The Night Counsellor - L.K. Pang - ★★★★
AUTHOR: L.K. Pang
GENRE: Historical Mystery
PUBLICATION DATE: October 17, 2024
RATING: 4 stars
In a Nutshell: A historical mystery with a mental asylum as the dominant setting. Intriguing characters, creepy vibes, good handling of the two timelines. A great option for readers who enjoy gritty historical narratives.
Plot Preview:
1953. Jane Galloway, in a new role as a counsellor, has just been assigned a new patient at The Beaumont, a mental asylum trying to shed its dark tag but not doing a great job of it. This patient, dubbed Patient A, was found wandering naked and covered in blood on the outskirts of Yorkshire. She doesn’t talk or respond in any way to anyone. The mystery gets even darker when Jane learns that this patient is a murder suspect.
The hospital staff is firmly opposed to this new method of using conversations as therapy, but Jane is determined to make a difference. Can she help Patient A before it is too late? Is Patient A really guilty of such a heinous crime?
The story comes to us in alternating timelines, with the 1953 one being from Jane's point of view. All the other perspectives are also in first person but clearly indicated.
Plot Preview:
1953. Jane Galloway, in a new role as a counsellor, has just been assigned a new patient at The Beaumont, a mental asylum trying to shed its dark tag but not doing a great job of it. This patient, dubbed Patient A, was found wandering naked and covered in blood on the outskirts of Yorkshire. She doesn’t talk or respond in any way to anyone. The mystery gets even darker when Jane learns that this patient is a murder suspect.
The hospital staff is firmly opposed to this new method of using conversations as therapy, but Jane is determined to make a difference. Can she help Patient A before it is too late? Is Patient A really guilty of such a heinous crime?
The story comes to us in alternating timelines, with the 1953 one being from Jane's point of view. All the other perspectives are also in first person but clearly indicated.
Bookish Yays:
🎯 The book hits the mark when it comes to creating complex characters. Even when they are stock characters such as the friendly neighbour or the concerned local policeman or the bristly nurse, they still have at least something that sets them apart. Most of the characters are not completely likeable, but each comes with their good and bad traits, making it tough to decide whom to trust. The one goody-goody sweetheart was Jane’s five-year-old son Jasper – he was adorable.
🎯 Jane’s role as the counsellor is also interesting, considering the idea of using conversations as therapy was quite novel at the time. I am unsure of a couple of her methods (they sounded more like hypnotherapy), but I am not an expert in therapy anyway, so I assume the author’s research must be accurate. Her role also brings out the inherent bias in medical practitioners against new treatments.
🎯 While the title clearly indicates that the focus is on the “night counsellor”, the story keeps things balanced by including Jane’s personal life also. This gives us a better idea of the kind of woman she is. Thanks to her interactions with little Jasper, we also see the struggles of a single parent.
🎯 The setting of The Beaumont Gothic is put to great use to generate an eerie atmosphere. Giving the carers and one patient active roles ensures that we get the best of the creepiness.
🎯 The treatment (in both its meanings) of mental illness in that era. Right from the attitude of mental asylums and its staff to the secrecy surrounding mental health issues, the novel captures the time period well.
🎯 Despite such a tricky story, the pacing is still quite fast.
🎯 Both timelines are equally gripping but in very different ways. Thanks to the other timeline and one clue towards the start of the 1953 timeline, it seems possible to guess who Patient A might be. The who’s of the situation do become clear soon enough, and the mystery is left to the hows and the whys. However, don’t assume that this is all the story has to offer There are plenty of surprises and tricky twists thrown in to keep us hooked.
🎯 There are a few diary entries in one timeline, and these are written as genuine diary entries and not like descriptive novels.
Bookish Mixed Bags:
⚔️ There are multiple first-person narratives in the plot. As the gap between the two timelines isn’t too much, there might be some confusion about who is speaking. But the author has made the identification process of each narrative easy, and there is *mostly* no confusion about who is speaking and when. You do need to be ready to switch frequently between the first-person narratives without losing your track.
⚔️ I don’t like it when non-romance genres include romantic arcs. I admit, one of the arcs was needed for the plot and was truly well-written, but the more contemporary one could have been safely skipped. This of course comes from my personal preferences and wont bother most readers.
Bookish Nays:
🔪 While the characters are interesting, they are also somewhat unpredictable. I feel like their character detailing could have been better fleshed out. We see a lot of their actions but it's tough to understand why they behave the way they do. Some of the decisions seem contrary to character. Some revelations come out of nowhere and aren't immediately used in the plot. Jane's character development is the weakest as we never learn enough about her backdrop. Her backstory is mentioned but not utilised that well.
🔪 The ending is a bit too HEA for such a story.
All in all, despite some reservations about the character development, I was quite hooked by this novel. To me, it clicked better as a dark/Gothic historical fiction than as a mystery. Its plot, the historical setting, and the asylum setting combine to create an intense and emotional plot. I’d love to read more by this author.
Definitely recommended to historical fiction and historical mystery lovers who enjoy dark narratives. The content is quite dark so read it when in the right headspace.
My thanks to Love Books Tours and author L.K. Pang for a complimentary copy of 'The Night Counsellor', and for allowing me to be a part of this blog tour. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
The digital version of this book is currently available free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers.
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Blurb:
When silence dawns, only dusk will break it.
In the shadowy corridors of The Beaumont, a mental hospital haunted by its dark history as an asylum, a disturbing mystery unfolds when in 1953, a woman is found mute, naked, and drenched in blood on the outskirts of West Yorkshire. With no memory of her past and no one to claim her, she is dubbed Patient A and placed under the care of the institution’s staff.
Counsellor Jane Galloway, is drawn to Patient A’s case with a resolve to restore her ability to speak, no matter how unorthodox her methods appear to be. However, her efforts to penetrate the silence meet with stark opposition from the hospital's rigid hierarchy. The situation takes a spine-chilling turn when whispers in the night link Patient A to a recently discovered corpse.
As Jane edges closer to unravelling the eerie connection between her patient and the mysterious death, she must challenge a web of institutional resistance and hidden agendas. With time running against them, Jane’s quest to help Patient A reclaim her voice grows desperate. But in the harrowing halls of The Beaumont, speaking up can be deadly.
Will Patient A find her voice before the shadows of her past come to silence her forever?
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Author L.K. Pang:
L.K. Pang is an artist and a former architect. Born in Kent, she has moved around the country and now lives near Harrogate with her family. Her love of gothic stories and years visiting stately homes in the Yorkshire countryside translates into her writing.
Connect with her on:
Website: https://www.lkpang.blog/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lkpang.author/
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This has been a stop on the #TheNightCounsellor blog tour conducted by Love Books Tours. (@lovebookstours on Twitter and Instagram.) Thanks for visiting!
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