The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides is a thriller, a puzzler and a murder mystery. It is a compelling read, more compelling as it proceeds. It is the story of Alicia Berenson, who has been convicted of murdering her husband, Gabriel, and is now confined to a mental hospital called The Grove. She has been completely silent since the murder, which occurred a few years before the time of the story.
Theo Faber is a psychotherapist who is so fascinated by Alicia’s story he applies for work at the mental hospital where Alicia is confined specifically so he can treat her. He wants to help her to understand what has happened to her and move past it.
As the story proceeds, we learn that Theo has his own mental struggles and has been helped by a therapist to overcome his traumatic childhood. Indeed, Theo makes comparisons between his traumatic childhood and Alicia’s childhood. Theo makes attempts to engage Alicia in therapy, earns her trust, and finally, she gives him a copy of her diary, in which she explains the events leading up to the murder of her husband.
We also discover that Kathy, Theo’s wife, is having an affair. This devastates Theo and he struggles with whether to confront her with this knowledge, or to follow her, find her lover and confront him.
Michaelides handles these multiple storylines quite well as he proceeds to expose more and more of the details. As the reader learns more, it becomes clear that there is something hidden, something waiting to be exposed, something not quite right. As Alicia begins to speak and we learn more about her history, and as Theo’s investigations tell us more about his wife’s lover, the tension builds.
Now for a bit of a spoiler. I won’t give away the ending, but I will say that I understand why A. J. Finn, the author of The Woman in the Window, blurbed this book. In fact, given the stories about A. J. Finn, I wondered if he had actually written this book. The Silent Patient, like The Woman in the Window is based on a lie to the reader, on information purposely hidden from the reader for the sole purpose of making the denouement more surprising.
I feel that this is dishonest. Michaelides has a great story, with a compelling mystery and the details are well worked out. He should have presented it more cleverly instead of succumbing to the temptation of pure manipulation and dishonesty in his ending.
Although I liked the book, I feel like reading it was a waste of time. But, if you liked The Woman in the Window, you probably won't feel like I did.
Creative and surprising space opera with an expansive scope
Dudley Do-Right chapter cliffhangers
Gray Planet Indices
Good Book Index: 84/100
Literature Index: 30/100
Magic Factor: 72/100
Velocity Weapon by Megan E. O’Keefe is an interesting and fun space opera with a little bit of everything, including some irritating style quirks.
Sanda Greeve is a gunship pilot in the Ada Prime military. After being on defensive patrol near Icarion space, she suddenly finds herself awakened after being preserved in an evacuation pod, apparently after a space battle she doesn’t remember. She has lost part of one leg. She finds herself aboard an Icarion (the enemy) AI Class Cruiser, The Light of Berossus. The ship AI introduces himself as Bero. Bero tells Sanda that 230 years have passed after the Battle of Dralee in which Sanda’s gunship was destroyed. As part of the battle, Ada Prime, Sanda’s home planet was destroyed by a special weapon deployed by the Icarions.
230 years before, at the time of the Battle of Dralee, Sanda’s younger brother, Biran, is a newly graduated Keeper. The Keepers are specially trained leaders of Ada Prime and have computer chips implanted in their skulls. The chips don’t give them any special abilities, but rather contain encrypted data on the construction of Casimir Gates, the interstellar jump points that tie together the Prime Universe. This secret data allows the Primes to maintain control of interstellar space.
The remainder of the novel is written in chapters that alternate between Sanda’s point of view and Biran’s point of view, 230 years apart. We are also introduced to another group of characters, led by Jules, a young woman from the lower cast in the Prime Universe who works with a criminal gang living in lower class neighborhoods.
There are also interludes that give us two other points of view. The first is that of Alexandra Halston, an historical character who was the businesswoman who led Prime Corporation, which developed space commercially and built the first Casimir Gate. The history of the Prime Universe is dated from the development of the first Gate.
The second Interlude point of view is that of Callie Mera, Ada Prime’s favorite newscaster. Callie does have an important role to play, but unless that role is significantly increased in sequels, Callie seems superfluous.
The velocity weapon of the title is Bero, who is an interstellar capable ramscoop ship. As a weapon, Bero can accelerate masses to relativistic velocities, thereby increasing their mass and making them dangerous projectiles. This is the edge Icarion uses in their opposition to the Gate monopoly the Primes hold.
The story hinges on Sanda’s struggle for survival after being awakened on Bero, and on Biran’s struggle to find his sister and save her, if she is still alive.
Sanda’s struggle is the stuff of science fiction adventure–she is faced with lots of problems and has to be clever to solve them. But O’Keefe also provides a lot of twists and turns for Sanda, most of them interesting at least, and many of them pretty surprising. After being alone for some time, she is joined in her struggle for survival by another rescued soldier, Tomas. Tomas is an enigma and Sanda is not sure if she should trust him. Their relationship is well-developed and interesting.
Biran’s story is a political one where he must work within the existing power structure of Ada Prime’s ruling Protectorate of Keepers to be sure the possibility of Sanda’s survival and her rescue is a high priority. Biran also fights against what he thinks is the Protectorate’s mismanaged approach to the war with Icarion. As he seeks information about Sanda, Biran uncovers a variety of deep and significant secrets within the political power structure of the Protectorate.
Velocity Weapon is an enjoyable ride, although at times I found myself aware of the writer’s manipulative ways. There are 80 chapters and six interludes in the book, and maybe they don’t all end with cliffhangers, but most of them do, particularly in the last half. This is a bit overdone, but it is effective. O’Keefe keeps giving us more and more as the story goes on, but she effectively handles the complications (albeit with a few deus ex machinas thrown in) and uses most of her surprises to complicate and deepen the story.
O’Keefe adds interesting and well thought out plot twists and science fiction elements that kept me interested. She has constructed a universe where the science fiction elements (her space travel technology and where it came from, the Keepers and their secrets, what Jules and her fellow criminals discover and are caught up in) are an integral part of the plot. This gives the book a depth that most space opera no longer has for me. As a space opera, this book is a big success.
O’Keefe is good enough with her characters that I care about Sanda and Tomas and Biran. The motivations of their antagonists are subtle and complex and serve to expand the action and provide interest.
I want to follow the adventures of Sanda and Brian and others as they figure out what’s really going on in their world and how to control it.
Much of this novel contains major surprises which I won’t reveal as they would ruin the story. There are also myriad minor surprises and cliffhanger moments along the way, sometimes too many. But O’Keefe manages make it all hang together and and keeps the story coherent.
I really liked the book and am ready for volume two.
