• Home
  • Book Reviews
  • Recipes for Readers
  • About Kerrin
  • Privacy Policy/Copyright

Kerrin's Book Reviews

The Silent Patient

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides was selected as the Goodreads Choice Awards 2019 Winner for Best Mystery and Thriller. The publisher’s blurb states: “The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.”  The movie rights have already been purchased.  I decided to see if it lived up to all the hype.

One night, up and coming artist Alicia Berenson was found standing beside her dead husband, with her own wrists cut and a rifle nearby.  After her guilty verdict for murder, Alicia was placed in the secure psychiatric unit of a private hospital called The Grove.   Alicia has continuously refused to speak in the years after his death.  She did paint one final piece of work, a self-portrait, based on a Greek tragedy The Alcestis by Euripides.  In the Alcestis, the main character agrees to die so her husband can live.  She is then returned from death, but never speaks again. 

Knowing that Alicia is a patient at the Grove, Theo Faber, a criminal psychotherapist, gets a job there so he can treat her.   Since Alicia does not speak during therapy, Theo begins interviewing people who knew Alicia prior to the murder.  This is strictly against the rules set out by his supervisor and seems very suspicious.  Theo is also dealing with his own issues, including a horrific home life as a child, and problems with his wife.  Alicia has kept a diary of events leading up to the murder that is shared with the readers along the way.  While Alicia’s diary is chronological, Theo’s narration has an uncertain timeline.  This leads to many red herrings and plot twists.  This book isn’t a “whodunnit” so much as why was it done. It held my attention to the end.

My rating:  4-Stars.

“Her silence was like a mirror – reflecting yourself back at you. And it was often an ugly sight.”

And now for my Recipes for Readers Recommendation:
The Silent Night Martini
Silent Night Martini
Spread the love
Yum
2019 Goodreads Choice Winner 4-stars Alex Michaelides Mental Hospital Mystery Psychological Thriller Suspense The Silent Patient
March 14, 2020

Post navigation

The Silent Night Martini → ← The Things We Cannot Say

2 thoughts on “The Silent Patient”

  1. Cindy Tutt says:
    March 14, 2020 at 10:54 pm

    Kerrin
    I plan to read this- thank you for the review!sure wish I could drink the Silent Night Martini too!

    Reply
  2. Myra Southern says:
    March 15, 2020 at 11:07 am

    This sounds intriguing…I like psychological thrillers. Thanks for the review, Kerrin.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Book Reviews

Recipes

Contact Me

  • Kerrin@booksandrecipes.com

Follow Me on Pinterest

Powered by WordPress | theme SG Window