The Silent Patient: The First Three Chapters

by Alex Michaelides

This is a three-chapter sampler.

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. 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. 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.

Alicia’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. 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.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. 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....

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Audiobook, Book Club, Psychological Thriller, Crime

32 pages, ebook

Published December 11, 2018

About the author

Alex Michaelides was born and raised in Cyprus. He has an M.A. in English literature from Trinity College, Cambridge University, and an M.A. in screenwriting from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. The Silent Patient was his first novel and was the biggest-selling debut in the world in 2019. It spent more than a year on the New York Times bestseller list and sold in a record-breaking forty-nine countries. Alex lives in London.

Reviews

[Shea Breier]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ this book is phenomenal. That fact that this is #alexmichaelides first novel is mind blowing to me. This book has plot twists galore and is told from multiple points of view. Every time I thought “I know!” Nope, wrong. #thesilentpatient Is an amazing #psychologicalthriller woven with love, betrayal, and mental health at its finest! Out 2•5•19! Thanks #celadonbooks for letting me read if first

[Nancyann]

What a promising start to the book, why would our heroine shoot her husband in the face five times then become mute? Enter Theo the psychotherapist to the rescue. Except Theo is dealing with his own issues and a bit of a pill. Renegade that Theo is, he breaks the rules of the psychiatric hospital in an attempt to save mute Alicia. Enter a cast of flat characters who are all interconnected and speak in sentences that could have been written by a talented 6th grader. The further I got into the book the more I disliked everyone in the story. The Silent Patient wasn't much of a thriller it was purported to be. There were no true cliffhangers and you could see the ending a mile away.

[Saranya [uni- kinda ia]]

Seems really promising.

(✿◡‿◡)

[Fahmida]

I didn't think I'd read this book but these 3 chapters has me intrigued.

[Kat]

What a teaser and what a book this promises to be !!
I devoured this sampler and was lucky enough have also received the full book also so its straight on to that as it totally compulsive reading just reading the first few chapters and I can't wait.

[Sabrina Pfeiffer]

This book was amazing! I loved the plot twists! Just when I thought I knew what was going to happen next BOOM, Alex Michalides "flipped the script" . I truly did not except the ending to turn out the way it did mlm Highly recommend this book if you love a great on the edge of your seat, page turning psychological thriller! I can't wait for more from this author!

[Stella Eu]

The best plot twist I've ever read. The secret meanings behind all the amazing literacy still leaves me in shock, the characters are unique, and the author is truly grand in how he could think of such a way of writing a plot. The plot is interesting, intriguing, intimidating yet exciting, and it never fails to make you bored when reading. The whole story will surely leave you at a jaw-dropping end!

[H]

what In the hippa violation is going on?

[Andrea Hodges]

I was entertained through and through.

[Laura Brockman ❤️]

I couldn’t put this book down, read it in a day. Definitely a mystery with many interesting turns.

[Nicole Bettis]

2.5 stars. Entertaining but shallow writing. The twist felt a little cheap. As if the first half of the book was written by one person who had an initial idea of what they wanted from the story, they explained it to another person quickly in passing, and then THAT second person actually finished writing the book. It had a few plot holes and rushed scenes, and ultimately I felt manipulated by the author, but not in a good way. I don’t think I’d recommend this one.

[Natasha]

I had a hard time keeping interested in this book and kept waiting for it to get better.....which for me it didn’t. There wasn’t a clear ending that tied everything together for me, and the ending was frustrating. I heard great things about this book and I really want med to like it but I just didn’t.

[Pilar GB]

Buen libro para salir de mi bloqueo lector

[Christy]

Sneak Peek

I did not realise this was a sneak peak of a novel until I began reading. I want to read the entire story, so I will be looking to purchase or borrow the book in its entirety.

[Rose Haggart]

Read this very quickly today. I wanted to know what happened, what the mystery was.. It was a clever twist but somewhat unsatisfying for some reason. I think I felt manipulated by the author and not in a good way :)

[Erin Hennig]

Loved this book! Slay plot twist but kind of a slow burn at parts

[Victoria Rose]

3.5⭐️

If you’re reading this with the lens of a mental health professional and are not able to remove that while reading you will CRINGE reading every page of this book. Ethically and professionally there are SO MANY glaring concerns. BUTTTT if you are able to shed the desire for and ethical practice this book will hold your attention through the whole way making it hard to put it down. Michaelides does a great job of making you suspicious and curious through the whole book wondering what the whole story is without making the ending obvious. Alicia and Theo’s stories are intertwined eloquently.

Listened to of audiobook.

[Ujjwal Srivastava]

Plot twist was really unexpected, a nice read. Decently written altho ending could have been more satisfactory.

[Jenna]

This book was everything the reviews said it would be!
The plot twist was crazy, and the ending was in my opinion was one of the best parts! Suspenseful and entertaining!

[Michelle Rikman]

WOW. I was kept on the edge of my seat the entire book. An amazing read, definitely a page turner; the ending has me feeling both love and hate. A psychological mind-fuck the entire time. You HAVE to indulge in this book.

[Tamara]

Great read!

[Deanna]

This book had so much hype, and I was thinking of it as the "It" book of the summer. My place on the library list was 146. It seemed so contrived, and while it had it merits, I found it very disappointing.

[Yolanda Garcia]

I wish Goodreads would allow a zero stars rating because that's what this book deserves. A book full of ridiculous cliches and poor imagination. None of the characters were in any way believable and I couldn't care less about any of them. A waste of a book.

[Lauren]

What a book! This was SO Good, a page turner - cant put the book down & the twist!! Highly recommend!

[Sarah]

The first 80% of the book I loved and couldn’t put down. Didn’t love the ending!

[Haley]

Insufferable male lead who only give a crap about himself

[Samantha Ketchum]

Rating 4/5 ⭐️

Umm let me first start out by saying… umm wtf!! When I say I did not see the end plot twist coming it really took me by surprise. Like the dude, Theo, that was Alicia’s therapist this whole time pretty framed her!!! Umm… what!!! I am so like in shock.

But besides all that this is hands down one of the best suspenseful thriller I have read in a long long time. Took a little longer for me to read then what I though. But still was extremely good.

[Lorraine fugman]

Honestly DNF just before 50% it was so dull and I felt like all the characters were either depressed or just had some sort of problem. The idea of the story was so promising like I actually wanted to know what happened but it felt like Theo reflected his problems onto Alicia but I didn’t even get far into the book before giving up on it because normally near 50% of a book is when things start to get good but it felt like things were being dragged out and nothing was happening ALSO What is the deal with Lydia’s weight!!!!

I tried to force myself through the book but I couldn’t, honestly disappointing. I read the ending of the book and im glad I DNF

[Kerry Washington]

I have read the first 3 and I’m not sure if it’s because I’m tired or what but this is one hell of a slow burn and a little mind numbing to keep track off I will continue to read but I’m over 100 pages in and it’s not really moving a whole lot and it’s kinda infuriating so I have high hopes for better days but I think as of now I am reading out of stubborn irritation but we shall see

[Chris Modglin]

Great read!!