The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides--A Review

The Silent Patient

by Alex Michaelides

Gray Planet Commentary

• Interesting, compelling
• Purposely manipulative

Gray Planet Indices

• Good Book Index: 55/100
• Literature Index: 25/100
• Magic Factor: 35/100

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.