The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides- Book Review

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides- Book Review

Title: The Silent Patient

Author: Alex Michaelides

Publisher: Orion Books

Publish Date: 2019

Rating: 4/5

Summary(blurb): Alicia Berenson's life is seemingly perfect. Until one night, when her husband, Gabriel, returns home late from work, 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 a mystery that captures the public imagination. And she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids at the Grove, a secure psychiatric unit in North London. Criminal psychotherapist Theo Faber is captivated by Alicia's story and jumps at the opportunity to work with her. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband will take him down a path more unexpected and more terrifying than he ever imagined.

**This book review may contain spoilers**

I first came across this book about last year, when a classmate was reading it on the bus and recommended it to me. I forgot about it for a long time before re-encountering it last week, when I found out that another of my friends had chosen that book for an English assignment. That night I picked it up in intrigue-- and speed-read it over the course of just two days. 

The Silent Patient primarily follows two characters, Theo and Alicia. Alicia Berenson has murdered her husband Gabriel, and after that becomes entirely silent (she is the silent patient). She goes into a psychiatric care ward called the Grove instead of prison due to her lawyer pleading insanity on her behalf, but still refuses to talk. Six years later, Theo Faber is a psychotherapist deeply interested in Alicia's case, and moves his job to the Grove specifically to treat Alicia. He is determined to get Alicia speaking, and in order to do that gets in touch with many of Alicia's past acquaintances. Alicia's perspective is interspersed within the book as well, through diary entries made before Alicia's crime that lead up to it. The book is an engrossing and suspenseful page-turner, with an amazing plot twist at the end. 

The plot was arguably the best part of the book-- The interactions between Theo and Alicia were interesting and it was engrossing to slowly see the mystery unfurl via Theo's investigations. Contrary to some people I liked the parts with Theo's perspective better than Alicia's diary entries, mostly because it didn't feel like Alicia's past was relevant to the story (which it was) and I wanted to see how Theo would nudge Alicia out into the open, how Theo would get Alicia to talk. Every sign of progress made with Alicia-- which were basically displays of emotion, which then led to the eventual spoken words-- made me excited and want to see what else would happen. The web of storytelling was expertly woven, leaving out important details but leaving in subtle ones, just enough for the final immense plot twist to make sense. I did not see the twist coming at all-- I thought Theo's narrative with Kathy was done in the present tense, but it turned out to be all in the past. The pacing was impeccable, each chapter pushing me forward deeper into the story but keeping me on edge the whole time until I was finished. 

The plot was very well written and executed in my opinion, yet the characters were somewhat flat-- there were many instances where I felt the characters should be more elaborated upon or discussed in more detail, and I never really connected to any of the characters. The big reveal at the end with Theo's actions was a complete surprise, as the Theo I had known in the previous chapters was not like this at all-- it slightly felt like the author was trying to force the plot twist into the story. Alicia's diary entries were also an obvious plot device for some way to integrate past events into the story, as they were way too detailed and unrealistic. What kind of person, being injected with 'a massive dose of morphine', would have the time and energy to write down a highly detailed diary entry complete with pages of dialogue, then jam it very tightly into the corner of a painting before falling into a coma? Additionally, some other characters had a lot left over that could have been explored-- Max and Yuri being two of the most obvious side characters that have a lot to delve into. It's revealed at the end that Yuri is dealing drugs in the Grove, and Max is consistently shown to have assaulted Alicia before the murder, so there was certainly a lot to be explored there. Lastly I never really connected to any of the characters-- I was interested in solving the mystery, but I wasn't rooting for any specific character. Even Theo didn't have my full support as I felt Alicia must have been somewhat justified in the killing, and even after the plot twist, it didn't make sense why Theo would have done what he had done.

All in all, The Silent Patient is a great suspenseful psychological thriller that has a big plot twist in the finale. The plot is amazing and intriguing with the almost detective-like journey Theo embarks on, and the plot twist was unforeseen- however the characters are a bit lackluster, and are inconsistent/flat. 

I would recommend this book for grade 8 or 9 and up, it does contain some explicit language as well as topics such as childhood abuse and murder.

Rating: I would give this a 4/5 - true to its label, it's a psychological thriller with a great premise and plot as well as an immense plot twist, but it was lacking in the character department.