You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

334 reviews

dark emotional mysterious fast-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

Would be better if it was from a woman perspective and someone clinical trained. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional mysterious medium-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: Yes

I rated this three stars because it was very suspenseful and I really did enjoy the story, but the ending was so bad…out of all of the endings I had planned out in my head, every single one of them was better than how it actually ended. I hate when authors seemingly have to lie to their audience to create a lackluster ending. So I’m supposed to believe that when Theo was talking about his wife and going home to her and stalking her when she was lying to him that was supposed to be in the past?? The fuq. There are so many clever ways that authors revealed the truth in their writing and this is not it. 

Part one of the book was hard to get into because the synopsis had three whole paragraphs describing Alicia’s story, and one small dinky paragraph about Theo. So going into this book I thought it was going to be more about Alicia less about Theo, but I was very wrong. I now understand why it was more about Theo than Alicia, but change the synopsis. I was upset that I was reading more about a man who I did not care about than a woman that I did care about. 

I really hate the explanation of why Alicia was silent all this time. I’m really supposed to believe that not only her father, but her husband silently murdered her? So there was nothing to say? bruh… have you met a woman??? 

I think I’m learning that male authors are just not for me. Male authors, who write women who have been in deep trauma….

Even though this book was suspenseful, I do not think it’s worth it. I was so let down by the ending. I rated this three stars because it was very suspenseful and I really did enjoy the story, but the ending was so bad…out of all of the endings I had planned out in my head, every single one of them was better than how it actually ended. I hate when authors seemingly have to lie to their audience to create a lackluster ending. So I’m supposed to believe that when Theo was talking about his wife and going home to her and stalking her when she was lying to him that was supposed to be in the past?? The fuq. There are so many clever ways that authors revealed the truth in their writing and this is not it. 

Part one of the book was hard to get into because the synopsis had three whole paragraphs describing Alicia’s story, and one small dinky paragraph about Theo. So going into this book I thought it was going to be more about Alicia less about Theo, but I was very wrong. I now understand why it was more about Theo than Alicia, but change the synopsis. I was upset that I was reading more about a man who I did not care about than a woman that I did care about. 

I really hate the explanation of why Alicia was silent all this time. I’m really supposed to believe that not only her father, but her husband silently murdered her? So there was nothing to say? bruh… have you met a woman??? 

I think I’m learning that male authors are just not for me. Male authors, who write women who have been in deep trauma….

Even though this book was suspenseful, I do not think it’s worth it. I was so let down by the ending.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
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: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious 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

It was really predictable unfortunately. Alicia’s silence fell a bit flat and it was used as the motivation for the mystery but somehow felt more like a b story. I felt that there were a lot of characters  were written as obvious red herrings and distracted from the actual mystery of the book aaaaannndddd no one was likeable so that’s awesome. It’s great if you’re in a reading slump because of the short chapters but that’s the only thing I liked. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: N/A
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Highly recommend the audio version.  Quick listen, loved the narrators. 

I unfortunately knew there was going to be a twist due to all the hype I'd heard over this book, so I picked up on it quickly.  I wish I didn't know! I totally think I would've been shocked. 

I was trying to piece together who was lying, Theo or Alicia. I didn't guess until towards the end that all the time Theo spoke about his life and the issues with Cathy, that it was in the past, not the present. It was really confirmed for me once he said he followed the unknown man home that one night. 


It's the type of book you almost want to re-read once you finish,
to see where the twist was first revealing itself.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark sad tense slow-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

This book was wild and very intense. I definitely feel glad I waited until I was a bit more stable about my past to read it due to certain topics. The twist at the end caught me completely off guard and I thought it was a great twist.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings