Book Club Review: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

The Silent Patient

Alex Michaelides

Publisher: Celadon Books

Published Date: February 5, 2019

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Fiction

336 Pages / 8 Hours 33 Minutes

Date Read: August 10-20, 2025

Format: 🎧

Source: Audible

As always, if you prefer a spoiler free review please read my quick review instead of the in depth review below.

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About the Book

Alicia Berenson's life is perfect—she’s a successful painter married to a successful photographer—until one night she shoots her husband five times and then stops speaking entirely. She is sent to a secure psychiatric facility for treatment from a mental break where she refuses to speak for years. Criminal psychotherapist, Theo Faber, becomes obsessed with her case and takes a job at the hospital determined to uncover the truth behind the shocking crime. As Theo digs deeper into Alicia’s past and struggles to make her speak, the mystery grows more twisted and dangerous than he ever expected.

Quick Review (Spoiler Free)

This book... my goodness. I love a good twisty mystery and this one did not disappoint. The writing style overall was clever but I had a few moments that I felt almost tripped up by the timing. Overall, I thought I had this story figured out about 5 times and still didn't see it coming until it did.

I thought the story was great. The twists were even better. I kept thinking to myself, "[This] is what's happening" and feeling so strongly about it. (It was not happening the way I thought.)

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Now, let's get into the details!!

(Note: Some text may appear to be blocked out, just highlight that text to read it.)

Two words: twisty mystery.

I liked how there were so many characters and so many parts that intertwined together to pull off the ending.

There were a few times that the “flashbacks”/journal stuff made things a little muddy and I couldn’t tell if that was on purpose or part of the plot. It’s a minor thing for me since the book was a great read.

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Ratings