The
Silent Patient – Alex Michaelides (Celadon)
Every
once in a while, a book comes along that has a reputation that proceeds its
arrival onto bookstore shelves. Alex Michaelides debut novel, The
Silent Patient, is one of those books; a unique, yet pretty straight
forward story as psychological thrillers go.
The
tale involves a seemingly troubled, beautiful artist, who stands accused of
murdering her husband and then goes mute, not uttering a single word in her own
defense. Assumed to be psychologically challenged, Alicia Berenson is confined
to a mental institution; where a series of psychotherapy professionals try to
break through the wall she has built up around herself.
Enter,
Theo Faber, a psychotherapist who seems utterly hellbent to work with Alicia
and boldly go where no therapist has successfully gone before and bring her
back to the world of the living and speaking. It’s the hellbent part that
should be tip off for folks who want to try to figure out where all this is
heading.
As
with all great psychological thrillers – you will either have the breakthrough
you seek, or you will upon the story’s conclusion do a healthy face palm for
not realizing the path that you have been on all along. While The
Silent Patient, is very well put together, I was able to see a bit of
the classic, The Sixth Sense in between the lines
and that Faber was a whole lot bigger to this story than just a hyper
interested, committed metal health practitioner. That best guess on my part,
may have reduced my overall impression and the impact of the story for me.
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