Book Review: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

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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. ~~~~ I cannot give you any more information about this story without giving it away. I can only say that it was an interesting story. I didn't find it to be a thriller. I was actually more intrigued as to the story behind Theo's wife cheating on him and how did it have anything to do with the rest of the story. The story is written in very short chapters (so an easy read) and broken into 5 parts. I read late at night. At the end of Part 4 the bomb dropped and I had to decide whether to read on until I was finished, or wait until the next day. On most occasions I will stay up late to finish the story. In this case I decided not to. I spent the next 24 hours putting pieces together. Because that bomb that was dropped at the end of Part 4 just blew the whole story out of the water and out of my mind. The next day I read Part 5 and found that none of my thoughts were what the story was. What an amazing twist! This book is referred to as a thriller but I only felt the thriller aspect of it was in Part 5. But the whole story was genius. Alex Michaelides has written a masterpiece. If you decided to read this story and think sometime in the first 4 parts that you don't want to finish the book, you MUST finish the book. You will not be disappointed. "An unforgettable - and Hollywood bound - new thriller... A Mix of Hitchcockian suspense, Agatha Christie plotting, and Greek Tragedy." - Entertainment Weekly