It just gets so convoluted and meandering, and I couldn’t really follow what actually happened, from what was meant to be the lies and fantasy of some characters. I felt like the author was so determined to deliver the big ‘twist’ that he lost sight of the actual plot. This book starts off really strong with a great premise - intriguing and mysterious right away - the writing is even pretty strong in the beginning, but somewhere along the way it all seemed to fall apart for me. The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband-and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive. 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. Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. 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. 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.Īlicia’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.

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.

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect.

The silent patient painting