BOOK REVIEW: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides really surprised me... in a good way! The author did a fantastic job of keeping me in the dark. I had so many "Oh, I see what's going on here..." moments that were followed by "Okay, you got me that time but now I REALLY see what's going on..." moments while reading this book.

In fact, I never actually did see what was going on until mere moments before Michaelides plainly reveals it. To which I must say...

I love a well-written psych thriller that keeps my brain asking question after question all the way up until the very end. Because it's so hard to find them!

The Silent Patient is broken down into five parts (+ a prologue) and is told from the alternating perspectives of a "silent patient" named Alicia and her psychotherapist, Theo. The prologue provides the reader with Alicia's backstory -- the context of her daily life, as well as her marriage, and the events leading up to the traumatic event that triggered Alicia's silence -- and is told in the form of a diary written before the event. From that point forward, the story is largely told from Theo's POV in first person narrative, with an occasional entry from Alicia's diary mixed in here and there.

Short, palatable chapters, and alternating point of views, create a story that is unputdownable and easily consumed. More importantly, the author's ability to keep his readers guessing until the very end makes The Silent Patient well worth the read.

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