A review by buttercat42
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

Pretty much the only good thing I have to say about this book is that the plot was compelling enough to keep me reading until the end. The representation of therapists and mental healthcare was piss poor, the narrator was the only character who wasn’t totally one-dimensional, the journal portions were so un-diary-like that it was distracting (no one journals with full sentences of dialogue) and the twist at the end was incredibly lazy, creating a not insignificant number of plot holes. At first I thought I just really disliked the narrator, but after reading the author commentary at the end, I think it’s just him. What a shame, because the premise and most of the plot were really quite good. 
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