(AUDIO) BOOK REVIEW
She’s Unable To Share Those Shocking Events
Book review of The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Like it goes with all apps nowadays, Audible also works with an algorithm, which means I am recommended books according to my listening history. Mostly recommended books are detectives or crime mysteries, and really, those are my go-to genres, as are medical thrillers, to the likes of Robin Cook and Michael Crichton.
When anything medical is combined with crime into a fast-paced thriller, I am in the seventh heaven.
The author, Alex Michaelides
Born and raised in Cyprus — his father was a Greek-Cypriot; his mother English — Alex Michaelides (1977) later studied in Cambridge, where he obtained his M.A. in English Literature, and in Los Angeles, where he graduated with an M.A. in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute.
He also studied psychotherapy for three years and worked for two years at a secure unit for young adults. His inspiration for his debut, The Silent Patient, came from his work there. It became an international bestseller — the biggest selling debut in the world in 2019 — selling over 3 million copies in a record-breaking 50 countries, and it was on the New York bestseller list for over a year.
Growing up in a house full of books, his mother handed him books by Charles Dickens, Margaret Atwood, Robert Graves, and more. His mother never gave him crime fiction to read, but when Alex was about twelve, he snuck into his sister’s room and looked at the books on her shelf, the book And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie attracted him. He devoured it and then read nothing but Agatha Christie.
She made him into a reader… and a writer.
It took him twenty years from when he clearly knew he wanted to write a book, to finally sit down when he was thirty-six to write the detective he’d been postponing for years. Knowing nothing about detectives, but a great deal about psychotherapists, the plot for The Silent Patient was born.
His second book — The Maidens — was an instant New York bestseller and garnered rave reviews.
Alex lived in London for many years, but has now moved back to Cyprus.
The patient, the psychotherapist, and the perpetrator
Alicia Berenson is the patient, and Theo Faber is the criminal psychotherapist.
But who is the perpetrator?
Alicia is a famous painter, married to a famous fashion photographer, Gabriel. Their life seems perfect where they live in a large mansion with large windows overlooking a park in one of the most popular areas of London. When Gabriel returns home one night late, Alicia shoots him in the face five times, and then never speaks another word.
Alicia ends up in a secure forensic unit — The Grove — hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight. Her art skyrockets, driven by the mystery of what has happened that night, and her refusal to talk.
Theo has waited a long time to be able to talk to the silent patient, and finally lands a job at The Grove, twisting and turning to get Alicia as his patient. He soon finds himself where the search for the truth threatens to consume him.
Flashbacks to the past, to before Alicia has committed the crime, help to tell the story, and bring the reader to a conclusion no one sees coming.
A thrilling read!
I like how the story used flashbacks to reveal Alicia’s life wasn’t as perfect as the outside world believed.
From the moment Theo got to work with Alicia, I believed he would uncover the full story while he interviewed people whom were once part of her life.
As the book progressed, I moved from believing Alicia had committed the crime, to wondering if her best friend and gallery owner had done it, to being amazed and thrilled to learn the true, totally unexpected circumstances.
This book intrigued me so much that I already have the next book by Alex Michaelides stored on my list of books I want to listen to.
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