Book Review: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Title & Author: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Genre: Fiction | Psychological Thriller
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4 / 5) [my book rating scale]
Summary: Alicia Berenson, a famous painter, seemingly randomly shoots her husband several times in the face and then never speaks again. Her only comment after the crime? A painting. After her trial, Alicia begins working with a psychotherapist, Theo Faber, who is determined to figure out the mystery behind her silence and the murder.
Review: I love a good psychological thriller, but I want to preface this review by saying that I don’t find myself rating thrillers higher than four stars. When I pick up a thriller, I am looking for something entertaining, binge-able, and maybe a bit twisted. I don’t usually feel that books that have those qualities are also multifaceted, poignant, full of character/relationship development, and evocative of deeper feelings and meaning (which, for me, five star books often do). That said, if you have read a book that does it all, let me know because I am totally down to discover a five star thriller.
While I don’t think that The Silent Patient is multilayered and composed of the best writing I’ve ever read, I got the suspense I was looking for and flew through it. If you’re looking for a good psychological thriller, this will do the trick.
In a book like this, one might anticipate some twists, turns, discoveries, realizations, etc. and while The Silent Patient definitely had tons of those, I wasn’t thrilled (ha. get it?) with how they were executed. I won’t spoil the book, but let’s just say I felt like there were some gaps and inconsistencies in the plot that just didn’t quite hit for me and left me feeling a bit unsatisfied and disappointed with the ending.
Is the book engaging and entertaining? Yes. Does it deserve to be a popular thriller? I think yes. It’s twisted and complex while still remaining digestible, so it makes sense to me that a wide variety of people would read and enjoy it. Is it the best and most well-executed psychological thriller that I’ve ever read? Maybe not, but it’s definitely towards the top, in my opinion. I also binged it in a couple days and that makes a thriller a pretty good one to me.
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