A review by beccabookworm
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The plot twist at the end succeeded in surprising me. It was a good ending.
I definitely suspected Theo, I just couldn't figure out how he was involved. The undisclosed time jump was certainly well done.
As annoyed and confused as I was whenever we came back to the plotline about Kathy, the reveal of why we kept coming back to it and why we should care was cool. And the why itself
- that the man Kathy was cheating with was Gabriel and the man who was stalking Alicia was Theo -
is a satisfying twist. It actually saved the book from a lower rating for me. However, it just doesn't make the lackluster journey of reading (listening to) this book worth it.

The tension throughout often felt forced because a character was being dumbed down to explain something simple and obvious to the reader
(e.g., Theo, the psychotherapist, being unable to recognize Alcestis' silence as anger towards her husband)
or because the tension was prolonged in a way that made me feel annoyance rather than suspense
(e.g., Paul revealing Alicia's father wishing her dead)
. I wasn't excited to know what happened next and just wasn't very thrilled by this thriller.
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