The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

“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….”

This post may contain spoilers. Read at your own risk!

This has been one of the first books I have read that was a psychological thriller. It was truly a non-stop read for me. Even though it took me a little while to read, I still didn’t want to put it down. This statement is especially true once I got closer to the end. The author, Alex Michaelides, did a nice job of hooking in the reader.

Theo Faber, a criminal psychotherapist, tried to help Alicia Berenson, a patient at the Grove who had killed her husband and never spoke another word after that point. Theo wanted to figure out why she ended up not talking. He tried to talk to her and have her talk to him back. Many things were tried, even allowing her to have her own studio at the Grove to try and see if she would talk through her art. He even tries to find out about her childhood by talking to different people throughout her life. Some are more help than others.

While all of this was going, another story was being told. Theo was married to Kathy, who was trying to be a theater actor. During the book, we find out that she is being secretive and hiding something. Theo finds out on her computer that she is messaging someone and sneaking around his back. Of course, we also find out that Theo had a troubled childhood which leads him to believe that he will always be messed up. Learning of this betrayal leads Theo to have many troubling thoughts, even makes him follow his wife and then later the man to whom she was cheating with.

There are many things running through my mind as I am reading this like why would Alicia kill her husband and why she decided to stop talking. Michaelides did a nice job of completely blowing my mind at the end. I will be honest that I did not see it coming. I won’t spoil the end, but prepared to be completely surprised. I could not put the book down during the last 20 pages or so. I really wanted to know how it was going to end. I definitely recommend this book. It was very good and an easy read!