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Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
The Silent Patient is one of my favorite books that I’ve read this year. It has an extremely strong opening, and despite a slow start, towards the middle-end of the book, I found myself unable to put it down. From Theo’s time in The Grove to handling his personal life in his downtime, I constantly wanted to read what was happening next.
Graphic: Death, Grief
Moderate: Violence, Murder
Minor: Self harm
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief
Minor: Chronic illness, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment
Minor: Drug use, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol
Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
A bit of a spoiler free summary before I get into it: Alicia Berenson is accused of murdering her husband Gabriel, and when taken in by the police, she goes completely silent. She neither admits nor denies the accusations and is sent to a psychiatric facility called The Grove in London. Years later, Theo Faber, a psychotherapist, becomes obsessed with unraveling the mystery behind her silence and discovering the truth behind the murder. He believes Alicia is innocent, and the only way to prove it is by getting her to speak. So, he joins the Grove and starts working with her. Along the way, we also get snippets of Alicia’s old journal entries, which end up playing a really important role.
Spoilers ahead:
Theo’s character is what really stuck with me. He seemed suspicious from the beginning, but I also felt like he genuinely related to Alicia. Their pasts were similar, so maybe he saw himself in her and wanted to “save” her the way he felt saved. But that’s the thing, he’s a psychotherapist. He must have seen a lot of patients with similar traumatic backgrounds. So why did he become obsessed with her specifically? The obsession wasn’t just empathy, it was personal. Even after everything he did, including drugging her and putting her in a coma, he still thought of himself as her savior.
That’s what makes it so twisted. He really believed he was doing what was best for everyone, even after committing a literal crime. It was almost narcissistic, the way he convinced himself he had good intentions, when all he really did was ruin three lives. When he realized the police were onto him, and he just sat there, catching snowflakes, it felt like a release to him. Like he finally didn’t have to pretend anymore. Maybe the relief came from no longer carrying the emotional weight of his lies. In the end, I think Theo was far more selfish than he ever allowed himself to admit.
There were a few things I didn’t love though. Alicia’s diary entries didn’t feel realistic at all. Who writes their journal entries with vivid scene descriptions and full on dialogues? Especially someone in that state of mind. The weirdest part was how she supposedly wrote a full, detailed account of what happened after being injected with morphine. Also, the repeated “and then we fucked” lines felt really forced and unnecessary. It didn’t add anything, it just felt awkward.
Some of the side characters felt underdeveloped too. The brother-in-law had no real purpose. He came across as someone who hated Alicia but then randomly showed concern at the end, which didn’t add up. Paul (the cousin) felt slightly more fleshed out, but even his arc kind of faded. Yuri dealing drugs and Elif being aggressive for no real reason felt like extra noise that didn’t go anywhere. I kept waiting for those threads to tie back into the main plot somehow, but they didn’t. Although, the other side characters were not too bad.
Despite all that, I absolutely flew through this book. It’s fast paced, addictive, and has one hell of a twist. I still think it’s better suited for newer thriller readers or people who don’t read often. After reading a few reviews on Goodreads, I can see why some seasoned thriller fans found it underwhelming. The psychological elements aren’t super deep, and the therapy parts feel a bit surface level. The writing is good, but sometimes too easy, like it’s spelling things out a bit too clearly. Still, I had a great time reading it and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to get into thrillers.
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent
Graphic: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Car accident, Murder
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder