Thursday, May 28, 2020

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides // BOOK REVIEW + FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS


“Remember, love that doesn't include honesty doesn't deserve to be called love.”

SPOILER ALERT

Book: The Silent Patient
Author: Alex Michaelides
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Adult
Synopsis: 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...

What I like about it…

 

It frustrates the hell out of me and I like it. I kept figuring out what happened to Alicia but I just can’t crack it. When Alicia started talking about what happened that night and Theo said she’s lying, I then thought, “Damn it. Alicia is really crazy. She’s lying and she’s unreliable.” I mean, most of the books I’ve read in this genre (the girls anywhere particularly) always make the female leads have some illness, make them unreliable by being a drunkard, divorced with husbands but in the end what they see is what they see and they’re always right and not just hallucinating, they don’t lie… they’re honest. But here, Alicia is really crazy. Or was crazy. There was a scene where they were smoking in the courtyard and she’s telling Theo everything but then she suddenly turned and walked back inside and I was like, “Alicia what now? Talk cos there are few pages left of this book.” But you know it was really good because it kept me at the edge of my seat. Forget the plot holes because there are loads of it. The anticipation and mystery and thrill blinded me. It was oh-so good.

 

That night…

 

Damn I like it. I love it, actually. I love it that Alicia did it and not some crazy twist that she didn’t do it. It was very painful for Alicia to be sentenced to death, again, by the love of her life. She was blindsided and I am too (with this story). I have no right to tell who should die or who shouldn’t but since it’s fiction I’ll be brave to say that the cheater husband deserved it. She shot him in the face, atta girl!

 

Questions 

  • Why did Alicia let Theo read the diary if she recognized him?

  • Why did Theo want Alicia to start talking even though Alicia going back to normal will lead to a possibility that she might recognize and expose him?

  • There was a part where Yuri told Theo that Jean-Felix was in the waiting room of the Grove and when Theo went there, he was gone. What was he doing there?

  • What does Jean-Felix mean when he told Alicia, “You need to be careful. You’re way too trusting. The people around you… you trust them. Don’t. Don’t trust them.” Does this mean he knows something about Gabriel? No conclusion.

  • Also with Max, there was no conclusion whatsoever. Like, why did Theo think that he’s dangerous? And why did Tanya seemed so scared of him? And in the end he was the one so sad and so heartbroken of Alicia dying. I mean of course he was sad because he loves her but there was no conclusion at all.

  • Why was Paul lying even when Theo told him that he knew about Paul asking Alicia for money because Paul was gambling. What can he get from still lying? It’s not as if he has something to do with what happened to Alicia.

  • Why did Theo not get Alicia’s Alcestis painting when he was there when Gabriel chose his life over hers?

  • Why did Gabriel bring Alicia to Christian West? Not to treat her but to make her crazier, is it? And was Christian so mean to Alicia? I’m guessing he just doesn’t want to get exposed that he’s doing some illegal part-time work. And why was he rude to Theo, too?

  • What really happened in the end?

  • That was it for Kathy? She’s the other part that completes the cheating duo and that was it for her? I wanna know her reaction when she discovers that Theo played a part in Gabriel’s death.

  • I think, and what I less like about this, is that Alex Michaelides made it appear like all the characters have questionable motives and are all suspicious so we don’t know what’s happening.

My Verdict

 

I don’t know about people who said that this book was boring and just like some other poorly rated thriller / mystery but this was brilliant for me. It was, maybe, slow in the beginning but I enjoyed every bit of it. Very highly recommended like I want someone who I can discuss this with.


MY RATING
★★★★★

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