Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

129 reviews

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

xgabrielle_hx's review

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Gun violence, Murder, Self harm, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Torture

wickedgrumpy's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

1.0

I think I was unknowingly spoiled for this book years ago and had internalized the twist, even though I knew nothing else about the story, which made this pretty disappointing.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Torture, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship

gnpunpun's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.25

I could not put this book down honestly it really does grab your attention in the very beginning and does not let go. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Death of parent, and Medical trauma

lottyfarmer's review

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Murder, Grief, Mental illness, Confinement, Death, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Violence, Stalking, Gun violence, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Car accident, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Cursing, Sexual assault, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Death of parent and Eating disorder

bulbasaurcowboy's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

It is a slow read, but a worthwhile read. You can guess a thousand times what the story really is. You'll question yourself constantly, and bit by perfectly timed bit more will be fed to you. The ending is BANANAS! Definitely a new favorite and a book I'll be recommending for a while to come. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, Stalking, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Infidelity, and Self harm

buttercat42's review

adventurous mysterious tense fast-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

2.5

Pretty much the only good thing I have to say about this book is that the plot was compelling enough to keep me reading until the end. The representation of therapists and mental healthcare was piss poor, the narrator was the only character who wasn’t totally one-dimensional, the journal portions were so un-diary-like that it was distracting (no one journals with full sentences of dialogue) and the twist at the end was incredibly lazy, creating a not insignificant number of plot holes. At first I thought I just really disliked the narrator, but after reading the author commentary at the end, I think it’s just him. What a shame, because the premise and most of the plot were really quite good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Death, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Self harm, and Stalking

tbrumale's review

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Drug use, Self harm, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Death, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

loudo's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Death, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Gore, Addiction, Alcohol, Car accident, Child abuse, Stalking, Self harm, Grief, Bullying, Gaslighting, Violence, Body horror, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Murder, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Abandonment, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Toxic relationship

arialovegreen's review

dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.5

I kept seeing this book here and there and gave it a shot. Sometimes the simplest statement is the best: It's *really* good.

I'm not usually one for inconclusive endings, and I'm usually the first to sniff out and predict a plot twist in books but the twist in this one took me very much by surprise. I gasped out loud when the major story reveal occurred, I'll admit.

I took this book down in about a couple of hours of reading. I kept finding myself wondering about the world of Theo and Alicia until I finished. The mystery, the will-they, won't-they of it all kept drawing me in until I saw the story to it's conclusion. Michaelides did an amazing job of pacing the story, and I loved the transposed inclusion of Alicia's diary as the plot progressed to reveal more to us about certain characters and their motives as the story went on. I saw in the back that Michaelides mentioned this was to make the reader more invested/caring of Alicia and it definitely worked. I found myself sympathizing with her more and more as the story went on, despite her present lack of communication. 

I could go on, but the bottom line is (haha): if you are even mildly intrigued by mystery or thriller novels, please pick this one up. It's worth it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Infidelity, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Murder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Stalking, Self harm, and Suicide

Moderate: Drug use, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Grief

Minor: Vomit and Rape