Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Short Summary
Alex Michaelides entered the world of literature more or less out of nowhere with a real bang, titled The Silent Patient, earning him recognition as an international bestselling author. The story following a criminal psychotherapist who tries to extract the truth from an artist who never spoke a word after deciding to shoot her husband five times in the face without offering any sort of explanation to anyone.
Table of contents
Alex Michaelides Creates a Mystery out of Silence
Morbid curiosity is a perfectly normal human trait to have inherent to virtually everyone, and yet it is one we often think twice about sharing with other people, instilling some form of incomprehensible shame in the depths of our minds. In reality, the more an event is morbid, the more we want to dive to the heart of the mystery behind it, and in his debut novel The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides offers us that sort of mystery.
It begins by introducing us to Alicia Berenson, whose life is nothing is if not absolutely perfect. To begin with, she has managed to pass far beyond the Great Filter as an artist, elevating herself from the ranks of amateurs where most of them stay. Whereas most painters can only afford to practice the craft as a hobby, Alicia actually managed to become famous for her talents.
She lives in a magnificent house with the most expensive furniture and large windows through which to glare upon the world at her feet. In addition, she’s also married to a fashion photographer with an excellent career himself, with the two of them having an idyllic relationship… or so it seemed, until one night he came home from a fashion shoot, to find Alicia who shoots him in the face five times.
After this tragic event, Alicia has solemnly resigned herself to never say another word, quite literally. Since the incident, none have been able to wrench out of her any sort of admission or even a morsel of an explanation as to her motivation. Nobody has managed to crack the impenetrable wall of silence she built between herself and the world.
Theo Faber, however, is one of those who isn’t ready to give up just yet. A criminal psychotherapist who has long waited for the chance to work with Alicia, he is determined to make the most of his opportunity and plans on succeeding where all others failed, unravelling the mystery captivating the whole world. He is, however, tragically unprepared for where this investigation might lead him, and slowly becomes consumed by it himself.
The Carefully-Constructed Thrills of The Silent Patient
In general, when writers come out with their first novels, they tend to be a little lacking in terms of structure and planning, sometimes feeling more like writing exercises than cohesive stories. However, when it comes to The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides definitely doesn’t give the impression of this being his first literary effort, largely because of how tightly and carefully it’s all put together.
The chapters themselves are fairly short and sweet, switching back and forth between Theo’s perspective and Alicia’s diary entries, which, for the most part, turn into her own method of expression. There’s very little fat or filler in this story, with the author knowing how to stay focused on the things that matter.
If there’s one thing Michaelides has proven himself to be extremely good at it is misleading the audience, or at least, leading them exactly where he wants them to be. It doesn’t take a long time for the twists and turns to start piling up, and the best part is that they all feel like they’ve been properly set up, or in other words, they were earned rather than introduced out of nowhere. There are plenty of little clues here and there for those among us who are more attentive.
The author also shows his understanding of a proper thriller structure when it comes to questions and answers. That is to say, he understands that answers to previous questions must also raise new ones, constantly stringing us along and always on our toes, excited and expectant for the next bits of truth that will fall into our laps.
Naturally, none of that would work if the story itself also wasn’t properly set up and the mystery within it adequately drummed up. One the surface, what is the simple case of a woman shooting her husband is expanded upon to the point of becoming a multi-layered mystery with many twists and turns, the kind that would retain the attention of a whole nation were it to happen in real life.
The Deeper Layers
In general, thriller novels don’t leave a lot of room for anything but the story itself and perhaps a little bit of characterization here and there, a consequence of the pace they move at. However, The Silent Patient is the kind of novel which proves to be an exception when placed side-by-side with its peers, having a whole lot more to offer than a murder mystery.
The deeper we get to dive into Alicia’s mind, the more we learn not only about her motivations for the murder, but also her life as a person and the various events which have led her to becoming the person she is. Ultimately, her story becomes just as interesting as the story of the murder in question, not to mention that the two are obviously interconnected on profound levels.
Theo is also an interesting character in his own right, consumed by a mystery which has nothing to do with him personally, a hound determined to find the truth wherever he needs to search for it, regardless of what the ultimate cost might be for him. Through his sessions with Alicia he ends up touching on themes of mental illness and past trauma, which figure relatively prominently throughout the book, especially the further you go into the novel.
Naturally, while the size of the novel and the pace at which it moves do limit just how deep Alex Michaelides can dive into some of the more challenging topics and develop his characters, I think he did a wonderful job with Alicia and Theo. He brought them to life as much more than mere instruments of the story, keeping them on the centre stage, even if it is to the detriment of the more peripheral players.
Ultimately, The Silent Patient manages to be something many psychological thrillers desperately yearn to be seen as: an intelligent, thinking person’s thriller. Everything is properly set up with no plot holes to speak of (that I’ve noticed anyhow), and as readers, we’re moved to meditate on some rather serious and heavy topics with a lot of food for thought to digest.
| PAGES | PUBLISHER | PUB. DATE | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| 336 | Celadon Books | Feb. 5 2019 | 978-1250301697 |
The Final Verdict
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides is without a doubt one of the best debut novels I’ve had the pleasure of reading recently, a remarkable psychological thriller offering both a fast-paced and absorbing story while also taking the time to dive a few levels deeper into the minds of its characters. The ending also lives up to the expectations set by everything before it, which is definitely one of the harder things to accomplish as novelist.
If you’re in search of a psychological thriller that walks off the beaten path here and there, offering a memorable experience that will stay with you for all the right reasons, I strongly suggest you give this book the shot it deserves.
