The Silent Patient
[{'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': '4.5 Stars, Spoiler-Free Review\n\nI decided to go into this novel with a clean slate, a blank canvas (no pun intended). I didn’t read any reviews because I didn’t want to see something that would give me any clues, either intentionally or unintentionally. When I know there’s a twist, or if I see hints of something, I usually figure out what’s going on. So I entered this story in the dark, curious to find what I would discover.\n\nThis is definitely an experience. For me, the author’s words painted a vivid picture (again, no pun intended). The timeline of the story was a bit hazy at points because the main character, Theo, talks in the past tense, but about a more recent past and a time that seems undefined. I won’t mention anything that could spoil what happens. All I’ll say is that I had several theories, varying in their levels of crazy. When I got to the end, I wasn’t knocked off my chair surprised because I read a LOT of books in this genre, but I also can’t say that I completely saw it coming either. Instead, I found myself trying to retrace steps and get oriented. At some point I feel like I want to read the story again to truly put the rubik’s cube in order.\n\nAt the end of the day, I think this novel has the potential to be one that is widely discussed, and may even become a motion picture. There’s an intentional murkiness (reminiscent of a movie like Memento) as the psychotherapist, Theo, embarks on a journey to find out why Alicia doesn’t speak, if she really killed her husband, if she’s insane, and/or the motive IF she did indeed kill Gabriel.\n\nIt’s not a fast-paced tale in terms of really big happenings or scary moments; but for me, the short chapters went quickly and I was intrigued throughout because I wanted to know what happened and I liked the author’s writing style. I’d recommend it for those that enjoy this genre, and those that enjoy being part of the buzzed-about-books experience.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'This was a great book with a twist I never saw coming. It was a true page turner and a great Sunday read.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'Alex Michaelides is an author to watch! This is his first novel, and it is a humdinger! It is a murder mystery, told from the point of view of a psychotherapist who switches jobs so he can try to help Alicia, the silent patient of the title. Alicia is accused of shooting her husband in the face 6 years ago, and hasn’t spoken since. The psychotherapist tries unsuccessfully to talk to Alicia, and then talks to her friends and family. Lots of issues arise during his “investigation.” He is also dealing with a cheating wife, which causes him lots of extra stress. Readers are also given a look into Alicia’s journal, in which we learn more about her life and background. The book is a fast-read, well-written, exciting, and offers a surprising ending that is clever and believable. What a wonderful story!!'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "This is indeed the perfect thriller. Beautifully written, characters so real you feel like they're right there in the room with you. A truly surprise ending, but one that makes perfect sense. The word Perfect sums it up. This novel is flat-out perfect. Read it."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': "I don't get the hype on this one at all. I'm glad so many loved it because it eases my conscience a little about having to give it such a poor review, but I just don't understand how there could be so many comments on social media about this being the best book people have read all year. I mean, people are going absolutely crazy over it!\n\nAs usual with this publisher, the marketing and promotions were outstanding (I totally bought into all the initial excitement). The advance copy came belly-banded with a fictional newspaper article about the crime, which I thought was really fun. As far as the story goes, I'd expected something fast-paced, engaging and suspenseful, but feel like I got a slow-moving, go-nowhere book that wasn't even redeemed by the supposedly big twist at the end. The style is very generic (even for its genre), with pages of dialog that did nothing to further the story or give depth to any of the characters. The whole book just seemed like filler.\n\nI'm in the minority here so chalk this one up to personal preference, I guess."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': 'What makes Gone Girl and Sharp Objects more then just cheesy page turners is the quality of the writing. What makes The Silent Patient such a tacky slog is the consistently lazy, cliche-ridden, dumbed down prose. Who cares about a mystery when you have to trudge through page after page of sophomoric prose?'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-2 review-rating', 'review_body': 'Could have been more character development. Everyone was just a little bit manic. Beginning was slow, ending felt rushed. Certainly not the must read everyone is making it out to be. Could have been better.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': "SPOILERS! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!\n\nSPOILERS!\nSPOILERS!\nSPOILERS!\nSPOILERS!\nSPOILERS!\nSPOILERS!\n\nHopefully that's enough.\n\nI ended up hating this book. It was a complete cheat. A good twist is one you don't see coming, but if you go back and reread the book, the clues were there. You just didn't put it together. At the very least, nothing in the book is an outright lie or intentionally misleading. What a good twist is not is a first person POV narrator presenting events as if they're happening at the current time when they actually happened six years earlier. The author intentionally misled the reader when it came to the chronology so that they couldn't figure out the twist. That's just cheating and misdirecting in the cheapest, worst, most underhanded and manipulative way possible. That, to me, is not a good book. Plus the writing was meh. When I read a book, I highlight sentences and passages that I love. There are very few highlights in this book."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-3 review-rating', 'review_body': "This is the GONE GIRL/GIRL ON THE TRAIN/WOMAN IN THE WINDOW suspense thriller de jour. It comes with mucho hype and it will result in mucho dinero. The concept is interesting: a woman has put five bullets in her husband's face and ends up in a psych facility, where she declines to speak. For a long, long time. She is an artist, her late husband a fashion photographer. A young psychotherapist hopes to persuade her to speak, though that will not be an easy task.\n\nSomething happened that resulted in the woman's silence. Probably something horrific. Something we don't yet understand. Something that is likely to come as a big surprise. Whenever we have a high concept novel with a boatload of uncertainties we are pretty much assured of a kicker ending and the book's success will rise or fall on the quality of that ending.\n\nHowever, that poses problems. If we can't be sure of the integrity of the voices (the accused, silent murderess speaks through an extended diary; the novel is narrated by the young psychotherapist) we can't trust them, and since we know that a kicker ending is on the way we can't invest any real affection or empathy in the characters. That is a real problem, because the novel as a genre turns on the power of empathy which animates it (as Samuel Johnson was at pains to demonstrate). Thus, if the characters are all potentially unappealing and the setting is fairly pro forma (I wish I had a pound coin for every dark red brick building holding unspeakable secrets) the success of the novel comes down to plot and theme. There are no themes really, aside from the notion that things aren't always what they seem to be (Jim Thompson's major theme, but he was working in a pure noir subgenre that is quite different from the psychological thriller). Hence we are left with the plot.\n\nThe plot is very good and the story is very engaging, but the surprise ending is achieved through a bit of trickery which I will not describe because it would spoil the novel. One cardinal rule of crime writing is that the reader must be given the same information as the detective—no withheld facts and hence deus ex machina explanations. A corollary is that conscious misdirection is also verboten.\n\nThe writing is a step above pedestrian but it is not a large step. Bottom line: do not expect something really special such as THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, where all of the facts are given and they come together with stunning inevitability (along with unforgettable characters, lovely ruminations on the human condition and a succession of beautifully-wrought settings). THE SILENT PATIENT is a fairly commonplace thriller that has been hyped beyond its merits. The ending, ultimately, is fairly predictable and it is executed more like the conclusion of a penny dreadful than a modern masterpiece."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': "How in the world is this book getting such good reviews?? It's laughably ludicrous! It's trying so hard to be riveting and suspenseful that it just throws everything in and hopes something sticks. None of the twists make any sense and not one of the characters was one with whom you could empathize. Skip this book."}]