Artist Alicia Berenson lives, despite a suicide attempt. Her husband Gabriel does not â he's been shot to death. The police quickly realize Alicia MUST have done it. Perhaps the clue as to WHY exists in the artist's self portrait, called âAlcestisâ. However, like the Greek tragedy by Euripides whose title was taken for the painting, the subject â Alicia â has stopped speaking.

Psychotherapist Theo Faber has taken a job at a failing mental institution where Alicia has been committed. It is his most fervent wish to gain an insight into her secrets, and as such to assist her in recovery. His first challenge will be to get her to speak ⦠no, his first challenge will be to get her to TRUST ⦠while he deals with the temptations of cannibis and the fear that his wife has taken a lover.

âThe Silent Patientâ, by Alex Michaelides, is a psychological thriller of the first degree. I found it started slow â but then, most roller coasters start slow while they build up a supply of potential energy. Both the book and the roller coaster start to speed up â slowly at first, but then faster and faster. When you think you know what's going to happen next, you find that you've been whipped around in an unexpected curve. Eventually, the ride is over ⦠long before you're ready for it to finish â and the same is true for the book. Unlike a roller coaster, however, the most sudden and amazing twists and turns occur as the book is reaching its conclusion!

I dare not say more, lest I inadvertently provide a spoiler.

RATING: Four and 1/2 Stars, rounded up to Five Stars where 1/2 stars are not permitted.

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Oh, my. I must be the only person alive who was so bored by this book, the story that went nowhere for many many pages, that I fell asleep every time I tried to read it. I finally quit it about halfway through.

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Excellent debut novel with a fascinating array of moody characters and an uncoiling serpent of a plot. Evil is truly hiding in plain sight. Kept me guessing and when I did get it right, it was chilling.

I can't wait to read more from Michaelides! He's a brave storyteller who knows how to shock a reader. As a fan of psychological thrillers, I found this a very satisfying and engrossing read.

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An addicting, captivating whodunit with an OMG ending! I never would have guessed it.
Great debut psychological thriller. Looking forward to her next book.

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This book goes fast.Whenever I read a book like this, a thriller, I always imagine it as a Masterpiece Mystery series. And this would be a good one. Keep you going,and surprises you as well. A good, fun, interesting read.

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I was really drawn into this very intense thriller. Maybe thriller isn't the right word. . . more of a psychological novel of suspense. Anyway it's the story of Alicia, a famous painter, who lives with her husband, Gabriel, in a good area of London. It seems her life is perfect. But then one night, Alicia is found next to the body of Gabriel who has been shot in the face five times. Alicia was found with slit wrists as she had tried to commit suicide. She then goes silent and will not speak. She is charged with killing her husband and then committed to a mental facility. Several years later, Theo Faber, a psychotherapist, transfers to the facility to try to get Alicia to speak and find out what really happened on that fateful night. So did Alicia kill her husband? If so, what was the motivation? Or did someone else do it?

The novel is narrated primarily by Theo as he delves into Alicia's case. But Theo also has some baggage and had previously been treated by a psychiatrist. Part of the novel is also told with excerpts from Alicia's journal that she kept prior to the death of her husband. Will Alicia speak again? This one really kept me guessing with a lot of false leads and then a totally surprise ending. I thought Michaelides developed the story and characters very well and overall, I really enjoyed it.

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Wow good book especially since I never guessed the outcom of the characters. Laid out perfectly.

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This well written psychological thriller is a story that keeps the reader on the edge of a chair - one of those un-put-down books! It's a quick read with fascinating characters and a surprising ending. As a bonus, get a view at the what happens in a mental hospital for criminally insane. Narrated by an egotistical, arrogant individual who schemes to become Alicia's psychotherapist, the tale features dual storylines that clash at the end.

Meet Alicia Berenson, a thirty-three year old talented, renowned artist who was found with her beloved husband's tied up body holding a gun. He was shot five times. She says nothing and no one can get her to speak. Still silent and convicted of murder, she is moved to Grove mental health facility. Psychotherapist Theo Faber, who himself has been in therapy for years, believes he can help her and maneuvers to do so. He examines her life, family, friends, and her past and the reader begins to wonder if Alice really killed her husband but if she didn't, who did?

It's a fast-paced read of quick short chapters with thrills, twists and turns, artistic metaphor, and a little Greek tragedy. Alicia likens herself to Alcestes of that Greek play which she saw a day before her husband's death. Don't miss this author's first novel. It surely is one to pick up and read.

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This is the best book I've read in a long time. It grabs your attention right from the start and keeps it. Fascinating ending.

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I could not put this book down. Following the story, I thought I had it all figured out and then the book threw a twist at me and then another! I love books that aren't predictable.

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Therapist Theo Faber finds the case of Alicia Berenson interesting. The woman, apparently happily married, was found, bloodied and holding a gun, in her house with her dead husband. She was convicted of murder but determined to be not in her right mind. Nobody could get anything from her, because she would not talk.

Theo wants to work with her, and gets himself transferred to the hospital where she is confined, even though the institution is on its last legs. He manages to get her case assigned to him, because others had given up.

Gradually Theo finds ways to communicate with Alicia and the story - her story and the story of others - comes out.

I had not guessed the way it would end, and I admit to being surprised but also disappointed.

The book is easy to get through, as chapters are short and there is a lot of white space, so it isn't actually very long. I felt it was light on details and motivation, and I wondered how this doctor was accepted into the hospital and then is allowed to work with only one patient. The characterization of therapy as a way for the therapist to feel the patient's pain until the patient can recognize it seemed off to me. I also had trouble with how Theo thinks and behaves. I am aware that therapists are just people but they do learn some techniques to cope with their own pain. Instead, Theo lashes out, feeds his own resentment, acts like a child at heart.

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