Review by heartobarto - The Silent Patient

heartobarto 's review for:

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

4.5

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I loved Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham and the twists in this remind me of that book. Beautifully done, exciting though a little slow at times. You definitely feel a lot for different characters. **character arc/opinion spoiler**

Theo is so incredibly unlikeable with little hints of his darker nature sprinkled throughout, to where I was concerned that if he didn't end up being bad it would have just been a terribly unlikeable MC lol. I'm very satisfied with the development of his character

**plot spoiler**

The shift in Alicia's nature to more violent and paranoid is well executed, subtle but noticable, which I also feel is similar to the hints at Theo's character -- little ways of showing their inner changes and shifts over time.

This author writes really effectively and strategically with well-placed phrases and thoughts that make you go "hmm that's interesting" or "that's odd", and if you're not the type to catch things like that, you'd probably enjoy reading it again for easter eggs. I do think some of the early sections were a bit tough; they were slow and some felt out of place or like an info dump rather than smooth distribution. But overall truly enjoyable!!!

Content Warnings