Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. 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. 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.Īlicia’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. 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. Promising to be the debut novel of the season The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband-and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive…Īlicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of *The Woman in the Window* I told myself I'd just dip in eleven hours later-it's now 5:47 a.m.-I've finished it, absolutely dazzled.' This extraordinary novel set my blood fizzing-I quite literally couldn’t put it down. It’s not mere doctor- patient relationship but much much deeper and so the mystery thickens.'That rarest of beasts: the perfect thriller. How does Theo plan to make her speak when all the seasoned psychotherapists have failed? Perhaps it’s a case of one damaged soul can assist another? Alicia’s diary quickly invites the readers to take notice of how interwoven their lives really are. We are at Theo Faber’s mercy to unravel the tale for us. So naturally, we, the readers can’t tell the why’s or reason out some of the ‘hints’ unless Theo let’s us in. The narration of this exquisitely plotted thriller is driven by excerpts from Alicia’s diary and Theo Faber’s voice. He believes he has what it takes and a similar experience to make Alicia speak. Theo Faber is a psychotherapist who has twenty years in therapy trying to heal from trauma caused by his father’s upbringing.

She is placed at the Grove, a psychiatric facility, where Theo applies for a job. Since Alicia’s arrest, she has remained silent. What triggered her to kill the love of her life? They were so in love. He was only forty four years when he met his death. Alicia was a painter and her husband Gabriel was a fashion photographer. She was just thirty three years old when she killed her husband. He Silent Patient is a slow burning mystery delving deep into the heart of Alicia’s story or so it seems.

Alex michaelides the silent patient