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.
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....
Review
Theo is a psychotherapist who learned about Alicia and her artwork. He changed his job in order to get hired at the hospital Alicia is being held after the fateful night when she is accused of killing her husband and then suddenly refusing to use her voice. She hasn’t said one single word after that night. No one knows her story from the night, but the evidence seems clear. They found her with the gun, standing over her husband's dead tied-up body. But as we hear Alicia tell her story of what lead to that night, things get a little fuzzy. Who was that guy watching her from the curb in front of her house? What really happened that night?
The setting: Just like the author expressed in an interview, he wanted the setting to be just like how Agatha Christy had unique engaging settings. And I don’t know what a better setting is for a phycological thriller than a mental hospital. This genre and that setting just match so well together. It set up for one crazy ride.
Characters: We have both ends of the spectrum. We have the patient and the psychotherapist both telling their stories. We get to hear Alicia's story through diary entries leading up to her husband’s murder. Her character was well presented. We know or have been told she killed her husband but as we hear the story of her experience and her paranoia of events, we don’t know what to believe. She seems so innocent and she seems like the victim. Then we have Theo who is dealing with his own personal problems while also trying to get Alicia to speak and get her to reveal what really happened that night. Both characters fit their roles well and I got deeply involved in the story and their lives.
I really loved this book. I love the author's inspiration and how a lot of the things in the book were droved by his own experiences. The whole story is based on a myth he read as a kid, which is also mentioned in the book for being the inspiration of a painting Alicia paints after her husband’s death. I loved that extra touch because that myth added even more to the mystery and thrill ride. There was so much to decipher and many twists and turns. There was a nice build-up. The pacing was truly perfectly done. He did so well in developing the story and the characters while also keeping it fast enough to keep me hooked. And that cover is what really caught my eye. Overall a really solid read.