Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

337 reviews

anjh's review against another edition

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

alianeselvis's review against another edition

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

mjm051's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, and Death

saisrei's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Alcohol, Gun violence, Addiction, Blood, Death of parent, Infidelity, Medical content, Violence, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

kitza2000's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

i really enjoyed this book. it was a short, easy read and it kept me interested. the turn truely shocked me and i was caught completely off guard, but the ending left me a little unsatisfied as

alicia never got her happy ending

but still, i enjoyed the read!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Child abuse

winniefoster's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Murder

asourceoffiction's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

2.5

The Silent Patient is a book that will definitely stay with me for a while. But I'm not sure if it's for quite the right reasons... For sure I was engaged, flew threw it pretty quickly and wanted to know how things would turn out. But for me something was lacking.

For starters, I had the end sussed quite early on. I wasn't surprised, although I appreciated the way everything revealed itself. I struggled to find redeeming characters anywhere, and while I love to hate characters and love a morally ambiguous protagonist, I just couldn't muster an emotional connection to these people.

I've also been left with a LOT of nagging questions. And those are what will stay with me. A few things don't add up for me and I think I need to discuss the book at length. But the very fact that it's on my mind shows it's a good thriller. Just, for me, not a great one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Murder, and Mental illness

Moderate: Child abuse and Suicide

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

melissaloritz's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

It was my first time reading a thriller but I enjoyed it. The build up towards the plot twist  was great but it still hit me like a brick. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse and Self harm

shinyfox's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Gun violence, Death, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Infidelity, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Car accident

Minor: Addiction, Sexual content, and Alcohol