Andrew K. (kuligowskiandrewt) - , reviewed on 1/25/2019 + 569 more book reviews

Artist Alicia Berenson lives, despite a suicide attempt. Her husband Gabriel does not â he's been shot to death. The police quickly realize Alicia MUST have done it. Perhaps the clue as to WHY exists in the artist's self portrait, called âAlcestisâ. However, like the Greek tragedy by Euripides whose title was taken for the painting, the subject â Alicia â has stopped speaking.

Psychotherapist Theo Faber has taken a job at a failing mental institution where Alicia has been committed. It is his most fervent wish to gain an insight into her secrets, and as such to assist her in recovery. His first challenge will be to get her to speak ⦠no, his first challenge will be to get her to TRUST ⦠while he deals with the temptations of cannibis and the fear that his wife has taken a lover.

âThe Silent Patientâ, by Alex Michaelides, is a psychological thriller of the first degree. I found it started slow â but then, most roller coasters start slow while they build up a supply of potential energy. Both the book and the roller coaster start to speed up â slowly at first, but then faster and faster. When you think you know what's going to happen next, you find that you've been whipped around in an unexpected curve. Eventually, the ride is over ⦠long before you're ready for it to finish â and the same is true for the book. Unlike a roller coaster, however, the most sudden and amazing twists and turns occur as the book is reaching its conclusion!

I dare not say more, lest I inadvertently provide a spoiler.

RATING: Four and 1/2 Stars, rounded up to Five Stars where 1/2 stars are not permitted.

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