Tamsin, who is openly hostile. After the party, Leo wakes in the night, convinced someone is in the bedroom. A search of the house reveals no sign of a break-in.

Alice meets Maria’s husband and realizes the man at the party was not Tim Conway. The real Tim is a psychotherapist. After asking all the residents, it emerges that Alice was the only one to see the gatecrasher. However, Alice’s elderly neighbor, Lorna, admits she let a man through the security gates. Lorna and her husband, Edward, rarely leave the house.

A few days after the party, Alice is visited by the mysterious gatecrasher. He introduces himself as Thomas Grainger, a private investigator. Thomas says he is investigating a miscarriage of justice. He reveals that a woman named Nina Maxwell was murdered in Alice’s house, and her husband, Oliver, died by suicide after being arrested for the crime. Thomas is working for Oliver’s sister, Helen, who wants to prove her brother’s innocence before she dies of a terminal illness. He claims Nina was having an affair with a mystery man who may have been her killer.

Alice discovers that Nina Maxwell was strangled in her bedroom while tied to a chair. Before killing her, the murderer cut off her long blond hair. Alice also learns that their real estate agent, Ben Forbes, told Leo about the murder when he viewed the house. Alice is furious with Leo for keeping this information from her. While she reassesses their relationship, Leo stays with their friends Mark and Ginny.

When Alice was 19, her parents and sister died in a car accident. She feels emotionally invested in seeking justice for Nina Maxwell, as her sister was also called Nina. Alice becomes friendly with her neighbor Eve, who tells her that Nina Maxwell was a therapist and Tamsin’s best friend. The Circle’s residents were all astonished when Oliver was arrested for his wife’s murder. They were also surprised to learn that Nina was having an affair. The truth emerged when the Maxwells’ next-door neighbor Lorna was questioned by the police. Lorna revealed that she overheard her neighbors arguing, and Nina confessed to cheating on her husband. Lorna saw Oliver enter the house just before Nina was murdered, contradicting his claim that he was sitting in the square at the time of her death. Shortly after the incident, Lorna’s husband, Edward, had a heart attack.

Alice often wakes in the night, sensing a presence in the room. She believes that Nina Maxwell’s ghost is visiting her. Strange incidents also occur around the house. Items are displaced, a dress disappears and reappears in Alice’s wardrobe, and Alice frequently finds loose strands of long blond hair. Having suffered hair loss after the death of her parents and sister, she assumes the condition is recurring.

Alice regularly contacts Thomas Grainger, feeding back information she gleans by questioning the other residents. She tells no one else about her meetings with the private investigator except for her friend Debbie, who still lives in Harlestone. Debbie warns Alice against getting involved, reminding her how she became obsessed with a friend’s daughter called Nina years earlier. Ignoring the advice, Alice discovers that Nina was friendly with several men in the Circle, including Tim, Tamsin’s husband, Connor, and Eve’s husband, Will. She suspects that one of the men was Nina’s secret lover and that their wives may be covering for them. Her suspicions seem to be confirmed when she visits Lorna, who whispers, “Don’t trust anyone” (137). Alice feels the only person she can depend on is Thomas, to whom she is increasingly attracted.

Alice becomes suspicious of Leo’s secretive behavior. One day, she thinks she sees him in the house while he is supposed to be staying with Mark and Ginny. Remembering how a strange woman once accosted Leo in the street, she wonders if he knew Nina Maxwell. After stealing the key to Leo’s filing cabinet, Alice finds an old passport of Leo’s in the name of Leo Carter. Alice discovers that Leo was jailed for fraud. The woman who accosted him was a journalist who wanted to rake up his criminal past.

Alice’s research reveals two cases that may be linked to Nina Maxwell’s murder. Marion Cartaux was strangled to death in Paris after having her hair cut off by her attacker. Meanwhile, Justine Bartley disappeared after an appointment with her therapist. Both women had long blond hair. Alice is increasingly convinced that Nina’s unidentified male therapist was her murderer. She also learns that Nina suspected someone was prowling the house at night.

Alice realizes that someone has been hiding in her bedroom wardrobe. Discovering a synthetic blond ponytail hidden on a shelf, she recognizes it is the source of the hair she has found scattered around the house. Alice decides to return to Harlestone for her own safety. However, she wants to say goodbye to her new friends before leaving. She arranges to meet Eve, Tamsin, and Maria for lunch, and Thomas promises to call in before she goes.

At lunch, Tamsin criticizes Alice’s obsession with the murder, accusing her of being a fantasist. Alice storms out of the restaurant, announcing that she was trying to help Oliver’s sister. Back at the Circle, Alice ignores repeated calls from Tamsin as she waits for Thomas. The private investigator calls, claiming that Tim Conway murdered Nina with the help of Ben Forbes. When Thomas arrives, Alice accepts the call from Tamsin, who reveals that Oliver did not have a sister. Alice realizes that Thomas is Nina’s mystery therapist and her murderer.

In an Interlude from the past, the therapist’s third client, Nina, accuses him of being a fraud. When she orders him out of her house, he complies. However, the therapist returns that evening asking for his copy of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. He knows from his nocturnal visits that the book is in Nina’s bedroom, and he follows her upstairs.

Alice flees, running to Lorna and Edward’s house for help. However, when the couple lets her inside, Thomas is already there. Alice discovers that Thomas’s real name is John, and Lorna and Edward are his parents. He has been secretly living with Lorna and Edward and holding them prisoner. John reveals he has been entering Alice’s house with a key Oliver gave to his parents.

Overpowering Alice, John ties her to a chair, forcing her to watch in a mirror as he cuts off her hair. He ignores Lorna’s pleas to call an ambulance for his father, and Edward dies of a heart attack. John admits to killing Nina, Marion, and Justine. He complains that the women teased him with their long blond hair and refused to accept that they were in love with him. After murdering Nina, he forced his mother to lie to the police, framing Oliver. John explains that he guessed Alice was the driver responsible for the death of her sister and parents. He posed as a private investigator because he knew she needed to atone for her guilt. Lorna stabs her son to death with the scissors before he can strangle Alice.

Six months later, Alice has returned to her cottage in Harlestone. She is determined to make a new life for herself, free from concealment and deceit.