Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

252 reviews

reeses1283's review against another edition

4.5

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis

anwen_16's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting

madincrafts's review against another edition

2.5

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Car accident

beeagremlin's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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It felt very slow in the beginning for a long while, and it took 3 attempts for me to really get into this book, but the plot twist was worth it and I'm glad I stuck with this. So worth the read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief

Minor: Chronic illness, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

smsimon1's review against another edition

4.25

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, Murder

vaporvox's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Alex Michaelides' The Silent Patient definitely has the qualities of being a modern classic. It's everywhere you look as a reader - book stores, online shops, libraries, thrift shops, you name it. Wherever you look, you're bound to find a copy of this novel. The novel itself is a very sad and mysterious story that compels you with a somewhat-relatable protagonist and keeps you drawn in as the mystery of what happened to Alicia (and why she won't speak) hits several twists and turns and new sources. The big twist at the end is what really does it for me. Up until the chapter where it occurs, I never would have expected the novel to take the direction it took. I was absolutely floored by the end result. The way it weaves the twist into the story helps the novel perfectly transition from murder mystery to psychological thriller. The only thing about the novel that I wasn't a fan of was how some of the characters are written - the narrator included. For being a psychotherapist, the narrator really makes some genuinely stupid choices that frustrate more than compel me to keep reading. Otherwise, the novel has a great twist and knows how to pull you in for a mind-blowing mystery. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit

Forced inst.: Alicia is kept in a psychiatric ward against her will for most of the novel; Gaslighting:

In the big twist, it turns out that the main character has been gaslighting Alicia this entire time by trying to help her and playing off that he was the individual who caused her issues.

; Infidelity: The main character's wife regularly cheats on him with another man, which he finds out through an open webchat; Mental illness: Alicia is in a psych ward due to having unpredictable, violent tendencies and the refusal to speak; Suicide attempt: Alicia has tried to commit suicide multiple times in the past; Toxic relationship: Several characters have toxic relationships within the boundaries of their relationships and friendships. Death/Murder: The main cause of the novel's plotline is a murder. Domestic abuse: Max Berenson is assumed to threaten and beat his wife; Drug Use: The main character regularly uses marijuana for his problems. Alicia is kept heavily drugged all the time by staff to reduce her violent tendencies.

Near the end of the novel, Alicia is drugged to the point of overdose on morphine, to the point where her respiratory system gives up and they have to induce a coma.

; Gun violence: Gabriel (Alicia's husband) is shot by her 5 times near the beginning of the story; Injury/injury detail: Alicia at one point claws at the main characters face and arms. Alicia also tries to claw the eye out of another psychiatric patient for ruining her new painting; Sexual content: Alicia writes in her journal about making love to Gabriel multiple times. The main character speaks about his wife in much the same way. The main character catches his wife sleeping with another man in a bush outdoors, fairly graphic description; Sexual assault: It is assumed that Max Berenson tried to force himself upon Alicia at least once; Stalking: The main character stalks his wife and/or her affair regularly; Vomit: The main character vomits when he finds out his wife is cheating on him.

melaniesw13's review against another edition

4.75

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content

what_is_much's review against another edition

1.0

dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Okay to preface, this is not a genre I ever read! I can’t remember the last dark mystery, thriller (?) book I’ve read. So that could be a huge part in why I didn’t like it. Another reason could be that I listened to it all on audiobook and this is the first audiobook I’ve completed. I will say though that I don’t know if I would’ve finished the book if it hadn’t been audible, and if I had finished it, there probably would’ve been a lot of wait time between each time I picked it up.

Overall, I’d say that the entire time I was listening I was just waiting for the big reveal. I knew there was a twist coming and I was always cataloging details to help piece it together. But the details weren’t very entertaining anyway so I felt like I was making the possibilities more grand than they ended up being. And maybe knowing there was a big twist ruined the experience, but I think I would’ve felt that something was coming anyway because what else would I have been reading the whole book for? There’s only 2 main plot points we are following and there just isn’t much else happening besides

getting the patient to talk & finding more out about Theo’s wife’s affair

. I just feel like I read/listened to soooooo much of nothing happening that by the time the reveal came, I was just sick of waiting. It didn’t matter anymore what the twist was because the rest of the book bored me. 

As for the twist

I caught on that it was Theo as the stalker and I think others probably read into it before it was actually said as well. I do think him leaving the crime scene without killing anyone was a good extra twist though. Because as you’re reading it, you start to wonder whether he did it or she did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood

Moderate: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Car accident, Sexual harassment

pidgey_08's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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wow

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

blankaurban's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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At first I thought the reviews on the cover were exaggerating, but then I read the book and found out what they were talking about.

The plot was so complex and interesting that it kept me hooked the entire time. I was constantly thinking about the book, even when I wasn't reading it. The pacing of it was great, which made it such a page-turner that it was practically impossible to put down. When the pieces of the puzzle started to align towards the end, I was actually so shocked that I had to stop to think for a second.

The characters were all so unique and the way they were described had me suspicious about all of them. I felt so scared for Alicia when

the tables were starting to turn and we found out that the actual psychopath was Theo.

Overall, it was a great book and definitely one of my favourite books and thrillers of all time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Stalking, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicide, Blood, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder

Minor: Cursing, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Vomit, Medical content, Alcohol