Book Review: The Silent Patient

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Spoilers Ahead….


I was very surprised how this turned out.

I listened to this on a whim through audible. This is in many of my local clubs currently.

It was interesting hearing it in English accents, as the pronunciations of things are different. The main character of Alicia is not pronounced as we would in the USA, so it was odd.

What a plot twist, though. For much of the book, I thought that Christian was going to be the one that was guilty. He seemed so shady. I had thought it was Theo kind of being struck by the notoriety of Alicia that he became obsessed with the case and this was why he wanted to help her. I had not figured out that he had another agenda altogether.

It was interested how the author weaved everything together so that it was clear and you knew who all the players are. In audio, that is not always the case (Enter the 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle). I have written a review of that book elsewhere on here.

In the beginning, you knew Theo was not normal, as he did mention that he had a hard time with people and that Kathy was his and he was so thankful. He felt so honored to have her. Where did things go wrong in their marriage? Was it her? Was it him? Was it real? Was there some paranoia?

One thing that I did not care for this in this book was the stigma that was mentioned several times around someone with Borderline Personality Disorder. The dismissal saying that they basically a lost cause, was rather offensive. I know people with this disorder that try so hard, so I was offended by the carelessness. Also the reference that someone with BPD is a narcissist is also not right. People with BPD have a fear of abandonment, therefore it is not all about them. They are very emotional where a relationship real of perceived is threatened in their mind. They are empaths with a huge heart and always wanting to the right thing.




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