Crime, Mysteries & Thrillers discussion

Hello Fellow Crime, Mystery & Thriller readers,


Welcome to our discussion about The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, your discussion leader is Samantha.
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about spoilers

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Summary

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.

Hello everyone! This is my first time having finished a book before the discussion month starts, so I am stoked!

I absolutely blasted through this book. Once it got rolling I couldn’t put it down. It hooked me and I didn’t want to be let go. However, I still don’t feel good with the ending. It’s been a number of days and I just still don’t think I like the twist ending. It felt like too much. Like there were more realistic endings that would have been satisfying maybe? Not that I expect books to be realistic, but sometimes they just feel like too much. Or maybe there was a better way to tie back the twist? Some aspect that could have been better interpreted or explained? I don’t know what I would say a better ending would be, but what I got didn’t feel right. Or maybe that it was a little too forced? Because it definitely was a massive twist if I have ever read one!

Maybe it’s just that I am not seeing the value in some aspect or just need another point of view to pull me around to it, so I look forward to hearing what others think outside of the reviews!

I read The Silent Patient between November 9 & 10, 2019; I gave it 5*s ...

I read this book in 2020 and flew through it. The ending is one that has stuck with me through every other thriller I have picked up since. However, I only remember bits and pieces of the plot, mainly how I felt and how on the edge of my seat I was. Such a good read but I’ll probably be re-reading for this month!

Hello everyone,

My name is Samantha and I’ll be this month’s discussion leader for The Silent Patient. I am very excited to start this book. I will probably read a few chapters (listen to a few chapters) as I’m an Audible and Libby fan. I will then check in with you all of that works? Hope you all are having a great day!

I've been wanting to read this selection for a long time. I ordered it from my library but I am on the waiting list.

Although you’ll find THE SILENT PATIENT in bookstores on shelves with psychological thrillers, it isn’t. THE SILENT PATIENT is a character study.

The silent patient is Alicia, who refuses to talk since she shot and killed her husband. Her psychotherapist, Theo, is so interested in Alicia that he managed to get a job at the hospital where she is now being kept, and then he managed to be assigned to her case.

Theo learns more and more about Alicia's life by means that are certainly unbelievable, i.e., by interviewing her friends and family in their homes and offices. At the same time, we also learn about Theo’s life.

So, unlike a psychological thriller, THE SILENT PATIENT is a study of these two characters. But this book is also not a psychological thriller because it contains no twists and turns, which I expect when I read a thriller, until nearly the end.

For a psychological thriller to be literary, as the best of them are, it is character-driven as well as plot-driven. But I would not say that of THE SILENT PATIENT. I will not give a book a high rating just because it finally grabs me near the end.

Give me more than character study, and grab me right from the start. That is what I require of a highly rated book.

👍🏻

Just finished reading this book! I definitely enjoyed the process of reading it. I was hooked the entire time and was dying to get to the end to see if Alicia would finally speak and what truly happened to her husband! I think with this own, the build up was more satisfying than the ending. I was shocked to find out the Kathy was having an affair with Gabriel but not shocked that Theo was responsible for the fateful incident. I had been suspicious of him from the beginning. Talking about the trauma he had suffered and how it impacted him. He also immediately raises tons of red flags as a psychiatrist and continuously broke boundaries so it’s hard to imagine it wouldn’t have been him. I was slightly disappointed by the eventual explanation from Alicia as to why she wouldn’t speak.. because she “had nothing to say?” I spent the majority of the book thinking we would get a more concrete reason than that and it would all finally make sense. I also felt like there were some loose ends that weren’t quite resolved. Why did Jean-Felix ominously warn Alicia to not trust everyone? What was the point of the drama with Gabriel’s brother if it eventually lead to nothing? All in all, I did really enjoy this book and understand the hype surrounding it!

I just started The Silent Patient and I’m on Chapter 7. I think it’s well written. I do think the characters are correlated somehow but I’m not sure how yet. What are your thoughts?

I am now quite a bit further in this book, Part 2. I am at the part where Theo suggests painting to Alicia and she smiles back at him.

Thoughts this far: I love the therapeutic point of view but I also have a BA in psych and work with mental health members daily. I find a lot of his perspectives very interesting.

I’m struggling to figure out who may have set Alicia up at this point as I don’t think she did this. I think it is very much like the Greek play she painted and is being silent due to the betrayal and anger she is feeling. However I don’t think she actually committed the crime.

Any other thoughts? People who haven’t read it to the end anyway?

Just finished this audiobook last week. It held my interest, although I felt like the twist at the end was telegraphed early on. The audio portrayal was excellent.

I’m also listening to the audiobook and I think it’s excellent.

Just finished this book. I thought it was very well written and the spin at the end was good. I knew there was something about Theo that was off but I couldn’t put my finger on it. It all makes sense obviously at the end. I really enjoyed how much emphasis was put in mental health and how dark it really can be for some. I found it incredibly sad when Alicia said at the end that “Gabriel killed me and dead people don’t talk” Thus, the Silent Patient. I’m glad Theo got caught at the end however and Alicia’s story was finally told.

Started this a couple days ago, I’m on chapter 7. So I got a bit to go. I’ll check back in when I am through! But I am loving it so far.

I read this book back in 2022 and loved it. I finished it in a day because I couldn’t put it down. I loved how the author used Greek mythology to mirror Alicia’s story. I also loved the big twist at the end. I ran to buy his other two book. I liked both Maidens and the Fury, but not as much as Silent Patient.

I finished this book at the end of July and it really surprised me. Best twist I have ever read in a book. I love when the book makes me jump out of my seat and this book made me slam it on the table and I had to go for a walk haha. So so so good. If anyone knows of any books similar to this I would be interested haha.

I read this in September 2022.
This was a very interesting plot.

Theo wants to know why Alicia has stopped talking, even to defend herself on charges of murdering her husband.

There is a lot of silence in this book.
Gabriel, Alicia's husband, walks silently.
Many of Alicia's friends and relatives are silent when Theo questions them.
Alicia's silence in The Grove where she is receiving treatment is contradicted by her diary, which she slips to Theo at one point.
Theo himself is silent when he deals with his wife's infidelity.
Carl is silent when Alicia is moved to The Grove, despite having treated her privately.
Gabriel is told to be silent when tied to the chair before his murder.

Is silence a defense or an offense? Often is it used as both.

I was interested in the difference between
Carl West, the psychiatrist and
Theo, the psychotherapist.

I found these definitions:
psy·chi·a·trist
a medical practitioner specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness.
psy·cho·ther·a·pist
a person who treats mental disorders by psychological rather than medical means.

So any drugs would have been issued by Carl not Theo.

There is a very interesting twist at the end of this novel, that I did not see coming.

Delightful.

I borrowed a copy from the public library for two groups who are now reading this.

Hello everyone , I am new here and this is my first review in here. I just finished the book and it was very good. I really did not guess the end until I get to the last pages and it was a big twist for me. I read some reviews about the book and some of the readers said that the book has too many holes but I think the holes are not that important I actually did not care about the holes while I was reading. I gave 5 stars🌟. Only thing that I think is Max and Kathy absolutely deserve a punnishment. To be honest I am not mad at Theo as much as I do to Kathy like it was all her fault... So this is all from me guys hope to see you again.

I finished this right before joining the group. I stayed up all night, two nights in a row, blazing through it. The twist was so unexpected and the story stuck in my head long after finishing. Theo’s wife angered me to my core. Perhaps a reminder of past relationships. I felt the anger and sadness through Theo as he witnesses his wife’s cheating. I would give The Silent Patient 6 stars if I could. Looking forward to what September brings us.

I enjoyed the book but agree with several of the comments that the plot is a little thin so gave it 3 stars. The book never really caught my attention to the point where I had to keep reading to find out what happened next.

I had a grandfather who was very fond of saying 'Believe nothing of what you hear, little of what you read, and only half of what you see.' And it applies perfectly to this book, which I devoured in less than twenty-four hours.

And at the end, I sat like a stunned mullet thinking, 'What the? That shouldn't have worked.' But it did. Beautifully.

The story is told mainly from Theo's point of view, with occasional flashbacks from Alicia and excerpts from her diary.

I didn't like the characters. None of them. Well, except for Ruth. I thought Alicia a nervous ninny, Theo pompous and self-righteous, and don't even get me started on the supporting cast.

But I couldn't put it down. And not once did I have any idea of the ending. Well done, Mr Michaelides.

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This is the book that had me chasing the 3 part series. This novel really delivered for me in execution, engagement, and character development. It takes a lot to catch me off guard, but this book did. I had no clue the reveal was coming and that was refreshing to me. I devoured this book, in 1 day, if I can remember correctly.

For those of you starting your reading journey, I’m so excited to see your thoughts ☺️

When I started reading this I didn't know where I had gotten the idea to read it. Just now I realized it was this group's August read!

I haven't read many "thrillers" and this book, in my opinion, isn't very thrilling. I worked out the twist ending way before it occurred. That is a first for me. I liked some parts of this but mostly thought it was just OK. However, I think it might be a good pick for my in-person book club.