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Book review and synopsis for The Silent Patient past Alex Michaelides, a twisty psychological thriller.

Synopsis

In The Silent Patient, Alicia Berenson is a well-known painter who murdered her hubby six years agone and hasn't spoken a give-and-take since. He was found bound to a chair with gunshot wounds to his face, and she was convicted soon thereafter.

Theo Faber is a psychotherapist who hopes to treat Alicia and uncover the mystery behind her motives for killing her hubby. As they sit in silence, the main clue he has is a painting she completed. She titled it Alcestis, named afterward a heroine in Greek mythology who sacrifices her life to save her husband.

(The Detailed Plot Summary is also available, beneath)

Book Review

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides shows you exactly what type of book it's aiming to exist from the very outset sentence: "Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband." No messing around here.

For people who like their thrillers-slash-mysteries to have twisty plots and directly-forward writing, this recent release is 1 to look at (just with some big caveats, and so keep reading). Since its February 2019 release, it's been climbing all over the bestseller charts and is being developed into a movie by heavy-hitters Annapurna and Plan B.

The Adept Stuff

Let'southward get-go with the good stuff. The premise of this book is fantastic. I was engaged right away. The ending is surprising, fifty-fifty if you lot guess the twist (I didn't, only some might), and the manner the crucial scene of the volume plays out is well washed. I was skeptical of whether the book would come up together, and I pleasantly surprised that it ultimately does.

For most thrillers, I think, the ending is the make-it-or-break it aspect of the story, and this one is pretty solid. Michaelides's debut novel is an easy, accessible and entertaining read, and it will undoubtedly make for a thrilling moving-picture show if and when that is released.

Overall, the story keeps your interest and is well-paced. Information technology reads pretty much the way a thriller should read, with plenty of twists and intriguing bits of information doled out at a steady prune.

Some Criticisms

Then, the flaws in this book are numerous, only they're also pretty standard for the genre. The characterizations of characters are sort of silly or cartoonish (the motherly female doc! the arrogant md who gets in the manner! and then on). Michaelides throws in so many red herrings and faux starts that the volume begins to accept an unintentionally campy feel. (Without giving anything away, when nosotros find out why Theo gets knocked out, I actually rolled my eyes.)

As for the writing, it's passable, but leaves a bit to exist desired. Information technology serves to move from i plot point to the next (sometimes rather clumsily), and that's about it. And while I liked the ending, a lot of the pocket-sized plot "twists" are pretty bromidic — at that place'due south a lot of "he said, she said" in the mushy middle of the book that more closely resembles a jumbled mess than an entertaining mystery. Most of those red herrings are left unresolved.

Finally, despite the steadily moving pace of the book, it takes a while to go into the meat of the book. There's a range of characters to be introduced and decent clamper of groundwork information to go over earlier the action starts to happen. As a upshot, it relies frequently on one of my least-favorite literary/mystery "tricks" to try to sustain the reader'due south involvement as it doles out background information — it throws out ominous-sounding narration to reassure you lot that things will become interesting later (I didn't know then that information technology was doomed, I would later realize my mistake, etcetera and etcetera). Non a large deal, but I wish people wouldn't do this.

Read it or Skip it?

The Silent Patient is a thriller that nails the catastrophe, and for that reason alone I'm inclined to forgive a lot of its imperfections. I was perplexed by the main mystery in this volume and felt that gratifying "oh man, I should take guessed this!" feeling when it was revealed. For me, this goes a long way.

As a fan of thrillers, I'chiliad fairly forgiving of books in this genre that aren't perfect. I found this book mildly entertaining, and I retrieve in that location's lots of people who will bask reading it, especially if yous dear smartly laid out plots.

That said, my main thought is that information technology will be much amend equally a motion picture. (And I wouldn't be surprised if the potential to sell movie rights is why the publisher picked it up in the first identify.) The basic frame of a really adept plot is in that location, it only needs some retooling and a piddling more than dash. Given the fantastic reputation of the studios developing information technology, anyone who is not a fan of a genre should probably just watch to movie when it comes out.

That said, if you exercise similar psychological thrillers and are not nit-picky about your books, this is a quick and fun read overall. If you liked The Wife Between Us, for instance, you might like this volume. Bank check out the Silent Patient on Amazon.

P.South. Mind to my word of this book on the Almost Read Books podcast, Ep. 1 The Silent Crawdads & the Six.

The Silent Patient, Explained!

Spoilers and Caption first here! Don't read beyond this point if you haven't read the book! Go along reading if you've read the volume, only have questions!

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Book Excerpt

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Moving picture / TV Bear witness Adaptation

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