The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides on February 5, 2019
Genres: Fiction / Thrillers / Psychological, Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense
Pages: 304
Format: Paperback
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“…we often mistake love for fireworks – for drama and dysfunction. But real love is very quiet, very still. It’s boring, if seen from the perspective of high drama. Love is deep and calm – and constant.”
“Choosing a lover is a lot like choosing a therapist. We need to ask ourselves, is this someone who will be honest with me, listen to criticism, admit making mistakes, and not promise the impossible?”
The novel follows Alicia Berenson and Theo Faber. Alicia was a well-known painter who murdered her husband six years ago and hasn’t spoken a word since. He was found bound to a chair with gunshot wounds to his face, and she was convicted soon thereafter. Theo is a psychotherapist who hopes to treat Alicia and uncover the mystery behind her motives for killing her husband. As they sit in silence, the main clue he has is a painting she completed. She titled it Alcestis, named after a heroine in Greek mythology who sacrifices her life to save her husband. Theo’s 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.
Wow! This book is the definition of a psychological thriller! It twists and turns like you would never guess! The premise of the this book was fantastic! I was engaged right away and the chapters were very short and intriguing. For most thrillers, I think, the ending is the make-it-or-break it aspect of the story, and this one did not disappoint. The way the crucial scene of the book plays out was so well written. The Silent Patient will have you guessing the entire time if she really did it or not!
I gave this book a four-star rating. Despite the steadily moving pace of the book, it does take a while to get into the meat of the book. There’s a range of characters to be introduced and decent chunk of background information to go over before the action starts to happen. But when it does…. hang on!