The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - Orion

Publisher - 323

Source - Review Copy

Blurb from Goodreads

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 Review

We open with a diary entry from Alicia Berenson, started in July and we get a wee glimpse into Alicia. Just over a month later Alicia will kill her husband and not speak another word, everyone is fascinated with the case. What would make a happily married woman snap and murder her husband and why won't she speak. Years has passed and Theo Faber, Criminal psychologist is offered a job to work at the facility where Alicia is being cared for. He has always wanted to work with her, try to get her to speak, to unravel the mystery that has baffled them all but sometimes people keep secrets for a reason and Alicia has her reasons. Can Faber find a way to unlock Alicia's silence and finally get some answers?

For a debut or just a book in general I think this is fantastically written. We get wee snippets from Alicia, from her diary, before the killing. As Faber trys to work with Alicia he has to get answers as she is silent and giving nothing, people are being obstructive, secrets are galore but we all want to know why.

Alicia is a complex character, we know there is more underneath the surface but we only really see snaps of her, the Alicia now who doesn't speak but has snapped a few times. The Alicia from her diary who reveals a little bit more with each entry and Faber, trying to hard to work with someone who is essentially shut down.

We are drip fed small bits of information as Faber digs, putting his career and reputation at risk as he pushes boundaries to try and help a woman most seem to have given up on. It is a psychological thriller, it pulls you in from the first few chapters. If you are nosey like me you are dying to see what actually happened, why is she quiet, why won't she speak you won't be able to put this one down. 4/5 for me this time, I look forward to seeing what this author puts out next, certainly a name worth watching out for.

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The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

THE SILENT PATIENT by Alex Michaelides is OUT TODAY, happy publication day Alex.



Published in Hardback by Orion on 7th February 2019, price £12.99 CLICK HERE

Alicia lives a life most dream of. She lives in a house in one of the most desirable areas of London. She is a famous painter, and her husband, Gabriel, is an in-demand fashion photographer. Her life is perfect.

That is, until one evening when Gabriel returns late from a fashion shoot and Alicia shoots him five times and then never speaks another word.

Theo Faber, a forensic psychotherapist, has been consumed with the case for five years, and is the only person able to unravel the mystery of why.

The Silent Patient is a heart-stopping debut thriller about a woman's brutal and random act of violence against her husband - and the man obsessed with discovering why.

Praise for The Silent Patient:

‘The Silent Patient sneaks up on you like a slash of intimidating shadow on a badly lit street. Michaelides has crafted a totally original, spellbinding psychological mystery so quirky, so unique that it should have its own genre. I read it in two nights and savoured every luscious word, every grim encounter, every startling twist. The pages will burn with the friction from your hands turning them’ – DAVID BALDACCI

‘There are books with twists and then there is THIS BOOK. Wow. Brilliant pacing, the definition of a page turner, its tone and readability reminded me of The Girl On The Train in parts. But that twist comes as hard and fast as a slap across the face. Loved it.’- JOHN MARRS

‘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 AM - I've finished it, absolutely dazzled’ – A. J. FINN, bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

‘Smart, sophisticated suspense’ - LEE CHILD

‘Alex Michaelides has written one of the best psychological thrillers I have ever read. The Silent Patient is a swarming, paranoid nightmare of a novel with an ending that is destined to go down as one of the most shocking, mind-blowing twists in recent memory’ – BLAKE CROUCH, author of the New York Times bestseller Dark Matter

‘An excellent, slow-burning psychological thriller; sharp, clever and with a whammy that genuinely took me by surprise (it takes a lot to do this). Kudos to the author. More, please’ – JOANNE HARRIS, bestselling author of Chocolat

'Just one more chapter. Just one more. Then I'll stop.' Once you pick up The Silent Patient, this will be what you'll say to yourself, until you give in and keep reading until the blindsiding and brilliantly clever conclusion - no matter how good a sleuth you are, you aren't going to see it coming’

– EMILY KOCH, author of If I Die Before I Wake

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:




Alex Michaelides was born in Cyprus in 1977. He wrote the film The Devil You Know starring Rosamund Pike and co-wrote The Brits are Coming, starring Uma Thurman, Tim Roth, Stephen Fry, Parker Posey and Sofia Vergara. The Silent Patient is first novel. He was inspired to write it while doing a post graduate course in psychotherapy and working part-time at a secure psychiatric unit for two years. Brad Pitt's Plan B are developing the film of The Silent Patient: they have won Best Film Oscars for The Departed and 12 Years a Slave.