Title: THE SILENT PATIENT
Expected publication: out now
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Book Description:
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....
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....
My musings:
The hype finally got the better of me! I know I’m late to
the party, but I admit that I really enjoyed this twisty thriller just like the
rest of you.
You’ve all read the blurb and to be honest, the less you
know of the story the better. I instantly found the premise of a woman locked
up in a mental institution for the criminally insane for brutally murdering her
husband very intriguing. There is something about the term “institution” that
brings up black and white images of horrendous Victorian asylums with bars in
front of dark windows dripping with rain and mirroring the open-mouthed gapes
of inmates locked away for eternity. On that note, I loved that the author did
not buy into those type of stereotypes when portraying the psychiatric facility
where Alicia is being held but gave us a much more modern, realistic version.
Facing the imminent threat of being closed down due to a lack of funding, its
team of staff are desperate to do the best for their patients despite budget
cuts and constant restraints by management, who focus on the business side of
things rather than the patients. Working in a hospital myself, I found this aspect
to be true to real life, even though there is some journalistic licence used
for the sake of entertainment and making the story work. Overall, I was happy with
the author’s portrayal of the facility and its therapists, which added an
unusual angle to the book I really enjoyed.
I also really like the idea of delving into the human
psyche, so an MC who is a psychologist or psychotherapist always draws me in,
especially if they are emotionally damaged themselves. THE SILENT PATIENT
really delivered on that front, as psychotherapist Theo Faber is trying to
delve into the mind of the “silent patient”, Alicia Berenson, in an effort to
help her remember the events of the night of her husband’s murder. Or so he
says. I assume that, as for any detective revisiting an old unsolved case, there
is a certain professional arrogance at play here, to prove that you can succeed
where others have failed. But you will have to read for yourself to see whether
that is the case here or not. Let me just say that over the course of the book
we get as much of an insight into Theo’s psyche than that of Alicia, which added
depth and set this mystery apart from many others in the genre.
I really enjoyed the clue-by-clue chapters as Theo tries to find
out what happened the night of Alicia’s husband’s brutal death, partly through
his sessions with her and partly from his own private investigations into her life (which probably
break every rule in the book about his scope of practice, but never mind that).
Alicia is a complex and fascinating character, made all the more intriguing
because she refuses to talk and defend herself. Which is the main element that
drives the story – since Alicia remains a silent presence, we, the readers, are
just as much in the dark about her past as Theo. Until ... ok, again I won’t
give anything away. Just read it!
I was so engrossed in the audiobook that the ending snuck up
on me all too quickly. To be honest, I did have an inkling of what was to
happen, but thought I must be wrong, because surely the book couldn’t be ending
yet, I was having way too much fun. And I’m normally not the best armchair
Sherlock, so it took me by surprise when I was right. I must be reading way too
many thrillers to see that one coming! However,
even if you are the type of reader who favours a “killer twist”, most reviewers
have admitted to being gobsmacked by the final reveal, so this was obviously
just a fluke rather than real detective skill on my part (I won’t give up my
day job quite yet). I loved the way the author wrapped up the ending, which was
just right and very satisfying.
Summary:
All in all, the whole psychotherapy angle is what drove this
story for me and which made it a page-turner, as I was eager to see where
Alicia’s therapy would lead to. The problem with a well-announced “killer
twist” is that you start to expect the unexpected, which was the case here for
me. That said, there probably isn’t a twist that hasn’t been done before in
some book, some other time, so I’m not one to hold a grudge. Overall, THE
SILENT PATIENT was an extremely entertaining, fast-paced story for me, and I
don’t hesitate to recommend it to readers who love psychological thrillers that
delve into the human psyche and don’t mind slightly unorthodox MCs.
The Frieda Klein series by Nicci French
The Joseph O'Loughlin series by Michael Robotham
If you liked the psychotherapy angle of this story, you may also enjoy:
The Frieda Klein series by Nicci French The Joseph O'Loughlin series by Michael Robotham
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