Case Study by Graeme Macrae Barnet

☆☆☆☆☆

Case Study is presented as a non-fiction biography of a fictional psychotherapist, Author Collin Braithwaite blended with notebooks sent by Mr. Martin Grey, the cousin of one of Braithwaite’s former patients. This patient is an unknown woman who goes by the name of Rebecca Smyth. She went undercover using this alter ego because she believes that Braithwaite had a hand in the suicide of her sister. But what do these notebooks share about her experience with Braithwaite, and is Collin Braithwaite, the great psychotherapist who we believe he is?  

Case Study presents itself as a non-fiction novel, but in reality, it is a character study about two people who are similar in their lives and personality. Colin Braithwaite is seen as this charismatic but controversial figure in both his personal life and his field, and the more you learn about him, you wonder if he had a hand in a young woman’s death. Most of the book is dedicated to his life, fame, and what made him such a controversial figure. It gives you a good insight into him as a person, first and foremost.

While our second point of view is of a woman whose name you don’t even know, you begin the book completely sympathizing with her. However, you do begin to pick up on different things she says in her notebook, her thoughts, and her feelings towards people that make you second guess her point of view.

The person behind Rebecca Smyth is unlikable. She judges people quickly, and when she decides to go undercover, her thoughts and beliefs about mental illness make you question her motives even more. It is at that point in the book that something shifts, and you begin to note that things might not be what they seem. Her stories are no longer about her investigation but quickly turn into something else.

Overall, Case Study is an exciting novel that blurs the line between fact and fiction, not only outside the book's narrative between author and readers but within the book’s pages. It is very much worth the read. It forces you to think about what you know about the storytelling narrative and has you question whether you can believe it is being presented to you, truthfully.  Case Study is a longlist contender for the Booker Prize 2022. You can find Case Study on Bookshop.org or your favourite retailers.

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Freelance writer with a love of books, particularly those from the 70s and 80s, and in the horror genre, she also has a fondness for classical literature and isn't opposed to digging in with the odd women's fiction. She lives in Shropshire, England with her husband, several furry guinea pups, and Duke the Fish. In order to stop annoying her husband with her constant conversation about the books she reads, she created Step Into The Void, a blog named after the mental state her other half says he steps into whenever she starts talking about the latest Jay Kristoff vampire novel or decides to try to explain the entire plot to Jenn Lyon's four-book epic The Chorus of Dragons or tries to explain why the horror fiction genre is slowing coming back thanks to authors like Grady Hendrix, Augustina Bazterrica, and Catriona Ward.  

Check out her Instagram @booksinthevoid