Top Reads of 2022: The Silent Patient

The Silent Patient is immersive and hypnotic— the kind of suspenseful mystery so perfectly adorned with confidence that it doesn’t need big, flashy twists to keep you hooked… but also one that delivers an ingenious twist or two anyway.

“Remember, love that doesn’t include honesty doesn’t deserve to be called love.”

The Silent Patient stood out to me because of its excellent characters and the depth of the story and its themes. Looking beyond the façade of a picture-perfect married couple to see the dysfunction beneath the veil of modern life, the book calls into question horrific events that left one dead and another living mute in a mental hospital.

The book, authored by Alex Michaelides, acts as a dark but compelling mystery, which also serves as a look at psychotherapy and the connection between a patient and a doctor. In spite of the strict bounds of ethics, it’s an oddly deep relationship which takes somebody’s life into account– and as the protagonist Theo tries to fit the scattered puzzle pieces of Alicia’s life together, what he finds is totally unexpected. In spite of being vaguely far-fetched and over-dramatic at times, The Silent Patient finds roots in a genuine, honest and realistic feature which makes it all-the-more gripping.

Although this is the author’s debut novel, Michaelides has written screenplays previously. This experience definitely shines through in the story’s expert pacing & storytelling. I can easily imagine the book as a film. Towards the end, I did have my suspicions about how the novel would wrap up, but I have to say, what and ending it is. There is something so innately satisfying in being simultaneously surprised by a book while also latching onto the details and piecing together the mystery at the very last second. Michaelides truly does not fail to deliver an exceptional journey any avid reader would enjoy.