corallydeer 's review for:

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

4.75

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This was a wild ride from start to finish! Dropping the reader straight into a recounting of the

murder

the book is centered around and that

absolutely mind-blowing twist at the end

! I thought the characters were all portrayed very well, everything felt very realistic to how things might have gone if it was real and the context of Theo being a psychotherapist helped make it very natural to get all of the emotional commentary.

I'm definitely going to have to reread this one

just to catch all of the hints

!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Infidelity, Medical content, Stalking, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent

Minor: Domestic abuse, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol

Infidelity

(initially considered as a theory for Alicia killing Gabriel; Yuri admits to actively pursuing another woman while married in the past; Kathy cheats on Theo)

| Injury/Injury Detail

(Alicia injures Theo during her attack and he receives treatment; Theo cuts himself pretty badly on broken glass; Alicia attacks Elif and sticks a paintbrush in her eye)

| Medical Content

(most of the story takes place at a psych ward with discussions of medications and treatments)

| Murder

(Alicia murders her husband, Gabriel, which is the main point of the book; Alicia is almost killed by an attempted murder involving forced overdose but remains in a vegetative state)

| Stalking

(Yuri admits to following the woman he fell in love with while married around and waiting around by her house; Alicia is stalked by an unknown man which is recounted in detail in her journal; Theo recounts stalking his wife's lover and where he lives)

| Addiction

(Theo is addicted in varying degrees to cigarettes and weed; Alicia's cousin, Paul, becomes addicted to gambling, amasses debt, and asks Alicia for help)

| Child Abuse

(Theo was physically and verbally abused by his father; as a child Alicia hears her drunken father wish her dead in place of her mother)

| Death of Parent

(the death of Alicia's parents is mentioned in passing and then explored a bit more farther in)

| Drug Abuse

(Theo smokes weed and was once addicted)

| Gore

(there is some description of Gabriel's state after being shot in the face multiple times; there is also some description of Elif after being stabbed in the eye)

| Gun Violence

(a gun was used to murder Gabriel)

| Mental Illness

(explored as a theory for the murder; discussed intermittently in regards to the patients and in other conversations)

| Self-Harm

(Alicia was found with her wrists cut and then attempted the same injury upon entering the psych ward)

| Sexual Assault

(Gabriel's brother, Max, assaults Alicia [it's mentioned that it's happened before in the past] and she fights back)

| Suicide & Suicide Attempts

(Theo tried to overdose in college; mentioned as part of Theo working in a psychiatric unit; Gabriel's brother, Max, confirms that Alicia tried to overdose after her father's death; Alicia's father hung himself which is mentioned in passing)

| Violence

(Alicia was violent with another patient and attempted to kill her; Alicia attacks Theo; Paul knocks out Theo by accident when he visits; Theo's revenge on his wife's lover is violent)

| Alcohol

(some minor pub visits)

| Domestic Abuse

(mentioned in passing as a theory for the murder)

| Schizophrenia

(Elif hears voices, but this is only brought up in passing)

| Vomit

(mentioned in passing that Theo vomits after discovering Kathy's affair)