Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

340 reviews

anjh's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-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

oh my god wow. this book shocked me. it was a real page turner, one of the quickest books i’ve read this year. it was one of those books where you are kept on your feet and kept guessing thinking “is it this person?” “no it can’t be”, until one possiblity is ruled out and you form another theory but all the time there is a hidden clue (that the book is written to make you miss) and there is a plot twist and ahshdhdhhd

i think too there were some pretty interesting themes in this book - such as not only the devastating and shocking effects of untreated trauma and what it can do to people but also when this is combined with the power of love in the strongest of relationships the lengths people will go to to make things seemingly “right”. honestly this all probably makes no sense unless you read the book but ahhh it’s so good and just,,, thrilling

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Domestic abuse, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

katlinstirling_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

I really enjoyed this book, more than I thought I would! Gave me Agatha Christie vibes sort of. 4.5 Stars would recommend

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Suicide, Chronic illness, Medical content, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Mental illness, Alcohol, Murder, Self harm, Car accident, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, and Death

corymbia's review

mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Suicide, and Gun violence

cheymarie98's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

• Great plot twist
• Even though I loved it, there was a feeling of disappointment when I was done
• The ending?
• A very “academic” feeling book
• Could be analyzed to pieces-so much to unpack

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Car accident, Infidelity, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Emotional abuse, and Suicide attempt

alianeselvis's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

the twist, holy shit

This book is so good! If you ignore the obvious patient/client violations, this story is so well written. I loved it from start to finish, completely dedicated an entire afternoon to reading this book from start to finish! I'm so so glad I read this, 0.25 stars off simply for the unrealistic patient/client relationship and privileges that would seriously never fly irl

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Stalking

Moderate: Drug use, Gaslighting, Confinement, Gore, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Minor: Addiction, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Car accident, and Drug use

gisele_r's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Very slow until the final quarter of the book but a brilliant ending 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse

Moderate: Abandonment

forbiddenclues's review

challenging dark mysterious sad 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

3.0

The story stated off strong in the beginning, and it really slowed down in the middle. The last few chapters felt rushed as the plot was revealed at the end. I liked how the author writes it as a detective mystery, but there are high volumes of misogyny throughout the book. As Mental Health professional, it was interesting reading about the character's pscyhe.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Abandonment, Blood, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Suicide, and Sexual assault

aaashtyn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I really enjoyed this book, I haven’t read a thriller/mystery in a while, and this was a great book to get back into that genre.

The plot twist was phenomenal, I never predicted that Theo was the husband of the affair that linked him and Alicia and hence the whole purpose of the book.

I personally think that every character in this book is crazy, but that’s what makes us all human. I enjoyed reading the different perspectives, and it helped complete the story more and give more insight into who was “good” or “bad”.

I wish the ending was more complete and defined instead of being left ambiguous after the inspector shows up at Theo’s house; however I just prefer books that have a clear ending and not an ambiguous one.

Overall I loved the book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Infidelity

Moderate: Murder, Drug use, and Emotional abuse

archaicrobin's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

I have had The Silent Patient on my TBR for years and was initially very excited to read it. I first added it back when I was naive and thought that being in the Best Seller list actually meant something, but now I know it’s where mediocre and terrible books are highlighted for all the wrong reasons.

The Silent Patient is incredibly mid, it’s your stereotypical thriller that starts off fine, nothing groundbreaking, but unfortunately disintegrates into this poorly written mess. I was interested for about half of the book then it just tanked completely for me. 

The writing is erratic, the twist is confusing, the plot is slow and honestly boring, and the main character Theo is a dull man with white savior complex. Overall, I wouldn’t really recommend this, there are far better thrillers out there to spend you time on. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Infidelity, Misogyny, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Grief

priyankachatterjee09's review against another edition

challenging mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I never have been more shocked ever! The writing was normal, the progression was normal, the plot was normal, but the characters and the ending were unbelievably different.

I can be a good mystery solver and the endings are mostly the same as one of my theories. I had almost 20 30 different theories but not a single one came alive. This was extremely well concluded. 

Psychologically, I agreed, we are all broken!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Abandonment