The thrills of The Silent Patient

Spoiler free review 

The Silent Patient is a psychological thriller written in 2019 by British author Alex Michaelides. It tells the story of Alicia Benenson, who had a seemingly normal live until one day she kills her husband, Gaberial. After that night she refuses to speak, gave no explanation, and turned a tragedy into a mystery without saying a word. Alicia is admitted in to the Grove, a secure psychiatric unit in North London, where she comes the silent patient.  

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist and has been entranced by Alicia’s case for years. He is determined to get her to speak and understand why she killed her husband. When he gets the chance to work with her, he cannot say no. That decision leads him down an unexpected and terrifying path that he was not prepared for.  

This book is written in two different perspectives, Faber’s first-person perspective and Alicia’s dairy entries. Due to this there is a natural merge of professional life and personal life within the story.  

The author did a terrific job at describing the character. He focused on their faces to make sure the readers could really see them. He also created strong characters, no matter how small, they had powerful personalities.  

The characters felt real and so did their emotions. I wanted to hug and yell and hit many of them. There was serious topics being discussed which led to powerful quotes one of my favorites being:  

“One of the hardest things to admit is that we weren’t loved when we needed it most. It’s a terrible feeling, the pain of not being loved” wrote Michaelides. 

The book is described as a thriller but I would not call it that. More than anything it was a mystery. I never knew who to trust. Most of the character never sat right with me for the majority of the book. As soon as I thought I understood a character I ended up being wrong and being thrown back to square one.  

There were times I thought the book was boring so I would put it down but I always caught myself reaching for it when I had a free moment. I am not a person who reads a whole lot and reads fast but I read this book in four days. The plot was addicting. I felt like I needed the answers at that exact moment.  

There were obvious hints littered in the book that I never caught because I was so focused on the now.  

This book is great for people who like mysteries, being a little on edge, and having their mind blown and jaw on the floor when they finish a book. This was a great and addictive book that I believe should be on everyone’s book shelf.