Holy smokes did this book take me for a ride. How does one review this w/o giving any spoilers away??? I loved the premise of being truly silent as you sit in a mental hospital, when you assume the patient can speak if he/she wanted too. The characters were odd and quirky so nothing seemed unreasonable. Highly recommend for anyone that likes TWISTS and turns in the fiction.

What a fantastic debut by Alex Michaelides!! With an incredible premise this book starts on the slower side, but builds so quickly it is absolutely unputdownable! Alicia is in a mental hospital (The Grove) after allegedly shooting her husband five times in the face. What happened in their cozy kitchen that night? No one knows as Alicia has not spoken a word since that fateful night. Six years later, Theo Faber, a Psychotherapist, transfers to The Grove with the hope of being the one to unlock her silence. The story takes off from there and with a shocking twist doesn’t let up until the very last word! A total stunner, one you won’t want to miss!

I enjoyed this quick, fast-paced novel. The book was paced well, and I definitely wanted to keep reading to find out what happened in the end. I personally have grown a little tired of all the books with a big reveal at the end, and I'm not sure how well the twist worked in this one. Overall, a satisfactory read. I would not recommend it as a personal favorite, but in a professional capacity I would recommend this to patrons who are looking for a new griplit read.

The Silent Patient gripped me from the first page. Initially, I thought this would be a standard thriller setting up the scenario of looking at a spousal murder. Instead, this is an in-depth study of the psychotherapist who is, ostensibly, looking at the the patient. Well written, and moving, this is a thoughtful psychological study of one mans exploration into his own psyche. Not to be missed!

This was an intense psychological thriller with great character development, and fast paced plot and unexpected ending. Highly recommended!

Pub date: Feb 5, 2019
A fast- paced thriller about a woman who is in a mental hospital for killing her husband and her psychotherapist who tries to help her. I won't say anymore about this, but it's a good thriller with twists I didn't see coming and plenty of red herrings.

I received a digital copy of this book from Netgalley and a physical copy from Bookishfirst for an honest review.

This was an interesting mystery that kept you invested. However, I wasn't blown away as all the hype would lead you to believe. The ending wasn't bad by any means, it just didn't really shock me. Also, this was more of a mystery than any thriller I would classify as I didn't find a lot of thrilling things happening.

An excellent psychological thriller with which to start the new year. It lives up to all of its hype.. Character and plot merge to give the reader an exciting roller coaster ride with a surprise twist at the end. Thoroughly enjoyable if that's the right word to describe this whirlwind of a read. It's a winner.

Finally, a worthy thriller that is well-plotted, with intriguing characters, thoughtful twists, and an ending that is not tied perfectly with a bow. Dr. Theo Graber is the narrator, a psychotherapist newly arrived to the Grove, a small institution for the criminally insane. Drawn to the hospital by the newspaper stories of famous artist Alicia Berenson who murdered her husband, Theo believes he is the one who can finally get Alicia to talk after a silence of six years. Interspersed between the story line of his work with Alicia and the other members of the staff is Theo's story of his own personal hitory, his cheating wife, and disintegrating marriage. If you are looking for a well-written page turner, this is it - impressive debut.

Promising to be the debut novel of the season, I decided to make this my first read of 2019!

I am glad I did not wait any longer...

Alicia Berenson was a famous painter, married to an in-demand fashion photographer, living what appears to be a life that others would envy...till she kills her husband by shooting him in the face, five times, and never speaks another word.

Her only assertion about what happened is her self portrait, Alcestis, named after the tragic heroine of the Greek tragedy by Euripides. Her painting is of her naked body, fresh scars on her wrist, a blank expression on her face and a paintbrush in her hands, dripping red paint...or is it blood?

Determined to get her to talk is Theo Fabre, a criminal psychotherapist. He begins a quest for the truth, not unlike what a detective might do, but is he the right Doctor for this patient?

Excerpt: Alicia was standing by the wall, being restrained by Yuri and another nurse. But no physical restraint was necessary. She was totally calm, perfectly still, like a statue. her expression reminded me sharply of the painting-the Alcestis. Blank. Expressionless. Empty. She stared straight at me. For the first time, I felt afraid.

Told from Theo’s perspective and through Alicia’s diary entries, I still did not know where this book was going with only 10% left to read.

I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING! And, I was NOT disappointed. I have no hesitation in recommending this to readers who love a good psychological thriller.

Pre-Order NOW! This book will be released on Feb. 5, 2019.

I would like to thank Netgalley, Celadon books, and Alex Michaelides for the ARC I received in exchange for a candid review! Posted to Goodreads now, and Amazon on publication date.

A great psychological thriller to start off the new year! The Silent Patient has been getting a lot of buzz leading up to it's release and now I know why. It is an excellent debut novel that I couldn't put down. It's twists and turns will keep you up all night!

A great psychological thriller. It is a mix of The Girl on the Train, Gone Girl and a little Joker and Harley Quinn. Murder, Tabloid news star, amnesia, doctors patient power dynamics are all done very well. As always with these books there is a “twist ending.” This ending is executed better than most in its genre. I would recommend for public library reading groups especially those interested in psychological thrillers. The publisher has really been pushing this book. It is included in the monthly subscription service book of the month and lots of ARC have been available. This could be a runaway head if it finds its audience.

I couldn't put this down once I got past the first few chapters, its well written and pretty good.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance read

Sometimes it’s just really difficult to write a review of a book without giving away too much about the plot. Plot summaries of this book are readily available from many sources but you may want to enter this book without reading them.

What I can tell you is this is a very heavy psychological suspense. The success of a plot like this is which character’s story the reader believes. This one is well done and there are plenty of trails for the reader to follow without knowing which might lead to the truth.

Then we come to the reveal. I am happy to say that everything concludes exactly as it should.

This is an outstanding debut psychological thriller! I really enjoyed it and it kept me fascinated. Alicia Berenson is a happily married artist who loves her husband. Until she kills him. Or did she? Alicia never speaks a word after the murder so she was sent to a mental institution called The Gove. Alicia is The Silent Patient - she doesn't speak to anyone at all. Theo is a criminal psychotherapist who thinks he can save Alicia so he maneuvers to obtain a position at The Grove in order to work with her. There's an awesome twist at the end that will stun you!

The plot was engrossing and the characters were totally believable. I really liked both Alicia and Theo.

Thanks to Alex Michaelides and Celadon Books through Netgalley for an advance copy.

The Silent Patient has received a ton of buzz and for good reason! I could not put this one down. Thrilling and mysterious from start to finish! Highly recommended!!

Thank you again NetGalley for a copy of this book. The advanced praises were absolutely right. What an extraordinary book until the unexpected twist at the end. Once I started reading the book I hardly could put it aside. It's a perfect psychological thriller. A must read I highly recommend

Oh! How I enjoyed this one. This book is coming out on February and it has already been bought for a movie. Yes, it is very good.

I liked the narrator and the twist.

This is this author's first book and it has already been a hit.

In terms of the plot, I can't really say much but that Alicia killed her husband and then has been silent for years. It is up to this new doctor to make her talk so we can know for sure if she really killed her husband or what.

Definitely, psychological thrillers are my favorite.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this title.

Wow! This book gets 5 stars for the great ending. THE SILENT PATIENT by Alex Michaelides is a dark psychological thriller, just the kind of book I like to settle into a comfy chair with, It did not disappoint.

Nothing is clear in this novel not even who the good guys and bad guys are. This is a complex multi-layered novel that is full of darkness.

The author never tries to shock or lead you astray, just tells the story and brings it to a jaw dropping conclusion.

Read this book for an incredibly satisfying read. Curl up in your favorite chair and prepare to be whisked away.

Well looks like I’m the outlier on this book as I have been reading many glowing 5 star reviews. Maybe I’ve been reading too many thrillers lately. For me to love a thriller all of the characters have to be well developed and intricate to the story, the plot has to be a good one and have more to offer than just the “thrill”, or wow factor at the end of the book. I found the characters to be shallow and the plot seemed to run off in several directions throughout the course of the novel.

This was just an o.k. read for me, not bad but not great enough that I will be thinking of it long after I’ve finished or be recommending it to my friends.

One thing proved true, this book did have me turning the pages quickly to find out what would happen at the end. However while I was turning these pages quickly, I wasn’t really getting very much out of the story. I felt as though the fact that she wouldn’t speak was the main focus of the book rather than looking into whether she was really guilty or not. I know that she had been tried and found guilty but I had hoped that perhaps the doctors would find other issues worth pursuing regarding her guilt or innocence.

There are multiple characters introduced but none of them are really very well described. Dr. Diomedes is the head of the facility and he appoints a new doctor, Theo Faber, who has recently joined the staff to oversee Alicia’s care. She had previously been under the care of another physician but he hadn’t made any progress with her and so it is hoped that this new doctor will help to make her finally speak.

The book is narrated by Theo and then later by Alicia as we begin to read her previously hidden diary.

The book takes place in “The Grove” a private facility for psychiatric patients. Theo Faber transferred from another facility because he is obsessed with Alicia’s case. We do get to know him through his thoughts about his own marriage to Karen who seems increasingly “busy” and coming home late from rehearsals, she is an actress. This is a story line that is introduced and somewhat developed and then just left hanging. What really is going on with Theo’s marriage? He seems to be spending all of his time at the facility with Alicia.

Alicia had been a successful artist and Gabriel a photographer of some repute. There really is never any answer to the question of “why”, why would Alicia kill Gabriel. There doesn’t seem to be any evidence that they were unhappy or that Gabriel was unfaithful, there doesn’t seem to have been much research as to why she would kill her husband. She was convicted because she was found at the scene with the gun in her hand, covered in blood because she had slit her wrists in an attempt to kill herself.

The twist is a good one but doesn’t come until the last 20 pages or so. I had pretty much figured it out by then but I’m sure it will come as a surprise to many.

I would say read it without reading lots of reviews, decide for yourself if it is indeed “the debut novel of the year for 2019” as the publisher has written in the blurb for the book! After the last session that Theo had with Alicia he is writing everything down while it was still fresh in his mind and he states "As you will see, it's an incredible story--of that there is no doubt. Whether you believe it or not is up to you."

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

Will post to Amazon upon publication.