The daughter read the book blind, simply based on her mother’s recommendation, but otherwise not having any idea what it was about, beyond the title. The mother had read the premise of the story and made assumptions as to what the book would be about, prior to reading the book. There was a bit of a debate between two of my reader friends (a fearsome mother/daughter duo) who both read this novel.
Not bad for his debut novel!īack story here. It’s an easy read and well written by Alex Michaelides.
Alicia ends up in a mental facility.I’ll start by saying, I really enjoyed this book. Theo attempts to teach them both a lesson that ends up with the husband being killed by Theo. Theo found out that his wife, Kathy, was cheating on him. When the truth comes out, that Theo was the stranger stalking Alicia and her husband, my jaw hit the floor.
So she couldn’t have been telling the truth when she was saying someone was watching her from across the street…….right? That is what the author wanted you to believe. The one that’s crazy because she’s taking pills and seeing a psychiatrist. See, in the beginning, Alicia is made to be the antagonist in the novel. Psh.Īnd I’m so happy the book was written that way. If this so basic, why does everyone keep suggesting it?īut I kept reading and figured Theo just wanted to help another person because no one helped him when he was a young boy getting abused by his father. Was it for his own career advancement? And why was he so intent on helping HER? But then I thought, how is this book going to be about a psychotherapist that gets a patient to spill the beans about her killing someone? That’s kind of boring (how wrong I was!). In the beginning, Theo’s enthusiasm for helping Alicia made me pause and wonder why he wanted to help her so bad. 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….” Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. 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. 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.Īlicia’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 silent patient by alex michaelides summary windows#
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. “ The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband – and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.Īlicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. Summary of The Silent Patient (taken from Amazon) I felt baffled at the end of this book but that makes for a good read doesn’t it?!