Review: The Silent Patient by 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....

Kobo, 323 pages

Published February 5th, 2019

by Celadon Books

*****

As much as I love a good psychological thriller/mystery I will admit to being a hard sell. Is it plausible? Is the ending rushed for the sake of finishing the story off? Are there twists that are unforeseeable and comes out of left field that just doesn’t fit?  The Silent Patient was a whim read for me, it became available at the library (via Overdrive) and was an impulse loan. It was a classic case of the book picking me and I have no regrets at all! I loved it! It fit exactly what I want in a psychological mystery.

Debut novelist Alex Michaelides wove a story that kept me guessing and blindsided me with its ending. I love it when a book does that. The characters are flawed, the plot addicting and the pacing was perfect and really I’m not going to much more.

Just be forewarned this is an addicting read and while I thought my 2 days to finish was fast I’m sure others finished faster.

This is the authors' debut which has me anxious (and a little nervous) for what he has next, I mean The Silent Patient is mighty big boots to top.

As for the cover, not a fan, which might be why this book wasn't really on my radar.