The Therapy Room (Susan Parker #1) by Sam Baron

 Debut crime thriller has potential.

A psychiatrist is found, viciously stabbed to death, in the kitchen of an isolated farmhouse in Santa Carina, California. In the basement, 12 individual cells hold 11 victims. All still alive but refusing to speak. FBI agent Susan Parker is called to the scene when a local cop finds a post it note with her name on it attached to the basement door. Convinced that the dead man is the serial killer, Splinter, she's been hunting, Susan is desperate to debrief the victims but is denied access to them having to instead go through a therapist that the prisoners had requested. Working with the local cop and her team, Susan attempts to figure out what was going on out at the farmhouse and why these people were kept in the basement. And the 12th person? Does he have the answers she seeks. Meanwhile, Susan is still grieving the death of her husband. 

This was an audiobook and kept me interested. The narrator had a decent voice and performed the different character voices adequately although the varying accents were sometimes exaggerated. Certainly, the novel had a wide variety of nationalities with Susan and her family being Indian and there were other representations as well. I have to say that what got on my nerves the most was the constant focus on Natalie, Susan's deaf daughter. Way too much about the child which added nothing to the aspect of this book meant to be a suspense thriller. The character of Susan seemed rather dense for her being an SAC in the FBI. I had figured out most all of the story way early and was annoyed by how long it took her and the team to catch up. 

This is the first in a new series featuring SAC Susan Parker of the FBI. It ends without tying up all the loose ends, which is always a drawback for me and leaves that feeling of something unfinished that I do not like. The second installment is due out soon, so perhaps answers will come. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for this audiobook to read, review, and provisionally recommend. I will reserve full judgment once I have read the second in series. 

This is the first in a series that should be read in order.

Genre - crime thriller