This book has certainly been a BOOKSTAGRAM MADE ME DO IT case. But I would have probably checked it out anyway because it was a 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards Winner. Either way, the reviews on GR are pretty favorable, and even though it didn’t reach for me the same OMG status that so many others experienced, I was still entertained. And I’m glad I finally took the time to listen to it.
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
8 hours, 43 minutes
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….
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
my thoughts
As with The Whisper Man I’m in the minority here. I’m not sure why this particular book didn’t wow me, maybe because I had an inkling of what happened/was going to happen, whatever it was The Silent Patient was just an ok book for me.
Overall, the book was slow moving, while switching between Theo’s POV and Alicia’s diary. The story went back and forth between timelines, and in the end the timeline didn’t line up precisely the way I thought it should. Probably because of an unreliable narrator.
Also, IMO the story focused too much on Theo and less on Alicia, that’s probably why I felt it was slow going at times, and not as thrilling. In the end, it was clear why the author focused on Theo, unfortunately that insight came a bit too late for me to change my opinion on the overall flow.
I think the biggest issue was that I expected a “sitting on the edge of my seat” kinda feeling, and I didn’t get it.
I also didn’t care much about either Alicia, or Theo, and maybe that added to the reason why the book wasn’t as compelling for me as it was for others. The connection to the characters was missing, and in the end I couldn’t have cared less about the outcome.
On the other hand, I flew through the book and finished the audiobook in three days. It was a great debut novel, just not outstanding enough compared to others. Going by the many readers who loved it, this book is certainly a thriller that any enthusiast of that particular genre should add to their tbr. And I definitely will be keeping my eyes open for the author’s next book, because his writing can only get better.
3.5 stars
FIND THIS BOOK ON GOODREADS AND AMAZON
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
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