Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

51 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

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

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

lottyfarmer's review against another edition

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

loudo'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
• 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

emmita'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

4.5

I went into The Silent Patient knowing there was a significant amount of hype around this book, and luckily I was able to avoid spoilers (which I HIGHLY recommend you try to do as well if you want to read the silent patient). That said, I do think it lives up to the hype, if you like a good psychological mystery this will definitely be your cup of tea. Also, special shout out to the audiobook narrators, they do an INCREDIBLE job at bringing the story to life. If you pick up the novel and struggle, I definitely recommend giving the audiobook a try before you DNF. Hearts and kisses and all the love to Louise Brealey and Jack Hawkins (the voices of Alicia and Theo)!

Things I loved: the references to greek mythology (especially a myth that doesn't get a lot of mainstream attention), the dual POV between Theo and Alicia, the Red Herrings (I love when you get to a point where everyone looks suspicious), the big reveal (it is guessable but still leaves you with more questions),

Theo is objectively bad, I understand, but I love that he's also complicated enough that you're kind of in his corner for most of the book

Things I didn't love:

as a law student, the fact that Alicia's lawyer was the brother of the man she was being charged with murdering was insane, idk about the UK but most legal ethics codes would never let that conflict of interest slide

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Bullying

Minor: Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Death of parent

mental health, mental health facilities, doctors behaving badly, cheating

nehaanna's review against another edition

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is the definition of a thriller mystery. There are unexpected twists that delve deep into the psyche of both protagonists, as the stand as foils to one another. The work is not bogged down with unnecessary psychological waxing as other works by this author do. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Dysphoria

emamazee'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Engaging and suspenseful. Keeps you guessing 

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Gun violence, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Car accident, Death of parent, and Child abuse

soniaiscool'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

really good plot twist that had me shocked to the point of disbelief, however it did feel extremely slow at the time
An interesting perspective of psychology and psychotherapy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Alcohol, Car accident, Blood, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Death of parent, Infidelity, Stalking, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Drug use, and Alcoholism

Minor: Child abuse

sammymilfort's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Child abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Grief, and Toxic friendship