The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Alicia Berenson, a famous artist, is in a secure unit and has not spoken since she was discovered with the dead body of her husband Gabriel. It was an open and shut case for the court as Alicia was found at home next to her husband’s dead body, tied to a chair, having been shot several times in the head with a gun beside her. She offers no explanation, for the crime, no denial or confession, and this unnatural silence lends her crime a certain notoriety.
It certainly captures the interest of Theo Faber, a criminal psychotherapist, who engineers a transfer so that he can work with Alicia. Theo believes he can help Alicia to find her voice because the demons in his own past, he feels, provide him with an understanding and insight into the damage and hurt that have silenced her. He slowly builds up a relationship with Alicia despite the suspicions of some of his colleagues who are concerned he is unnecessarily stirring up his patient. He believes that the clue to bringing Alicia out of her traumatised state lies in the events leading up to Gabriel’s death. So, he begins to re-investigate the case speaking with her family, art dealer and neighbour. The more he delves, the more he suspects she may not be guilty of her husband’s murder.
Now, despite the rave reviews for this psychological thriller, I found the main narrative relatively run of the mill. Whilst Theo’s investigations and terse sessions with Alicia held my interest, I did not believe in the amount of leeway he was given as a professional therapist working in such a sensitive facility. Nor did I believe in the encounters he has with the people from Alicia’s past life. However, the book is probably redeemed by the ending. The denouement wrong-footed me, with two or three twists, that also managed to resolve the different strands of the story as well as revealing what happened on the night Gabriel died.
The question is: was the book definitely redeemed by its ending? You’ll have to decide.