Stolen Voice: A Book Review of The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Alicia Berenson shot her husband point blank in the face, or so she was accused. A gruesome homicide becomes a closed case when she chooses never to speak another word. Not until Theo Faber, a practiced and patient psychotherapist, resumes abandoned treatment in order to help Alicia regain her voice and life. Alex Michaelides’s The Silent Patient is thriller fiction with a lot of psychology jargon you won’t put down.
Readers of Michaelide’s debut novel will turn pages dying to know if Alicia will ever speak her innocence, or guilt. And from page four when Alicia declares her complete love and devotion for husband Gabriel, we want to know how he got blasted in the face by a shotgun?
When your main character does not speak for themselves the author must incorporate a trustworthy advocate. Who better than Alicia’s new psychotherapist that remains the only one left supporting her innocence? Theo, the protagonist and narrator, directs the discovery for truth. And until Alicia’s diary entries are shared, his vantage point is the only one we have.
I love the narrator’s voice in this book. Theo, is conversational and relatable. He acts and speaks predictably. Despite being a psychotherapist for high profile patient he thinks and reacts like any normal adult with wide depth of emotions. Theo’s backstory is unremarkable, but however Michaelides accomplished it, I wanted to read from his mind forever. Imagine an audiobook narrator with the perfect voice and tone. Their readings are so enjoyable you wish they’d read all the books in the world to you.
Blogger Abby from Crime by the Book says, “The real impact of The Silent Patient comes not in flash or drama, but in the quiet, methodical way in which Michaelides lays bare the innermost workings of his characters.”
The backbone of The Silent Patient was Michaelides’s reference to Euripides’s Greek tragedy Alcestis. The myth is uncommon and beguiling, with an added layer from Euripides’s telling which diverges heavily from the original myth. Theo fixating on this clue from Alicia’s self-portrait was well laid out compared to other critical clues in the plot. Since Alcestis is lesser known, I was encouraged to look up information about Alcestis and history’s handling of the Greek heroine.
Without giving away the ending, The Silent Patient unfolded into an obvious ending. The characters and their personal struggles were textbook, as Theo set out to explain throughout his entire narration. I hoped for Theo to be thrown for a loop, for his science to fail him so we could be shocked alongside him. Michaelides wrote a classic betrayal story and did it well. He struck all the important points. Where I felt his new author card showed, was in how much of this book was listening to someone reveal their cleverness at figuring out a seedy plot. I would have preferred to be the clever reader who figured out the twists and turns. Less tell me and more show us.
I hope this is not a sign that agents and publishers are encouraging writers to be more direct in their story lines because readers are not as engaged with the text. The industry of book publishing would lose its punchiness and competitive edge. Any writer can describe a series of events, but not every author can tell a story.
The Silent Patient is a great book to pick up from the library or download the audiobook. Readers will finish the whole story in under a week and can pass it along to someone else in need of a thrilling read. It is a book worth loving. There are exciting elements of Greek mythology, clinical psychology, quotes from Freud, and dark secrets that elevate this book above easy reading. I chewed on the material long after I finished reading.
My mind is still wondering: Would I keep silent? Would you?
Other thrillers that will hold on to you until the last minute:
