The Silent Patient: Book Review

I put myself on on the library hold list for The Silent Patient shortly after it was released in early February but it still took me a little time to receive it and then sit down and devour it. I had even placed this book on my 2019 To Read – New Release List as it was getting a good deal of buzz even a few months before publication.

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides was a book I had a very hard time putting down and was the best psychological thriller type book I had read in a very long time. Chock full of crazy. As I type this about a three weeks after reading it, it is in my mind the best book I have read so far in 2019. If you have anything to do, do not pick up this book because it will be hard to put it down until you are done. Or pick it up and plan on procrastinating everything else you should be doing, because all you will want to do is read.

To give a brief synopsis: Alicia Bernson is an artist and kills her beloved husband Gabriel after shooting him five times. She is found standing over him where he has been tied to a chair. She then stops talking. To anyone. Prior to Gabriel’s death she does keep a diary and these entries are part of the story.

Theo Faber is a psychotherapist that believes he can treat Alicia and gets a job at the mental health facility, The Grove, where she is six years after the murder, and still is not speaking.

I can’t really say more than that as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. The character development, especially for someone like Alicia who isn’t speaking, is excellent. The story is gripping and literally un-put-downable. The author weaves the story as he is building the characters throughout and it is all seamless. Michaelides is a talented author and I look forward to his next book which I most definitely will read.

🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷 A 5/5 for me. Without a doubt.