Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Die stumme Patientin by Alex Michaelides

48 reviews

maaanaaan's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

5.0

Twisting. I’m sick, i gasped and put my left hand on my mouth while reading the fifth part. I’m in such a shock. I don’t know how i feel. Great, amazing, electrifying and dangerous book. You’re most likely to feel all type of emotions throughout it. Words can’t do enough justice to the beauty of this book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Medical trauma, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Suicide, Murder, Torture, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Car accident, Child abuse, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Grief

jamiejanae_6's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Torture, Cursing, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic relationship

clemrain's review against another edition

mysterious slow-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

2.75

The Silent Patient has a fascinating premise, an interesting approach, but is wrapped in basic writing.

Michaelides is a screen writer, and knowing that fact really explains his approach to writing. Picking up on his skill as a screen writer made this book a fascinating read. I can see this book as a movie, but it isn’t properly translated as a novel. I think it’s because the book is missing the nuances of a novel that are skipped in screenwriting. The settings aren’t descriptive, the inner monologue is too loud, and the prose doesn’t contain much literary devices. 

The characters aren’t likeable. Not that they’re shitty people (which they are and that’s ok), they’re just not written dynamically. The one character that could be is silent and overshadowed by an irritating observer. Alicia is fascinating in ways most killers are. Her silence adds to it. And her diary entries are a great way to give us more of her before the climax. Still, she falls short even while reaching her breaking point, the most anticipated revelation. She’s just so boring. I think it’s because down to her core, Alicia is just such a manic pixie dream girl character. Everyone is in love with her, obsessed with her, jealous of her, or feels the need to fix her. But nothing about her is enticing enough for me to buy it.

Michaelides writes women like a man, as the phrase goes. So that took away from the experience of immersion a lot.

The use of the myth was a little on the nose and too heavily relied on.

All actions in this book are explained alway by some Freudian bullshit. It’s almost like the author read up on some very basic psychology and just ran with it. Not every action needs to be analyzed on a deeper level and be connected back to childhood or parenting. It was so annoying to read Theo continuously make those observations and conclusions.

I predicted the ending very early on. Mainly due to being told that there was a crazy plot twist. However, looking back at it I saw the way the author tried to throws us off the trail and that is just not interesting. Throwing readers off the trail, to then make a revelation that had no seeds in the story until the very end is not a good mystery.  

I liked how you almost forget that Theo is reflecting back on an account. It almost seems we’re seeing a present through Theo and past through Alicia, but it’s all in the past. I liked that because when Theo recounting his wife’s affair eventually collides with Alicia’s story, there is a satisfactory whiplash.

This alone made the potential of the story so strong. But choosing to mislead in the plot took away from the execution. I think letting us into the revelation earlier on would’ve made the story more seamless.

I get that there is an unreliable narrator. I understand that everything Theo says is a reflection of himself.

it’s his narcism that he’d want to go fix what he broke so completely and think he wouldn’t face consequences

Having known all of this, my point still stands. It’s just corny.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Gun violence, Infidelity, Death, Mental illness, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Suicide, Body horror, Gaslighting, Grief, and Sexual content

emmajh91's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture

hannahrogers's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Infidelity, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Cursing, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

skye23's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.25

I enjoyed the plot twist of this book and such but the only way to enjoy it is to weirdly enough, not over internalize it. It was shocking and addicting but overall i struggle with the poor display of mental health and the deeply based misogyny. Somehow this book makes the women look bad when a man is the bad guy and mastermind behind all of the evil.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Torture, Eating disorder, Suicide, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Violence, Car accident, Grief, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Drug use, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Misogyny

redefiningrachel's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Murder, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Gun violence

Moderate: Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Torture, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Addiction, Gore, Grief, Drug use, and Alcohol

Minor: Violence, Misogyny, and Toxic friendship

midnacine's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

HOLY SHIT my brain hasn't been that boggled since I saw Gone Girl in theaters.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Murder, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Medical content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, Alcohol, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, and Mental illness

Minor: Confinement, Fatphobia, Pregnancy, and Sexism

ecravens's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Torture, Sexual harassment, Gun violence, Blood, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Car accident, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Sexual content, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Murder, and Physical abuse

turtlebread's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

A clever book, with some flaws that kept me from loving it. The writing style between the POV character and the diary entries of another character are so similar in voice that it took me out of the book at times. I also think it's a bit wordier than it needed to be for my liking. Though perhaps I felt this way because I just wanted to understand the central mystery. I enjoy a slow burn but this was more of a no burn with a sudden crescendo of fire. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Torture, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual harassment and Suicidal thoughts