The Shrink Next Door
4.6/5
Critic Rating
Veteran journalist Joe Nocera’s neighbor in the Hamptons was a therapist named Ike. Ike counted celebrities and Manhattan elites as his patients. He’d host star-studded parties at his eccentric vacation house. But one summer, Joe discovered that Ike was gone and everything he’d thought he’d known about his neighbor -- and the house next door -- was wrong. From Wondery, the company behind Dirty John and Dr. Death, and Bloomberg, “The Shrink Next Door” is a story about power, control and turning to the wrong person for help for three decades. Written and hosted by Joe Nocera, a col...
Critic Reviews
Score: 5
Mara Davis • Paste Magazine • Nov 2, 2021
"There are some funny moments, but you can’t help but be heartbroken over what the mad doctor does to the family. Thankfully there is redemption, which is why you have to see it through. …"
Score: 3
Mark Gorman • Mark Gorman Blog • Oct 27, 2021
"It’s a good story, it really is, but it loses so much in the telling. And I think Wondery should have known better. Noscera frankly drone on and on, poorly edited with no real sense of drama in retelling a tale that would be so much better if half the length. As it develops a further cast of equally uninspiring victims are brought to the table, but their stories are far less compelling."
Score: 5
Zach Johnston • Uproxx • Jun 28, 2021
"This follow-up to Dirty John and Dr. Death is a wild pod. The story is so wild, it’s been turned into an Apple+ miniseries..."
Score: 4.5
Emma Dibdin • New York Times • Feb 16, 2021
" “The Shrink Next Door” may seem like comparatively light fare, especially now that a screen adaptation starring Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell is in the works, but beneath the wacky premise lurks unsettling truths about the potential for abuse and manipulation in psychotherapy."
Score: 5
Jazmin Kopotsha • Refinery29 • Jul 3, 2019
"The Shrink Next Door straddles the line between outrageous and plausible a little too well, and it’s all the more gripping for it."
Score: 4.9
Jake Greenberg • PodcastReview.org • Jun 12, 2019
"The Shrink Next Door walks a fine line between true crime and relationship drama, spanning several decades of doctor-patient manipulation. The result is rich and propulsive, a twisty-turny season that stays engaging because of its hyper-focus on the two men at its center. The week-to-week experience of listening to The Shrink Next Door was thrilling. Nocera and his team have enough confidence in the story’s natural intrigue to avoid the trap of searching for a larger meaning."
