Thoughts on : The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Genre : Thriller
Stand alone
About the Book :
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….
My Thoughts :
Without a doubt, The Silent Patient has been one of this winter’s most hyped thriller, and it’s easy to see why: it has an intriguing premise, a great pace and short chapters that often end on a revelation or a small twist. Once I picked it up, I had a hard time putting it down – yet I didn’t completely love it.
All in all, I found it quite predictable. Readers who are new to thrillers will possibly find the story more surprising and thrilling than it was for me. Or perhaps readers who are less critical than I am? I usually don’t think of myself as being very critical of books, in fact I’m quite easy to please if the book entertains me; but I do think that, when it comes to thrillers, I’ve been hit with twist-fatigue. It seems so many mystery books right now are focused on the twist, to the detriment of a good story.
I also thought Theo was quite an uninteresting character. He didn’t seem to me to be particularly kind or clever or unique or anything. For most of the book he lacked a clear motivation that I could relate to.
Negatives aside though, I still had a good time reading this book. The story might have been predictable for me, but the clues are cleverly sprinkled in and you feel as though you’re constantly discovering something new about the characters and the plot. I enjoyed the guessing game and trying to see how it would all fit together in the end. And the writing, while not being anything special, served the story and its quick pace really well.
The Silent Patient does many things right, I believe, even though I wasn’t completely charmed by it. I’d say take my opinion with a grain of salt though, as it seems I’m the minority here and that most readers quite enjoyed this one.
Aw, too bad it’s so predictable.
It was still an entertaining read though, I might think about giving it a try if you’re interested.
I didn’t understand whether he got caught in the end. If the detective knew it was him, why would he come to his house all alone and I didn’t get the reaching out for a snowflake part, anyone have any other thoughts?