The publishing industry has been inundated with so many psychological thrillers in the past couple of years that it feels rare to come across an original concept anymore. Alex Michaelides, however, succeeds in creating a truly novel experience in his debut. The book is captivating from beginning to end, and I thought the twist was fairly well done. Like most thrillers, The Silent Patient requires some suspension of disbelief and plot contrivances to move the story forward. It's not a perfect book, but I would rate it four-out-of-five stars in terms of pure enjoyment. Overall, I think it makes for a great beach read and highly recommend it to fans of Gillian Flynn, Lucy Foley, and Riley Sager.