The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

I bought this book earlier this year in preparation for an assignment in English class. I never got around to reading it until my flight to London. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides packs in mystery, crime, and suspense, perfect for the plane. It successfully highlights the importance of confronting the mistakes of the past and he creatively weaves in niche Greek mythology.

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Alicia Berenson, a renown modern artist, is found one night in her apartment having shot her husband five times in the head with a gun. After Gabriel Berenson dies, officials send Alicia to the Grove, an institution on the outskirts of London where she refuses to speak. In fact, she went silent since the day her husband died. 

Theo Faber is a psychotherapist who hears of Alicia Berenson’s interesting case. He joins the Grove, hoping to meet and ultimately help Alicia speak again. He sets up therapy sessions and works relentlessly to help Alicia. He travels to her exhibitions, speaks with people who know her, and reads about her works of art. The jury is convinced Alicia murdered her husband, but Theo is not. He finds patterns and connections from literature and Alicia’s life to her artwork, which he supposes represents her feelings and emotions. 

Theo returns home one day to find sexual emails his wife had sent to another man. Theo’s life at home begins to fall apart. Determined not to leave his disloyal wife, Theo finds his therapy sessions with Alicia to be therapeutic for himself too. As Theo battles Alicia’s desires to heal, he finds himself buried in a mess. 

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The Silent Patient began with a slow start. As with most mysteries, all the characters and events seem quite random until the end nears. The plot quickens as you go along and the chapters remain short and fast-paced. I definitely consider this a successful on the mystery aspect. The endings of many mystery novels appear random in light of what happened in the plot, often tying to a small detail mentioned once. The Silent Patient addresses details, plot, and characters mentioned throughout the entire book; the ending truly “clicks”.