Silent Patient, The by Alex Michaelides – A book review

How often do you agree with hype and award winning titles? I had heard so much about The Silent Patient and I was reluctant to pick it up, because I didn’t want another disappointment. But how did it fare on my scale? Read my book of The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides to know more.

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About the book

Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides Book review

Book Name: The Silent Patient

Author: Alex Michaelides

Genre: Fiction – Mystery, Thriller

Characters:  Alicia Berenson, Theo and Kathy Faber, Christian, Professor Lazarus Diomedes, Gabriel and Max Berenson, Elif, Yuri

Setting: London, England, The UK

Plot Summary

Theo Faber, a psychotherapist can’t wait for this chance to prove himself by helping Alicia, the famed silent patient. And to do that, he has begun to work at The Grove where the artist is being treated for a while now.

About six years ago Alicia Berenson, a well known painter was arrested for murdering her husband, Gabriel. Since then she has not uttered a single word. She is suicidal and unresponsive to any sort of communication.

Theo is also fighting his own demons and for his marriage. Will he be able to save Alicia or himself for that matter? Read The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides to find out more.

Book review

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides is a fast paced murder mystery/thriller. And it is definitely worth its hype. I definitely should be more open to picking hyped books hereon.

While the explosive climax is not novel, I didn’t see it coming. I had several other theories (a few more ingenious than the others ..cough.. cough) of course, but the red herrings worked perfectly. And that says a lot about the author’s ability to weave a web of tangles around it.

I had a few issues with how the “hospital was run” and that Theo’s approach to help Alicia was pretty much unprofessional. There are a few comments about therapy that misleading and harmful, and definitely reduced the credibility factor for me.

What worked for me

  • I didn’t see the classic twist coming at all. And that’s because I was so engrossed in the narration.
  • The short chapters worked well enough to make The Silent Patient a page turner and I couldn’t just stop reading.
  • The red herrings will keep you second guessing and hooked till the end.

What may have been better

  • Theo’s breakthrough treatment was totally unprofessional and kinda lowkey annoying for me. I hated that there were misleading and harmful comments about therapy and therapists.
  • The twist has been done and tested many a times. One of the well known example is The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie.

Bottom line

If you are quite new to the murder mystery genre and you liked books like Girl on the train or The Woman In The Window by Finn A J, you will love this book. If you’ve read as many whodunnits as I have, The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides may not surprise you. But it is still worth a read.

Content warning:

Depression, multiple suicide attempts, Drug abuse, Misleading concepts about therapy, extramarital affair,

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Let’s chat

Have you read The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides? Were you able to find the culprit? What is your favorite whodunnit murder mystery book? Let us talk.

2 Comments

  1. Iza

    It has been on my radar ever since it came out, I bought it for my library in French (I’m a French librarian) and in English (we have books in English) so I hoped I could read it this year, but… covid ! It’s only partie remise, as we say, and I’ll read it as soon as I can. Great review, well constructed 🙂

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      Oh yes in 2021! thank you!

      Reply

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Gayathri

Gayathri

Gayathri has been reviewing books since 2010. When she is not reading books or creating online content, she works as a writer and a digital marketer. Head over to meet me!