*Review*The Silent Patient*

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

This book is a psychological thriller/mystery. It was quite fast paced and it was broken up into the point of view of Theo Faber (the forensic psychotherapist) and Alicia Berenson’s diary of the days before the murder of her husband, Gabriel Berenson. Gabriel was found by the police with a gunshot to the head and a gun lying next to Alicia, ever since that day Alicia hadn’t spoken a single word (she was the silent patient).

Theo Faber had a strong interest in Alicia and wanted to find out what would have possessed her to kill her own husband with no hatred for him. He wouldn’t stop until he found out what had happened and why she refused to talk.

There are many unexpected twists and turns throughout this novel and they have been written really well. Michaelides has put a few hints through the novel about the ending but not enough so I could predict the ending at all. The end of the book was very unexpected for me and it took me a while to process what ends up happening. It was an exceptional ending and I thought even though it was a thriller it wasn’t too anxiety heightening which I like in a thriller.

I gave this book 5 stars out of 5 stars purely for the psychological aspect and the twists and turns which you don’t expect when you first delve into this book. Everything is normal and then it switches and one event sparks a big event at the end. It was a very quick read, I personally read it in one day and it was so gripping I didn’t want to put it down. If you like a mystery with an element of a psychological thriller then read this book, it was one of my favourite books of 2019.

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