The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Read Dates: August 29, 2023 – August 30, 2023
Date Published: February 5, 2019
Source: Kindle ebook

Goodreads — Amazon

Well, what a delightful thriller I just consumed! Literally 24 hours later and two sittings and I’m done because I could not put this one down.

We’re all crazy, I believe, just in different ways.

Alicia killed her husband at 33-years-old. She’s now in a psychiatric hospital. She hasn’t uttered a word since the day of the murder when the police found her standing with a bloody knife over her husband’s body. Open and shut case, right? But there’s more to every story isn’t there? Unless, of course, the only person who can clarify her side of the story refuses to speak. Theo Faber is a psychotherapist who becomes a bit obsessed with Alicia’s story. He gets transferred to her psychiatric hospital and works his way to being assigned to Alicia. He believes he can make her talk. He wants to work with her and see if he can crack her exterior shell. But sometimes there’s even more to the story than we bargain for.

Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive, and will come forth later, in uglier ways.

—SIGMUND FREUD

This book just… had me by the balls that I don’t possess. I did not expect it. There was a moment towards the end where the lightbulb finally came on and I did a Jim Halpert at an invisible camera. This was such a fun read and I highly recommend it. It’s a slow burn and it sets a bit of an eerie tone but that makes it so good, I think. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

I shivered—and sensed a pair of eyes on the back of my head. I spun around—but no one was there. I was alone. The street was empty, shadowy, and silent.