The Silent Patient Book Reviews
The Silent Patient is an astonishing psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.
Only she knows what happened.
Only I can make her speak.
In The Silent Patient, Alicia Berenson is a well-known painter who murdered her husband six years ago and hasn’t spoken a word since. He was found bound to a chair with gunshot wounds to his face, and she was convicted soon thereafter.
Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect, 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 giving 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 spotlights at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.
Theo Faber is a 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
Theo Faber hopes to uncover the mystery behind her motives for killing her husband. As they sit in silence, the main clue he has is a painting she completed. She titled it Alcestis, named after a heroine in Greek mythology who sacrifices her life to save her husband.
Theo Faber takes on her case to understand what happened that night and why she is unable or unwilling to speak.
The novel is an accomplished thriller for the readers, full of twists, till the end you are waiting for the killer; the silent patient. At last, you come to know the mysterious death of Gabriel Berenson.
The question is:
Who is the killer in “The Silent Patient?”