The ResolutionĪuthor Alex Michaelides develops strong characters as convincing decoys to throw readers off the trail of what really happened, leaving readers guessing who murdered Alicia’s husband or who might have pushed Alicia to become a killer. Theo’s wife Kathy, an actress hiding extracurricular activities of her own, even plays into the drama. And fellow Grove psychiatrist Christian, who overmedicates Alicia to keep her quiet and hides the fact that she was a patient of his off the books prior to her incarceration at The Grove. Alicia’s best friend and gallery owner Jean-Felix, who appears more interested in profiting from Alicia’s notoriety by showing her paintings than helping Theo get through to Alicia.

There’s Gabriel’s brother Max, a hot-headed and frightening lawyer with the hots for his brother’s wife. Other screwed up relatives and acquaintances cast doubt on who is really to blame for Gabriel’s death, Alicia’s murderous motives, and Theo’s so-called good intentions. Alicia’s upbringing was equally traumatic, with a mother who committed suicide by car accident with Alicia along for the ride in the backseat, and a father who she overhears wishing she had died instead of her mother. Character DevelopmentĪll characters in The Silent Patient are deliciously flawed and delightfully presented, including psychotherapist Theo himself, who had a difficult upbringing with an abusive father and alcoholic mother. Alicia’s diary entries provide her mental state and explanation of circumstances leading up to the murder and pivotal developments with Theo’s therapy sessions at The Grove.

Theo and Alicia’s therapy sessions are told from the first-person perspective of Theo. She’s locked up at a mental facility called The Grove, and Theo feels he’s just the person to coax her to talk again, so he can help with her mental recovery after determining why she would commit such a brutal crime in the first place. Theo Faber, a forty-something London psychotherapist, is obsessed with discovering why painter Alicia Berenson splattered her husband Gabriel’s face and brains against the wall of their home at point blank range six years ago, especially since Alicia has refused to speak a single word since the murder. Speed reading is not the norm for me, and that unusual behavior tells you just how much I enjoyed this gripping, well-written medical drama.

I finished reading the psychological thriller The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides in four days.

Theo faber the silent patient