Book Review: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
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?
I’ve read A LOT of psychological thrillers. In fact, it’s my favorite genre to read. Since I’ve read so many, a lot of the times I see the same story lines and this book is a new story line for me. It gives me that thrill.
Alicia Berenson is no longer speaking. She has just been found guilty for shooting her Husband, Gabriel. Theo Faber has a troubled past. He decides early on that he wants to becoming a psychotherapist so that he can help people the way he was never helped. He learns that Alicia is a patient at the center he just laded at a job at. He also hears she is mute and wants to take on the challenge of getting her to talk and find out what really happened.
Throughout Alicia’s life, she was an Artist and her art was a her best way of communicating her feelings and thoughts. One day, Theo thinks to present Alicia with her own art canvas, outside of art therapy, to express how she feels. She starts to paint and they’re convinced they are getting to her. One day, Alicia reacts to Theo and ends up handing him a Diary that she has kept with the entire story, well at least Theo thinks it’s the entire story. From here, a couple twists unravel only to unveil the grand finale. I’ll tell you, this twist got me. I’m still thinking about it.
This is both Alicia and Theo’s parallel stories about problems that have happened in their lives. Theo has family and marital issues and Alicia has psychological and trust issues. I loved that the author included psychological issues even within the psychological team in the book. I think this is what really made it a home run for me.
This book is a debut and by no means would I have assumed that when I read it. It’s written at a perfect pace and worded just right so that you most likely aren’t going to guess the twist. I had my theories but I was so so so wrong. I also had that WHAT moment and that’s a sign of a good book, for me. I am personally interested in psychology. I think being interested in these and invested in characters who deal with these issues made this book shine, in my opinion.
What else can I tell you? This is storytelling at it best. Admittedly, the psychology behind this one is a bit dark and disturbing and it got to me!
“The Silent Patient” is a fast-paced novel with thrilling characters that keeps you on your toes. The motivation behind them kept me intrigued and I am sure it will do the same for you!
