Book Review – The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

The Silent Patient
<— CREEEEEPY cover, and what a story!!! I devoured it in practically one sitting and my mind was RACING!!! Recommended a bunch by our own book-crew here, and I have no doubt why it was a #1 New York Times Bestseller.

It kept me guessing, it kept me on the edge of my seat and best yet (and one of the main reasons I read psych-thrillers) is it had a jaw-dropping, gasp-worthy twist. OH HECK YES IT DID!!! I’m SO GLAD I one-clicked it (price be damned!! It was worth it!!) 😀

Tasha J: So, I just finished The Silent Patient and holy cow! It reads so well, sucks you right in and keeps you invested till the very end. I’m telling you, I had thought up what I thought to be every possibility of what happened and was completely, totally shocked at the outcome. Jezebel vibes, peeps!

Maryse: OMG TASHA!!! That book is for me!!!!! I always love when you freak out over a thriller. :D!!!

Tasha J: Only because of shock value, and the great story, not cause they match or anything.

Nay: I’m almost halfway through the audio book of The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides and so far, so good. Blake Crouch, one of my fave authors, said this in his review: “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.” I’m all for that! I also love the male narrator, Jack Hawkins. He has a British accent and is amazing with female voices.

Nay: Maryse–I finished The Silent Patient and I loved it! I’m not going to say anything else about it because I don’t want to get your mind going in any particular direction. Let’s just say I was enthralled the entire time and didn’t want to stop listening. I highly recommend the audio book version. I waited for 3 months to get it from the library and it was totally worth it!

And I was SOOOOO sure of myself. I thought I was SOOOOOOOO clever. I had it figured out right to the very end, and while I was excited about my cleverness, and even though I thought I knew “it”, I was still thrilled thinking it would certainly be a gasp-worthy twist (and I couldn’t wait to experience the delight and the gasp as the “how” and “why” unfolded).

Maryse: Nay!! I’m almost halfway through “The Silent Patient” and I’m totally into it!!! 😀

Nay: Yay! I was afraid to ask. Just wait!

Tasha J: Omg I can’t wait till you’re finished!!

Maryse: You guys it is SO good. I was/am devastated for a certain discovery…

Maryse: I feel like I already know what the twist is… but… if I’m right, I’ll be happy ’cause it’s clever!

Nay: Maryse–I thought I knew, but I was really, really wrong. Like the most wrong I could have been. I need to vaguely comment on it, but I’m going to wait until you’re finished.

Maryse: GASP!!! I’m at 90% and still am sure of myself. OH HOW I HOPE I AM WRONG!!!!!!!

Maryse: OH. EM. GEE. WHAT THE HECK AM I READING???????? WHAT??? WHHHHHHAT????? I AM SO WRONG???????????

Amy: Okay, after your reaction to the…twist? Ending? CLICK.

Maryse: I was so sure I knew the twist from early on, and was CONVINCED and thought I was so clever, and then it slapped the clever right out of my mouth with the reveal. LOL!! I love when that happens!

Nay: I know, right? I’m glad you loved it!

Andrea: Ooooohhhh, I love that too! I will definitely be checking this one out!

Maryse: I was so wrong. And that. Was. AWESOME.

Jean: Maryse, I’d been waiting for your feedback on The Silent Patient! Now I have to read it ASAP!!!!!

Maryse: You do, Jean!! I was hooked from the start (it was just really interesting the whole way through), I didn’t have a hard time keeping up with the characters and who was who… and then I made a notes section identifying all my suspicions and why… I was so sure I was the most clever. HA! Not. 😉 GREAT read!!!!!

Jean: I love when that happens! Totally blindsided!

Nay: I agree with Maryse, Jean. Read it!

Ohhhhhh HOW I WAS WRONG. SOOOOO WRONG. And the actual reveal was even BETTER than I could imagine!! It all came to fruition and made sense… once I started backtracking. This one has *ooooooooomph!!!*

Okay… so. I went in BLIND. No blurb reading, nothing. I went in on the reactions of fellow readers and that cover and title that was right up my thriller alley. And that’s it. Personally, I recommend you go in blind too, because nothing I write further on the story will live up to the true “feel” and unfolding of this story. So well written, it’s incredible.

But if you want to know more, here it is:

It’s about a woman (“Alicia” a renowned artist) in a mental hospital that refuses to speak. She’s almost… catatonic. No emotions, no reactions, no interactions whatsoever. All the therapy, all the medication, and not a peep.

Maybe she has reason not to speak. After all, she was found over her dead husband (Gabriel) who had been shot 5 times with his own gun… that was laying next to her.

Is it trauma? Or is she protecting herself?

I’ll let you read the rest, through the eyes of her new psychotherapist, “Theo” (so completely intrigued by her)…

If Alicia wasn’t mad—that is, if her silence was merely an act, a performance for the benefit of the jury—then it had worked. She was spared a lengthy prison sentence—and if she made a full recovery, she might well be discharged in a few years. Surely now was the time to begin faking that recovery? To utter a few words here and there, then a few more; to slowly communicate some kind of remorse? But no. Week followed week, month followed month, then the years passed—and still Alicia didn’t speak.

There was simply silence.

…and through her own eyes (via her journal). 😉

Gabriel didn’t say it, but I could tell he’s concerned about me. And if I’m going to be honest—and I may as well be—the real reason I agreed to keep this diary was to reassure him—prove that I’m okay. I can’t bear the thought of him worrying about me. I don’t ever want to cause him any distress or make him unhappy or cause him pain. I love Gabriel so much. He is without doubt the love of my life. I love him so totally, completely, sometimes it threatens to overwhelm me. Sometimes I think—

No. I won’t write about that.

This is going to be a joyful record of ideas and images that inspire me artistically, things that make a creative impact on me. I’m only going to write positive, happy, normal thoughts.

No crazy thoughts allowed.

Oh it gets GOOOOOOOD!!! SQUEEEEEEE!!!!

…I’d pushed her too far, too hard, too soon. It was horribly unprofessional, not to mention totally f**king inept. It revealed far more about my state of mind than hers.

But that’s what Alicia did for you. Her silence was like a mirror—reflecting yourself back at you.

And it was often an ugly sight.

5 STARS!!!! It hooked me from the start, I devoured it in a day, it had me gasping in delighted surprise, and the ending was so fitting. SO PLEASED!!!!