Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

208 reviews

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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dark mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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dark emotional mysterious 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: Yes

This book was interesting to say the least. I had already been spoiled for the twist but I was still able to somewhat enjoy the story.
One of my issues was that since I knew the twist it was hard to be sympathetic to Theo. Alicia was failed by everyone in her life. Gabriel, her father, her mother, Jean-Felix. It was an interesting read knowing tha you are reading for the person responsible.  Seeing some of the slips Theo makes was fun to sort out.

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dark mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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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