The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides

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...(link)

Review: 4/5

I know this book is very controversial, but I really liked it! I needed something fresh after coming off a high of rom-coms and memoirs, so this was an interesting twist in my habits (no pun intended). I haven’t read a lot of psychological thrillers, so I feel this puts me in a different mindset with my review of this book. This book has a LOT of low reviews from thriller-frequent-readers. I feel I’m at a pleasant and surprising advantage when it comes to this difference in fellow readers!

This was an insanely easy audiobook to listen to and it was very easy to keep track of while multitasking; this praise doesn’t come lightly since I’m very easily distracted by my wandering thoughts. This analysis is a double-edged sword as I wonder: if I read it while not focusing on other things, would I have been bored? If I had better attention to point to the detail, would I have felt similarly to other readers? We can’t live life in shoulda woulda coulda’s, so I’m happy with the way I absorbed the book; after all, I liked it!

The construction of this book reminded me heavily of my favorite book (The Secret History); it was split into noticeable quarters, the narrators (Theo and Richard) are eerily mirrored, and the plot twists are solidly backed, as well as unpredictable. I never knew what was coming, even when I tried to guess, and I have WICKED pattern recognition skills!

You guys know me: if it’s a “good for her, she’s crazy” book, I’ll most likely enjoy it. Just like I like tall, dark featured, lanky men who look like they haven’t slept or ate in days, I have a type! I can’t be faulted for having a preference, can I?

I liked the fact that Theo was unprofessionally obsessed with Alicia, although I always wondered why that didn’t provide red flags to the other staff members regarding their relationship… Fictional magic I suppose! I also love the fact that Theo thinks he’s Alicia’s hero, while he’s obviously ruining her life more and more… I’m positioning that as an allegory for so many men thinking they’re the white knight?

I enjoy the late stage finding out Alicia’s husband and Theo’s wife are having an affair, and that’s the connection that leads to Theo having such an unhealthy obsession with Alicia. I LOVE that the murder of Alicia’s husband is his-own fault, as an allegory for the death of their marriage being completely his fault as well. Their marriage and Gabriel’s life ended when the full truth came out, with Theo trying to play the role of Mr. Justice. This heavily reminds me of Joe Goldberg (albeit less sexy) from You. I LOVE reading from the perspective of crazy people!

The only thing I’ll actively complain about is the lack of setting; it was hard to know what time period we were in, how much time was passing, and where the story was set; I know setting is so influential for understanding the tone and characters better, so this is a slightly disappointing fact. I assumed modern day England from context clues and the synopsis, but this is not as present in the narration as I’d like it to be.

Overall, I liked this book, and I like the playlist too. The theme is music by women who DESERVE to be listened to deeper. What do you mean you don’t appreciate crazy women? START!

Spotify: LINK