The Silent Patient - A Review By Emmie Vargas

You turn on the news expecting the norm of a 5 o'clock schedule and a rundown of crime and the weather in London, which obviously would probably be horrid and cold. You grab your remote and switch on the news channel. A bright red and blue headline glares back at you. In huge white lettering, it is titled "Gabriel Berenson found dead in his apartment" Gabriel might be one of the most famous photographers of the 21st century for what you're concerned. Yes, he was a little odd. His style of mildly naked and malnourished women turned some heads. You snap your focus back to the harsh blue light TV and begin listening further. The news anchor comes on abruptly in front of the apartment that he shared with his wife, Alicia. She speaks with paranoia, constantly looking behind her as you see behind her a woman soaked in blood come out on a stretcher. You instantly recognize her sickly figure as you see her. You can't see every single detail through your cheap 2010 TV quality but it looks as if her wrists are deeply sliced and the rest of her body looks paler than her norm. Jesus, you think. Was it a homicide? Did someone kill her and her husband to inherit the money? The volume blares in your ear as you slowly turn back to the screen as the words slip out of the anchor's mouth. "Alicia Berenson has committed an act of evil, Mrs. Berenson has murdered her husband and attempted to end her own life." You snap back to the cold and stuffy room you are sitting in. Your legs are crossed in order to trap the heat your body is slowly producing. Alicia sits in front of you. She looks pathetic. She has dawned a neutral beige set of almost scrubs or whatever clothing is given to high-level psych ward patients. Her bones stick out of her flesh in an almost unnerving way. She doesn't speak, not even a movement. You look straight at her. She won't even face you. You're fucked up, she's fucked up. At least, you have something in common. Right? 

The Silent Patient may be the best book I have read ever. The book begins with an entry from Alicia's journal before she kills her husband. It follows Theo Faber a psychotherapist that only got into the job due to his childhood abuse and trauma and because he believes that through this career he can heal himself. Purely selfish as he states early in the book, but extremely human. We follow his journey to wanting to work with Alicia as a patient and securing a job at her psych ward "The Grove". The twists and turns that this novel has have been truly incredible. The writing style that Michaelides uses hooks the reader the minute you begin to read. He creates a gorgeous visual setting for the plot that is unraveled. I am a sucker for physiological thrillers and this was a book that had an intriguing plot that took a quick turn that no one very saw coming. This book is very detailed as I said so watch out if you don't want to read every single detail about the murder and Alicia's backstory. I adored this book so much and I hope that everyone gives it chance. I would rate this novel a 5 out of 5 stabs. Sorry, Gabriel. 

5/5

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