The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides’ debut novel is a brisk, thoroughly entertaining page-turner. It is perfect if you are looking for a low-commitment mystery to grip you for a couple days. After reading a couple heavier non-fiction works, I turned to The Silent Patient as a digestible palette cleanser, and I was not disappointed. The central mystery of why Alicia shot her husband, the gloomy mental hospital as a primary setting, the narrative perspective shifts between Theo’s account and Alicia’s diary and the protagonist’s flaws, obsessions, and insecurities are all well-constructed and utilized in the novel.
Michaelides’ background in screenwriting is very apparent here. His prose is fast-paced, and the short chapters, which play out very much like individual cinematic vignettes make it very difficult to put this book down. At the same time, Michaelides is very adept with his descriptions (with a particular focus on weather), and strategically deploys character archetypes, sexual tension, and a hint of horror to keep the reader gripped. The consistent references to Greek art and culture were also a nice touch.
I will not spoil the main pot twist here, but I will say that (unlike many other readers) I was quite surprised. I definitely did not hate the ending, but I certainly did not love it either. I find myself more puzzled than anything else. While it certainly works and was disturbing in its own way, it came at the cost of fleshing out more of the underlying artistic and psychological themes I would have liked to have seen given more breathing space and pay-off. Furthermore, some of the side characters are ultimately left underdeveloped and discarded when their usefulness as scapegoats runs its course, and the ending was left needlessly (and frustratingly) ambiguous. Finally, I was not satisfied by Michaelides’ handling of one crucial piece of information: the diary. I am not sure it falls into plot hole territory, but the way it is used in the main narrative is certainly convenient.
Overall, The Silent Patient is a very good psychological thriller, but it falls short of greatness. It’s a perfect beach read for an Aegean holiday, but Euripides it is not.
The Once and Future Lit 