Reviews with content warning for Drug abuse - The Silent Patient

Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

208 reviews

maryconney's review against another edition

5.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

irene_addler's review against another edition

3.0

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

There's a lot I liked about this book. The majority felt like being on a roller coaster and trying to figure out what was happening and most of all WHO DID IT? That being said, the ending fell a little flat for me. i wanted to love this book, but in the end, I only like it, which was disappointing.

The audio book narrators are great!

Mild spoilers:

While I see the ending was planned from the beginning, it's the kind of ending which requires too much explanation, leaving me asking "What was the point of everything else?" I was left with questions and wondering if it would have been better for the ending to be different. There are a lot of red herrings, and they amount to...nothing?

Content Warnings

kteliza28's review against another edition

4.75

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Wow okay I could not get enough of this book. I listened to it on audio and breezed through it. At first I will admit that I thought I had everything figured out and I knew exactly where the story was going but I literally felt my stomach drop when the truth was revealed. Either I’m an idiot or the storytelling was just that good. I was completely thrown for a loop.

Content Warnings

sisiriley's review against another edition

3.25

challenging 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: Complicated

Content Warnings

spazzcats's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious tense medium-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

Content Warnings

abibliophobic_nerd's review against another edition

2.25

dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

sapphirestorm's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I usually figure out thrillers ahead of time, but this one had even me fooled- definitely worth a read. I actually said "WHAT THE F***" out loud at one point!

Content Warnings

martinjen98's review against another edition

2.0

dark

Wtf

Content Warnings

corallydeer's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was a wild ride from start to finish! Dropping the reader straight into a recounting of the

murder

the book is centered around and that

absolutely mind-blowing twist at the end

! I thought the characters were all portrayed very well, everything felt very realistic to how things might have gone if it was real and the context of Theo being a psychotherapist helped make it very natural to get all of the emotional commentary.

I'm definitely going to have to reread this one

just to catch all of the hints

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Infidelity, Medical content, Stalking, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent

Minor: Domestic abuse, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol

Infidelity

(initially considered as a theory for Alicia killing Gabriel; Yuri admits to actively pursuing another woman while married in the past; Kathy cheats on Theo)

| Injury/Injury Detail

(Alicia injures Theo during her attack and he receives treatment; Theo cuts himself pretty badly on broken glass; Alicia attacks Elif and sticks a paintbrush in her eye)

| Medical Content

(most of the story takes place at a psych ward with discussions of medications and treatments)

| Murder

(Alicia murders her husband, Gabriel, which is the main point of the book; Alicia is almost killed by an attempted murder involving forced overdose but remains in a vegetative state)

| Stalking

(Yuri admits to following the woman he fell in love with while married around and waiting around by her house; Alicia is stalked by an unknown man which is recounted in detail in her journal; Theo recounts stalking his wife's lover and where he lives)

| Addiction

(Theo is addicted in varying degrees to cigarettes and weed; Alicia's cousin, Paul, becomes addicted to gambling, amasses debt, and asks Alicia for help)

| Child Abuse

(Theo was physically and verbally abused by his father; as a child Alicia hears her drunken father wish her dead in place of her mother)

| Death of Parent

(the death of Alicia's parents is mentioned in passing and then explored a bit more farther in)

| Drug Abuse

(Theo smokes weed and was once addicted)

| Gore

(there is some description of Gabriel's state after being shot in the face multiple times; there is also some description of Elif after being stabbed in the eye)

| Gun Violence

(a gun was used to murder Gabriel)

| Mental Illness

(explored as a theory for the murder; discussed intermittently in regards to the patients and in other conversations)

| Self-Harm

(Alicia was found with her wrists cut and then attempted the same injury upon entering the psych ward)

| Sexual Assault

(Gabriel's brother, Max, assaults Alicia [it's mentioned that it's happened before in the past] and she fights back)

| Suicide & Suicide Attempts

(Theo tried to overdose in college; mentioned as part of Theo working in a psychiatric unit; Gabriel's brother, Max, confirms that Alicia tried to overdose after her father's death; Alicia's father hung himself which is mentioned in passing)

| Violence

(Alicia was violent with another patient and attempted to kill her; Alicia attacks Theo; Paul knocks out Theo by accident when he visits; Theo's revenge on his wife's lover is violent)

| Alcohol

(some minor pub visits)

| Domestic Abuse

(mentioned in passing as a theory for the murder)

| Schizophrenia

(Elif hears voices, but this is only brought up in passing)

| Vomit

(mentioned in passing that Theo vomits after discovering Kathy's affair)

riverofhorton's review against another edition

2.0

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book could have been so much. I have a background in Psych, and in theory this should have been something I really enjoyed.

But I just didn't. Even if we ignore the boundary breaking going on by the Psychotherapist, he still doesn't act like a Psychotherapist let alone one that had been working at Broadmoor for ~5 years.

Content Warnings

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