Review: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

This must be the year of the thriller cause I am getting blindsided left and right! I am pretty darn savvy when it comes to figuring out the killer, guessing who-dun-its, and predicting major twists. This book has me feeling like a complete failure. I seem to have lost my stabber swagger! Or (and this is most likely the presumed reason) Alex Michaelides is just THAT GOOD.

I read this book in like five minutes. OK maybe not five, but I devoured every word. How often does the main character in your book NOT SPEAK? That alone hooked me right in and I was determined to figure out why Alicia killed Gabriel. They seemed to have the most picture perfect life – her a sought-after painter, him a famous fashion photographer – and that’s always a good reason to kill your husband right? It’s always when things seem perfect! But not so fast. She didn’t just kill Gabriel. She straight up MURDERED him… like tied him up and shot in him the face, not one, not two, but FIVE TIMES. What in the actual what?? No-one really saw it coming. Or did they? But here’s the kicker….

Alicia has not spoken ONE WORD since the murder. And she’s become a bit famous because of it. Her paintings are selling for millions, but she’s been secluded for years at the Grove, a psychiatric hospital, and still…. does not say one word.

Theo, a psychotherapist is obsessed with the case and is determined to get Alicia to speak, to find out what happened that night, and why she killed her husband. But does he really want to dig deeper into this story and hear what Alicia may eventually say?

This one started slow, but the build up has you guessing at every corner, and the twists are superb and might just whip you in the face – so watch out. A fantastic debut.

The Silent Patient is available tomorrow 2/5 – get it here!

 

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Celadon Books (February 5, 2019)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1250301696
• ISBN-13: 978-1250301697

 

 

About the book (from Amazon):

“That rarest of beasts: the perfect thriller. This extraordinary novel set my blood fizzing―I quite literally couldn’t put it down. I told myself I’d just dip in; eleven hours later―it’s now 5:47 a.m.―I’ve finished it, absolutely dazzled.”
―A. J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

Promising to be the debut novel of the season The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband―and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive…

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….

About Alex (from Amazon):

Alex Michaelides was born in Cyprus to a Greek-Cypriot father and English mother. He has a MA in English Literature from Cambridge University and a MFA in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. The Silent Patient is his first novel.