Although you’ll find THE SILENT PATIENT in bookstores on shelves with psychological thrillers, it isn’t. THE SILENT PATIENT is a character study.
The silent patient is Alicia, who refuses to talk since she shot and killed her husband. Her psychotherapist, Theo, is so interested in Alicia that he managed to get a job at the hospital where she is now being kept, and then he managed to be assigned to her case.
Theo learns more and more about Alicia's life by means that are certainly unbelievable, i.e., by interviewing her friends and family in their homes and offices. At the same time, we also learn about Theo’s life.
So, unlike a psychological thriller, THE SILENT PATIENT is a study of these two characters. But this book is also not a psychological thriller because it contains no twists and turns, which I expect when I read a thriller, until nearly the end.
For a psychological thriller to be literary, as the best of them are, it is character-driven as well as plot-driven. But I would not say that of THE SILENT PATIENT. I will not give a book a high rating just because it finally grabs me near the end.
Give me more than character study, and grab me right from the start. That is what I require of a highly rated book.
The silent patient is Alicia, who refuses to talk since she shot and killed her husband. Her psychotherapist, Theo, is so interested in Alicia that he managed to get a job at the hospital where she is now being kept, and then he managed to be assigned to her case.
Theo learns more and more about Alicia's life by means that are certainly unbelievable, i.e., by interviewing her friends and family in their homes and offices. At the same time, we also learn about Theo’s life.
So, unlike a psychological thriller, THE SILENT PATIENT is a study of these two characters. But this book is also not a psychological thriller because it contains no twists and turns, which I expect when I read a thriller, until nearly the end.
For a psychological thriller to be literary, as the best of them are, it is character-driven as well as plot-driven. But I would not say that of THE SILENT PATIENT. I will not give a book a high rating just because it finally grabs me near the end.
Give me more than character study, and grab me right from the start. That is what I require of a highly rated book.