The Silent Patient book review

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Published by Celadon Books on February 5, 2019
Pages: 325
Goodreads

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 is going to be a hard review to write purely because I don’t want to spoil The Silent Patient for anyone, and one of the main reasons I disliked this book so much was because of a big spoiler. I had heard absolutely fantastic things about this book, and I think that might have added to the disappointment I felt when I reached the end of this book. The story basically follows a woman who has been accused of killing her husband and hasn’t spoken since and a psychologist who has made it his life’s work to cure her. I didn’t connect with the actual events and I found the narration of the whole thing to be quite stilted and forced.

Obviously, the two main characters are Theo and Alicia, who are both the focus and the narrator. I have to say that although there were other characters in the story they weren’t well rounded and two dimensional. I would have loved to have had more insight into the inner workings and the politics of the clinic. I think there was too much said about the two main characters that there was no substance, everything else, including the reveals because the connection hadn’t been made with the characters. It was too self-contained and there wasn’t enough context or background for The Silent Patient to stand on its own. I just wish that either the main characters had been better written or there had been better side characters that had made the main storyline far more interesting.

I really didn’t like The Silent Patient, so my best bits are pretty limited. I would have to say the only thing that I could come up with is that I enjoyed the very limited look at the other characters and I wish that there had been more of that throughout the story!

The worst bit of The Silent Patient would have to be the big reveal and I won’t spoil anything but I thought that it was predictable and poorly done. I think my biggest problem with this book was the fact that all of it felt rushed and underdeveloped. The relationships with each of the characters weren’t well developed and a lot seemed to happen all at once and without actual consequences, it all just seemed like a lot and without the connection, it seemed so matter of fact.

I don’t think I would recommend The Silent Patient, it wasn’t a great mystery and I really didn’t love the big reveal. It all felt a little forced. Plus the main characters were really frustrating and I struggled to connect with them so I would definitely choose another book over this one, but maybe that’s just me because everyone else seems to love this book.

Have you ever been let down by a well-hyped book? Which one was it? Did you love The Silent Patient? Let me know in the comments!