I appreciated the numerous “leads” woven into this story.A remarkable job on Alex Michaelides’ part. I don’t know about you…but I can visualize Alicia’s work, in my mind so clearly! Plus, the paintings provided a few clues along the way. It is funny to think that, as readers, we never have the chance to SEE one of Alicia’s paintings. I liked the author’s use of painting in this story.If Alicia survived, at the end of the story, I truly hope she received the help and peace that she deserved. Sadly, this is all before she is sentenced for the murder of her husband. It is heartbreaking! Alicia cries for help through her paintings and is continually let down. However, when Alicia begins to see a man following her…Gabriel does not believe her claims. She puts him on a pedestal and devotes her life to pleasing him. Alicia desperately tries to adopt some sense of normalcy when she marries Gabriel. She mirrored Theo in the fact that her childhood was also destructive. Alicia is going to be a character who stays with me for a long time.319), Theo thinks “That’s the terrible irony: I did all this to keep Kathy-and I’ve lost her anyway.” To make it even worse, Theo compromised the lives of others in the process. He sought out help from Ruth, but ended up lying and relying on his own delusions in the end. He had a traumatic childhood, which is important to recognize. His character was creepy, obsessive, and pathetic from start to finish. My opinion: I enjoyed the fact that I did NOT like Theo right from the start of the book.My heart was racing throughout the entire book. The chapters are quick, exciting, and leave you eager to know more. I read this book in about three sittings. This book was excellent!! The writing, the pace, the unreliable characters, the mystery….SO GREAT! I loved the fact that the author left us guessing until the very end.I like a bit of predictability, but I think I wanted just a little bit extra from it, something to set it apart from the thrillers I’ve already read and enjoyed. It’s highly predictable – I figured most things out 20% into my read – which isn’t always an awful thing. However, if you’re like me and have read many thrillers before, The Silent Patient doesn’t necessarily present itself as anything new and exciting. As a debut novel, it’s solid and hits all the marks of something you’d expect from a thriller. If this is the first thriller you ever read, then I think it warrants a higher rating. what happened to Max and what happened to Christian. I thought the ending left too many plot holes open that needed to be filled, i.e.
![the silent patient questions the silent patient questions](https://imagesvc.meredithcorp.io/v3/mm/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.onecms.io%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F23%2F2021%2F02%2F11%2Fbook-club-discussion-questions-a-2000.jpg)
This isn’t something that The Silent Patient offers, which left me rather frustrated at the end. I’m also not a huge fan of open-ended books, so this book was doubly cursed for me! If I’m reading a standalone novel, I like to have everything wrapped up neatly by the end, I like to have answers to questions. I feel weird about people writing diary entries with full, total recall of exact words and actions expressed in conversations, so this aspect didn’t work very well for me. It’s not a secret that I’m not a huge fan of epistolary novels. That being said, there were still things I didn’t like about this book. It was fast-paced, a quick and easy read for me to get through. I liked the reference to Greek mythology.
![the silent patient questions the silent patient questions](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Jl93d1Pn7Jg/maxresdefault.jpg)
I enjoyed seeing the little twists of truth hidden throughout the book, I thought that really made this an exciting read.
![the silent patient questions the silent patient questions](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/27/93/5e/27935e9a8efc0315c5209240a939d911.jpg)
I think they add a subtle terror to thrillers. Generally, I will say that I’m a fan of unreliable narrators.