ALICIA
Alicia Berenson writes a diary as a release, an outlet - and to prove to her beloved husband that everything is fine. She can't bear the thought of worrying Gabriel, or causing him pain.

Until, late one evening, Alicia shoots Gabriel five times and then never speaks another word.

THEO
Forensic psychotherapist Theo Faber is convinced he can successfully treat Alicia, where all others have failed. Obsessed with investigating her crime, his discoveries suggest Alicia's silence goes far deeper than he first thought.

And if she speaks, would he want to hear the truth?

This book is superb! I thought I'd guessed the perpetrator but NO! I couldn't have been more wrong.

Its one of those books that when you finish it, you sit there in silence and just go "WOW"

Enjoyed this very much, great twist at the end. Can’t wait to see what this author brings out next.

OMG! What a story, what a book, what an amazing read! I was trapped from start to finish and it was a really original story plus I didn't see that twist coming at the end! I liked Alice and the way in which the story is written however, I felt like the book ended too quickly. Everything happened was rushed and I would have loved to know what was going to happen with Alice and Theo after everything is revealed.

It was a story that related to mental health, marriage, trust and agony and it kept me hooked from the very beginning. Highly recommended – it is a magnificent psychological thriller and I can't wait to see what the author writes next!

Alicia Berenson is a successful artist living happily with her fashion photographer husband. After 7 years of marriage she kills her husband, and then never speaks again. She is currently held in a secure psychiatric unit, totally drugged up and happily left like that by the professional staff - until the' 'narrator' - psychoanalyst Theo Faber takes an interest in her case, hoping to piece together her story and hear her tell her side.

I enjoyed piecing together the lead-up to the incident and learning about the people around Alicia and her husband at the time. Theo's story I found less interesting as I found him shallow and superficial. My empathy lay with the central character, without really knowing why. I found some of the psychoanalytical parts tedious, but it was easy to skim read these - it's a very readable book.

The twist in the whole structure of the story was great and saved this book for me. I had been mildly dissatisfied with it until then. Rethink all - then look again! A good read as it turned out.

I was really looking forward to this book particularly because the premise sounded good but also it is being hailed as the debut of the season, unfortunately I was a bit disappointed, granted it had a good twist at the end but it just lacked something.

I loved this book - and that twist was excellent. It totally took me by surprise! An excellent,read-in-one-sitting, twisty book.

Absoli absolutely loved this book - it was brilliant! . I often found myself holding my breath and even though I Raced through it - I didn’t want to finish it! Definitely going to be reading more from this fab new author

This was an “edge of your seat” type read, the kind of book that you end up being annoyed with real life social plans for happening and interrupting your time with. Five stars!

There's no doubt this book is very clever. The storyline is intruiging and pulls you in from the start. It would probably make a good film or series. I feel I should have liked it. I'm just not sure I did! There's nothing wrong with it. It's well written and had some good twists. I can see from reviews that others loved it. Maybe it was the lack of likeability in the characters that led to a lack of interest for me in the outcomes. It lacked a certain amount of characterisation and depth in that respect. A solid three stars from me.

Intelligent thriller with creepy One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest vibes. I read this pretty fast to find out what had happened or would happen. I didn't see the actual twist coming though I had suspicions of several unlikeable characters; it's definitely not a cosy,Christmassy read. If you like your novels as cold and dark as the bleak widwinter though, this is a great choice. Madness, jealousy, revenge: it's all in here with a few tortured red herrings to throw you off the scent - have fun guessing which is which!

This is a real gem of a psychological thriller. Alice is the eponymous silent patient who has been residing at the Grove since she was accused of murdering her husband. It has been six years since the event, and she hasn't uttered one word since that day, her only communication has been via one painting. Theo is the psychotherapist who is determined to break through her silence and find out what really happened on that fateful day and unlock the secrets that the painting holds.

I was completely drawn into this book that is told from Theo's perspective, and later with excerpts from Alice's diary. There are peripheral characters that add depth and provide potential clues as to what happened on the day of the murder, but the intrigue of the book lies in the relationship between Theo and Alice. Is she a cold blooded killer playing a long game? Is he her knight in shining armour, come to rescue her from false imprisonment? Is she a severely dysfunctional woman? Is he blinded by his fascination with Alice and vocational ambitions? These were the questions that flitted through my head as the book progressed, and I was never quite sure until the final chapters what the truth really was. It's a great reveal at the end of the book, and I would never have guessed that this is a debut novel.

My thanks go to the publishers and Net Galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

Thanks to Orion books and netgalley for the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.
What a great story, very skilfully woven. It wasn’t until the last few pages that I saw the significance of the two story elements woven together. I was engrossed in the story of the psychologist helping his patient and didn’t see his problem as being an historic one. The Ancient Greek tragedy was used skilfully to support the unfolding of events. Thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend to anyone who likes a good mystery.

Absolutely thrilling.
Totally amazing
Completely hooked
Had no idea how the story was going to unfold,.
It as so many twists and turns you just won't see the end coming.

LOVED IT!!!!!!!

Thank you netgalley, Orion and Alex Michaelides for allowing me to read and review this book.

Alicia is an artist,who shoots her husband 6 times, then refuses to speak. Theo is a psychologist who has been interested in Alicia's story for a while, so much so he applies for a job in the institution she is in and becomes her therapist.

The book is told from both Theo and Alicia's viewpoint. I dont know why,but I continually thought Theo was a female character which kept confusing me!

I really enjoyed this book,there's a lot of psychology in it which I found interesting. The grand finale is a little far fetched but cleverly done.

I hadn't heard of this book when I requested it but as a psychologist the premise interested me and I was very happy to receive an Arc through Netgalley and the publisher - so thank you to them.

This is absolutely a page turner and it will be a bestseller. Going between two points of view, it grasps your attention from the start.

Alicia a famous painter, is arrested after being found beside the dead body of her husband who she has apparently shot (in the face 5 times). We get her viewpoint through her diary, She is silent throughout her trial and thereafter and is sent to a psychiatric unit for treatment. There she makes no progress whatsoever - until the other point of view, Theo, comes along.

Theo is a psychotherapist and is a little bit obsessed with Alicia. He leaves his job to take up a post at the unit where Alicia is being treated and is assigned to her case. Somehow he seems to get through to her and we begin to understand that all is not how it seemed. The resolution of the story is genuinely surprising and I say this as someone who reads a lot of psychological thrillers - I did not see that coming. Full marks for that.

As I said this is a page turner but it is not perfect. For me the scenes in the psychiatric unit and around Theo were just not plausible. He seemed to have unlimited time to go and interview members of Alicia's family etc and to have no other case responsibilities whatsoever. I don't think so. Having said that, this is a very enjoyable read and I will certainly look out for more from this author.

Despite the fact that it hasn’t been released yet, you may have already heard buzz about The Silent Patient. Set to be one of the biggest thriller debuts of 2019, this book has so much hype surrounding it already. I can’t claim to be an expert on the thrillers, but I absolutely love reading them and find that a great thriller can be one of the most rewarding reading experiences for me. So did The Silent Patient live up to the hype?

I don’t want to give anything away, so this review will be pretty short. The answer to my above questions is that, well, no. It just didn’t live up to the hype for me. That’s not to say that The Silent Patient isn’t a good book -- it is an incredibly well-paced page turner that will keep you reading late into the night -- but I didn't think there was anything incredibly unusual or groundbreaking about it. This probably has more to do with my expectations than anything else. The way it is being marketed made me think that it would be a genre-redefining book like Gone Girl was. In reality, The Silent Patient is a pretty standard thriller with the standard twists and turns that a reader would come to expect. My reaction to the big, twisted ending was ‘huh, interesting’ and nothing more -- I certainly didn’t see it coming, but it didn’t blow me away. I feel that if The Silent Patient was published 3-5 years ago, it would have been a much more explosive book for me.

I liked the characters in this book well enough, particularly Theo, but I didn’t get too attached or invested in any of them. There was something about Alicia’s characterisation that unsettled me, and I don’t think it was intentional. She feels like a hot, empty vessel for the men around her to react to. In this way, she felt so flat and one-dimensional when she should have been intriguing and fascinating. I think this kind of female character just isn’t for me.

Overall, The Silent Patient is worth your time -- it is a fun read and will pull you in. But is it the next big thing in the genre? Probably not.

I am excitedly reading the ladt pages of The Silent Patient at 5am one morning because I have to find out about Alice Berenson and whether she did murder her husband and why as well as lots of other questions which have arose.
Silent she may be as her Therapist’s patient but her story is told through her Therapist Theo who is keen to help her.

Full of suspense with Agatha Christie-like characters who all possibly could be lying or telling the truth this story kept me guessing and wanting more. I was gripped from the start and the unravelling of this murder mystery is kept tight until the end. Thrilling!

This had me hooked from the start, Forensic psychotherapist Theo Fabe and Alicia Berenson “The Silent Patient “ take the reader through their lives in a clever way throughout the book , be it memories or via a diary,which grips you throughout.. It all culminates to a very clever twist at the end. Read this in one sitting , could not put it down.

Those of you who follow my blog or are a member of THE Book Club on Facebook will know that I suffer from chronic FOMO and despite having over 400 books on my kindle, when a new book is being discussed over on Twitter and all the bloggers are literally salivating over it and the publishers have allowed some of them to read the sampler and it appears the entire blogging community are involved EXCEPT ME, I immediately contacted the delicious Ben Willis of Orion and said those 6 little words “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?”. Obviously he does and immediately sent me a copy of this book which I started reading and devoured in a day.

It’s taken me almost a week to write this review because I genuinely don’t know how to put my thoughts down and give this book the justice it deserves so I shall start with the basics. It’s a psychological thriller, so you know to expect a twist or two along the way and therefore I’m not even going to mention twists.

The story is about a famous painter, Alicia Berenson who kills her husband Gabriel, a famous photographer by shooting him point blank 5 times in the face when he comes home late from work (yes I know, we’ve all been there) and then she basically stops talking. Staying absolutely shtum, not uttering a word Alicia is sent to a secure unit in my childhood home town Edgware where she remains THE SILENT PATIENT for years.

Then we meet Theo Faber, a young criminal psychotherapist who is obsessed with this case and feels he can help Alicia talk about her crime and why she did it. So, when an opening at the secure unit comes up he grabs it with both hands and starts his journey to uncover the truth and be the “hero” who can get through to Alicia and get her talking.

The story unfolds through Theo’s point of view and then through Alicia’s journal which she was keeping up until her husband’s murder. A fascinating and totally addictive story which kept me turning those pages (actually I was swiping my kindle but it sounds better the other way) faster than a contestant on Who Wants to be A Millionaire Faster Finger First.

I’m not going to divulge anything more, except there comes a point in this story when I had to STOP reading, take a huge breath and tip my hat to the author and think “Holy Motherf*cker, I did NOT see that coming”, and from that point onwards I read the book with a wry smile on my face, shaking my head in admiration and respect to Alex Michaelides for creating a story which I believe will be HUGE when it is published next February 2019.

Just in case you weren’t sure – YES I LOVED IT. 5 HUGE STARS from me and totally recommend it to everyone who loves dark, psychological thrillers.

I am fairly new to this genre and am enjoying discovering new writers. The Silent Patient started off very well and I really liked the writing style that flips between the patient 'Alicia' point of view retrospectively via her journal. To Theo the criminal psychotherapist who is drawn to Alicia and is determined to help fix her at any cost.

I was reading this very happily and with 20% to go I was thinking that this book is a good three stars, and then 'BAM' the story really picks ups and takes you somewhere else entirely! When I finished the book (late at might I must add) I just could not stop thinking about it. It was a very good ending indeed. Any book that still lingers in your mind afterwards is a good book I think!


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this in exchange for a honest review.