The Silent Patient

Summary:

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him... (Summary and cover courtesy of goodreads.com)

Review:

This was a book that got a lot of hype, but definitely wasn’t for me.  Other than a general interest in figuring out what the twist was going to be, I didn’t have a lot that kept me going.  The character development is missing and you’re very much told what is happening rather ever being shown.  It made for a disjointed experience as none of the characters actually reflected what you’re constantly being told – even when not in a portion of the book that’s supposed to be a diary.

I agree with some reviewers in finding the number of professional boundaries crossed distracting, but also admit that would been a disappointing book should there not be some bad stuff happening.  Ultimately this is a book that, in my mind, could have been a convinving book, but wasn’t well-executed.

Warning: Contains repeated references to mental health issues and physical violence.

Rating: 2 stars!

Who should read it? Only those who want to know what the fuss is about