emilyrogers24 's review for:

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

5.0

---

Unable to come to terms with what she had done, Alicia sputtered and came to a halt, like a broken car. I wanted to help start her up again - help Alicia tell her story, to heal and get well. I wanted to fix her.

Behind the intellectual framing of this novel (psychotherapy speak, Greek tragedies, analysis of visual art, etc.), it is ultimately quite simple: base human behavior, rage and lust and envy. What broken people will do when pushed to their emotional limits. Beautifully written and shocking, with the kind of twists I love to read in the psychological thriller genre.

I will hide the rest of this review behind a spoiler warning. Do not read further if you haven't read the novel!

Spoiler

Theo is remarkably good at reading other people, and utterly, dangerously terrible at reading himself. Therefore, he's the perfect unreliable narrator, where the reader is properly surprised by the reveal but doesn't feel necessarily lied to. I believe he did, in his own way, want to help Alicia. He could have gone the rest of his life without "helping" her talk again. But he wanted to help her process her trauma... and assuage his guilt, and clear his conscience, of course.

Spoiler

Silencing Alicia wasn't so easy. Injecting her with morphine was the hardest thing I've ever done. That she didn't die, but is asleep, is better - this way, I can still visit her every day and sit by her bed and hold her hand. I haven't lost her.

This may be one of the sickest and most horrifying lines I've ever read. Chills.