Book Review – The Silent Patient – an interesting novel by Alex Michaelides – 2020

ByAniM
Book review

The Silent Patient Book Review

Book Review – The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides – 

My Rating – 4 out of 5

Plot Summary of the Book Review

When famous Fashion photographer Gabriel returns to his posh London home, his wife Alicia Berenson (a renowned painter, in her own right) opens the door. Then Alicia shoots her husband five times in his face…. and never speaks another word!They were a seemingly happy couple, successful and in love… A perplexed Police force tried to break it down, analyse it from all angles, but to no avail… Alicia never uttered a word. Not why she did it, or if anybody else did it and framed her for it. Not a word, no reaction whatsoever.A case like this, catches the media fancy and even the larger public is intrigued…Why? A resolutely silent Alicia is condemned to The Grove, a secure mental health facility for criminals in North London. Psychologists, psychiatrists all take a go at her, Alicia still doesn’t utter a word. She is heavily drugged and sedated and lives out her life behind the dreary walls of the fancy Mental Asylum. Silence is the only constant in her life, the mystery behind her shocking act remains shrouded in the cloaks of the same silence.Six years later, criminal Psychotherapist Theo Faber joins the facility. Like everybody else, he was already fascinated by Alicia Berenson’s strange story, now he could actually take a crack at her. He approaches her tenderly, trying to get behind that stony exterior. Theo tries everything that’s been taught to him – starting with reducing Alicia’s medication – which always kept her drowsy, just to appear friendly and trustworthy. But Alicia turns violent, pushing Theo’s plans back again…Like the skin of onion, layers start coming off the wall that Alicia has built around herself, but… everything is not what it seems to be.. and can Theo get to the truth? Or is there something else lurking in this shadowy, murky world?

Conclusion of the Book Review

Crisply written, taut and chilling… Alex takes us on a long ride at the park, swinging this way and that. And if you read lying down, when you get to the climax, sit up and hold on to something. It explodes in your face, and you might pull a muscle or two, trying to rein in your wonder…. It’s that good. Must read if you haven’t yet….Read the Goodreads review here

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