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A review by timeywriter
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
4.0
A famous artist kills her husband and falls silent after. Being locked away in a psychiatric unit north of London, things begin to unravel as a new psychotherapist comes into the unit.
Alicia Berenson relays her side of the story through small snips as told in her journal. Outside of her mind though, little is given as to why she killed her husband since she remained silent ever since. Psychotherapist Theo Faber wants to help Alicia find her voice again. Determined to become her doctor, he leaves his old job to join the crumbling unit she is located in and puts all of his effort into not only helping Alicia, but finding out what happened. Theo begins to investigate how Alicia spent her last days before killing her husband and attempting to bring her art into her therapy. In his own personal life Theo talks of his own struggles finding mental stability growing up and his current problems with his wife, who he finds is cheating on him. All the while, it seems as if Alicia's and Theo's timelines are parallel in a way, matching though not quite. And it is the twist in the end that I felt in the pit of my stomach and yet didn't want to admit could happen that sent me over into absolutely loving this novel. I had some reservations about Theo, he seemed a little too detective for being a psychotherapist, even as he was attempting to help Alicia by diving into her life while interviewing family and friends. I found Alicia fascinating though, the whole idea of a silent woman holding her secrets is powerful. She uses her art to speak as well as her writing, so where words fail art says a great deal. And while she was presented as the mentally unstable one, the one who killed her husband without provocation, that was not the matter at all, not in comparison to the men around her and their backgrounds. I wish there might have been more with the psychiatric unit, too much focus was on the other doctors and I wanted more of the other patients. And I did feel like Alicia's brother in law was just thrown in there to create some drama without really adding much to the plot. However, the timelines between Theo and Alicia, how it was so well written, was just astounding when it all came together. I greatly enjoyed the journey throughout this novel.
I was a little skeptical when this was called a thriller, since it seemed a little dull as Theo attempted to apply his therapy to Alicia. The thrill is in the end and the understanding that even silent, women can still speak rings very true.
Alicia Berenson relays her side of the story through small snips as told in her journal. Outside of her mind though, little is given as to why she killed her husband since she remained silent ever since. Psychotherapist Theo Faber wants to help Alicia find her voice again. Determined to become her doctor, he leaves his old job to join the crumbling unit she is located in and puts all of his effort into not only helping Alicia, but finding out what happened. Theo begins to investigate how Alicia spent her last days before killing her husband and attempting to bring her art into her therapy. In his own personal life Theo talks of his own struggles finding mental stability growing up and his current problems with his wife, who he finds is cheating on him. All the while, it seems as if Alicia's and Theo's timelines are parallel in a way, matching though not quite. And it is the twist in the end that I felt in the pit of my stomach and yet didn't want to admit could happen that sent me over into absolutely loving this novel. I had some reservations about Theo, he seemed a little too detective for being a psychotherapist, even as he was attempting to help Alicia by diving into her life while interviewing family and friends. I found Alicia fascinating though, the whole idea of a silent woman holding her secrets is powerful. She uses her art to speak as well as her writing, so where words fail art says a great deal. And while she was presented as the mentally unstable one, the one who killed her husband without provocation, that was not the matter at all, not in comparison to the men around her and their backgrounds. I wish there might have been more with the psychiatric unit, too much focus was on the other doctors and I wanted more of the other patients. And I did feel like Alicia's brother in law was just thrown in there to create some drama without really adding much to the plot. However, the timelines between Theo and Alicia, how it was so well written, was just astounding when it all came together. I greatly enjoyed the journey throughout this novel.
I was a little skeptical when this was called a thriller, since it seemed a little dull as Theo attempted to apply his therapy to Alicia. The thrill is in the end and the understanding that even silent, women can still speak rings very true.