The Silent Patient is a psychological thriller that tells a story of a woman charged with her husband’s death, and a psychotherapist who is determined to uncover the truth.

Alicia Berenson, a thirty-three-year-old well-known painter has been charged with the murder of her husband of seven years. Forty-four-year-old Gabriel Berenson was killed six years ago. When police arrived at the crime scene, they found Gabriel bound to a chair and Alicia standing in front of him with a gun on the floor. Gabriel was shot several times in the face. Alicia had deep fresh cuts across her wrists. The police questioned her about the night of the murder over the next several days, but she remained silent. Alicia neither confessed nor denied the crime. She never spoke again.

However, she made one statement. After being discharged from the hospital and placed under house arrest before the trial, she made a painting; a self-portrait depicting herself in the studio, standing before a canvas holding a paintbrush. Her head turned over the shoulder, staring straight at the viewer.

Theo Farber, a criminal psychotherapist is determined to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she killed her husband.

How did it make me feel?

The Narrative

I found The Silent Murder fairly entertaining. The fast pace and the building anticipation with every chapter make this a quick and engrossing read.

However, I may have expected a little too much. Having read some amazing thrillers, this was not up to the mark for me. I had heard a lot about The Silent Patient and I already knew a big twist was right around the corner. This may have dampened my excitement when it finally came. It was good, but not mind-blowing for me. I also felt that the sub-plots kind of tapered off without contributing to the narrative. I was expecting those to tie up in a riveting manner to the story, but sadly I was just left with a lot of questions in the end.

The Characters

I could not quite make up my mind about the characters in The Silent Patient. Author Michaelides has tried to apply a cryptic shade to each of them. But because those characters don’t tie up to the main story and don’t have much to contribute except to distract the readers, so that when the twist comes they are hit with something unexpected, that mysteriousness doesn’t really mount up to anything. Again, resulting in a lot of pieces that are hard to make sense of.

Would I recommend it?

I liked The Silent Patient for how it kept me guessing. My overall reading experience with this book was good and I do not regret reading it. However, I cannot say this is one of the best thrillers that I’ve read. But this is just my feeling. A lot of readers have read and love The Silent Patient. So if you’re a thriller lover, I believe you can give this book a go.

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