The Silent Patient

THE SILENT PATIENT

by Alex Michaelides

 

Award: Goodreads Winner 2019

 

Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2021

 

Date Read: November 5, 2023

 

This thriller was quite good with a twist at the end. Grappling throughout with the psyche and the ways it can betray us, Theo is fighting the good fight for his own healing and others’. More specifically, he wants to help Alicia who is an infamous husband killer and famous artist. Since the murder of her husband, she hasn’t spoken a single word.

 

Theo embarked on a career in psychotherapy because of his own upbringing and wanted to overcome the trauma from that time. As it turns out, Alicia had a very similar upbringing, although she lost her mom quite young. Theo hunts down where Alicia is being held and doggedly pursues a job there. He is eventually hired.

 

His one and only reason for taking a job at an institution that’s near collapse is explicitly because of Alicia. You realize he is somewhat obsessed, but in a benign way. Theo, is after all, a married man to Kathy. Alicia was married until the death of her husband. 

 

Once Theo settles in to his new surroundings, he begins therapy with Alicia much to many of the doctors’ chagrin. Everyone believes her to be a lost cause and they should just medicate the hell out of her and let her be. Let the clock run out on her life. In the first of many “told you so” moments, Alicia attacks Theo their very first session.

 

After many challenges and obstacles, Theo gets her to talk. She provides him with her diary and he is able to see her thoughts and perspectives leading up to and after the murder. Theo believes she didn’t do it. But the diary points a finger and who it points to is very interesting. It took me a while to go back and revise the story in my head based on this new information. I’m not going to spoil it, though.

 

A fun, quick read that is thoughtful and intelligent. If you’re going to read popular fiction, you could do much worse. 

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