The Silent Patient

I had read a few good reviews of the debut mystery novel The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides.  I saw it at the library and picked it up to read. 


The novel quickly drew me in.  It was an interesting story...thirty three year old Alicia shot her husband five times in the face (killed him) and she never spoke again.  She was placed at the Groves, a rather high-end psychiatric unit in London.  Psychotherapist, Theo Faber, became fascinated with the story and he was able to procure a job at the Groves to work with Alicia.

The story is narrated by Theo, with parts of Alicia's journal interspersed.  Theo tried to learn as much as he could about Alicia's background, talking to friends and family.

After a bit, however, the novel annoyed me to distraction.  As a retired psychotherapist, I could not get past all of the boundary issues that Theo crossed in the story.  Perhaps that was the point of the story?

I do have to admit that there was a good twist at the end.