Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

85 reviews

literallysam's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Let's start with the good stuff🫴🏼
The premise of this book is fantastic. I was engaged right away. For most thrillers, I think, the ending is the make it or break it aspect of the story, and the one in this book is pretty solid. The revelation in the end is really surprising, even if you guess the twist (I didn’t, but some might)
This book will undoubtedly make for a good thrilling movie if it's made. It's not an amazing book, but definitely a good one.

Now some criticisms🫴🏼
The flaws in this book are many, but they’re also pretty standard for this genre.
The author throws in so many red herrings and unnecessary small twists that the book begins to feel clumsy and many of these red herrings are left unresolved. And the most important point- Though the book is medium-paced, it takes too long to get into the flesh of the book. There are so many characters to be introduced and a whole lot of background story to go over before the main action starts to happen. But then it's bearable because it still keeps you intrigued while wanting to turn the page.

OVERALL- The Silent Patient nails the ending, and just for that reason alone I’m inclined to forgive all of its flaws. And I feel no shame in saying that after the plot twist or the big revelation- I was left feeling like "damn, I should have been able to guess this!”. I'd say Go For It.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Blood, Child abuse, Murder, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Medical trauma, and Violence

oatmilkie's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Death, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Blood, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Grief, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicide

lauren717's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Confinement, Death, Stalking, Suicide, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Gaslighting, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Mental illness, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Stalking, Violence, Alcohol, Confinement, Death, Suicide attempt, Murder, Suicide, Alcoholism, Blood, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

pibblemama97's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Dementia, Drug use, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Grief

nindie'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

One of the first extreme psychological books I have read, and this was a fascinating read!

What I Liked About The Book

The complexity of the plot and characters overall kept me invested in the book. Its inclusion of the different perspectives of the two main characters makes the book tenser as they narrate the plot points from their view of things. The characters all have flaws and likeable traits, which captures how well-done the execution of realistic people in the book is. Overall a good book for people who like books exploring stuff like this!

What I Didn't Like About The Book

Unfortunately, when reading reviews about it, I got the main plot twist spoiled, and this made the experience a bit less suspenseful and shocking. Also, despite doing some research on the book before buying it, I was still unaware of some topics it would discuss in a bit of detail which I am not comfortable reading, which made it a bit of a discomfiting reading experience at times. It didn't help that I was reading this at school, and I think one of my teachers recognised the book. One last thing is that I still had some questions unanswered for the ending, but maybe that could have been intentional.

In Conclusion

I would not recommend this to the fainthearted who cannot read/deal with any of the content warnings I have put since this book is intense surrounding its topics and themes. I found the read to be not too bad but don't repeat my mistake of doing too little research on the content warnings, as it could be an unsettling read for some of you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Self harm, Medical trauma, Infidelity, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Gun violence, Medical content, Cursing, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Suicide, Car accident, Bullying, and Confinement

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Panic attacks/disorders

becca_w_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Violence, Medical content, Self harm, Sexual content, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Gaslighting, Gore, Car accident, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Stalking

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Confinement, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

horrorhomebodies's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

3.0

The plot twist was unexpected and very intriguing, but the writing style lacked a bit for me. The overuse of similes grabbed my attention more than the actual story. The pace was pretty slow up until the last bit of the book. The story was overall pretty good, but I think it’s a little overhyped. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Suicide attempt, Violence, Gaslighting, Death, Mental illness, Suicide, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Confinement, Grief, Gun violence, Self harm, and Blood

Moderate: Medical content, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Forced institutionalization

parkergirod's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-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

Would not classify this as a thriller, the scariest part of it is the cover. It's a fun mystery to read but I kept waiting for it to get spookier and it didn't and then the twist happens and then it just...ends. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Blood, Car accident, Murder, Medical trauma, Medical content, Grief, Gun violence, Death, Self harm, Mental illness, Abandonment, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse and Stalking

Minor: Addiction

evawertz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Confinement, Death, Child abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Emotional abuse, Body horror, and Alcohol

Moderate: Suicide attempt

az_makro's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense slow-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

3.0

Reading this book took me forever, I thought the story leading up to the turning point and ultimately plot twist, was very long-breathed. But the plot-twist was definitely worth it. 

Finding out, that the chapters were in fact not arranged in chronological order really fucked with my mind.

Sadly, I found the ending a bit unsatisfying. I would have liked, if the book ended with fewer information given to the reader at the end. Then again, that is my personal opinion and since I don’t like obvious endings, when it was build up to an open ending. 

Overall, although the book did take very long to read for the first 2/3 of the book, the ending was good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, Stalking, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Drug use, Murder, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Car accident, and Death of parent