The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides

The Silent Patient

By Alex Michaelides

  • Release Date: 2019-02-05
  • Genre: Mysteries & Thrillers
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 23,644 Ratings

Description

**THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**

"An unforgettable—and Hollywood-bound—new thriller... A mix of Hitchcockian suspense, Agatha Christie plotting, and Greek tragedy."
Entertainment Weekly

The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

Reviews

  • A good read!

    4
    By crime junkieeee
    Slow at the beginning. It seems like too much detail but at the very end it pulls it all together for a shocking twist.
  • SPOILERS

    2
    By daughterofvenus
    I highlighted page 32 where he says “working with patients, getting my hands dirty” as an automatic red flag to not trust the narrator. After that I knew he was involved in the crime someway and was very obsessive over Alicia. I also didn’t trust Alicia’s narrative and knew she was in an abusive relationship. The only catch was the thing with his wife being in the past, but I noticed the clear similarities. Looking back there’s so many plot holes. If I were to read it again I’d probably be able to point out tons. But what was the point of max? And her art friend (forgot his name) clearly it was just to derail us from suspecting him. But I don’t believe apart from max that they were as bad as they were made to look. I hate that an indulgent happy old lady who talks a lot is written off as dumb and narcissistic, I actually liked Barbie. And I didn’t believe the art friend was so bad. Nobody is perfect. I feel like Gabriel was influencing her outlook on her relationships with others to make her doubt herself and see him as a god, that’s why she painted him as Jesus. I really don’t appreciate the way they tried to portray borderline personality because that’s literally such an inaccurate image. The way he would judge others and think he knew about their past based on their house or mannerisms was also really annoying and judgmental. But the sequence of events at the end literally don’t add up AT ALL and it’s so bad and embarrassing. So he drugged her right? Ok then how did she have time to write in her diary one last time with a giant dose of morphine to put her in a coma? How did she get the diary? How did she have time after that to hide it? And no one saw her? So he framed her suicide putting a pill bottle next to her while she’s writing in her diary? LOL I love a good twist and unreliable narrator, but I don’t love it being way too obvious. I don’t love reading about characters that literally have no value to the story other than a distraction. Everything should have purpose and meaning. I knew the characters were poorly fleshed out and didn’t believe they were bad for Alicia as they both made it to seem, but now I know why. It was fun to read though because I love a mystery but the ending ruined everything and fell very flat
  • The Silent Patient

    5
    By India box
    This book was so good! The ending caught me off guard, by far my favorite book!
  • Woah!

    5
    By Calksta
    Kept me on my toes the whole time and was not expecting the ending. Crazy.
  • Great book!!

    5
    By Disneycutie
    After reading this book I think I will be reading more books like this!! I had a hard time putting this book down. I normally read romance books but I really enjoyed this book. I really didn’t expect the ending. Definitely recommend this book!!!
  • Excellent book

    5
    By James Jeronimo
    Had me at the edge of my seat.
  • 5 stars!

    5
    By Taylor Muzio
    One of the best psychological thrillers I’ve ever read! Amazing!
  • Unexpected

    5
    By imiry
    While reading it I kept making assumptions of what I thought. It was never what I thought, so many twist and turns.
  • insane

    5
    By preadz03
    Amazing writing, development, plot, twist & message. Such a great read!
  • Riveting!

    5
    By JRHWGH
    Could not put it down. Definitely a page turner. The ending was a surprise.