The pages will burn with the friction from your hands turning them.” I read it in two nights and savored every luscious word, every grim encounter, every startling twist. Alex Michaelides has crafted a totally original, spellbinding psychological mystery so quirky, so unique that it should have its own genre. “ The Silent Patient sneaks up on you like a slash of intimidating shadow on a badly lit street. 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. This extraordinary novel set my blood fizzing -I quite literally couldn't put it down. 'That rarest of beasts: the perfect thriller. ' The Silent Patient may be a first novel, but it has the pace and finesse of a master.' The Silent Patient is intelligent, imaginative and a terrific read.' 'Pulling off a novel where the protagonist stays mum isn't easy, but this impressive, immersive debut-Brad Pitt's company has snapped up film rights-establishes Michaelides as a writer to watch.' This edgy, intricately plotted psychological thriller establishes Michaelides as a major player in the field.'

with an ending worthy of a classic Agatha Christie mystery.' His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations-a search for the truth that threatens to consume him. 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. A mix of Hitchcockian suspense, Agatha Christie plotting, and Greek tragedy.'Īlex Michaelides's 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.

'An unforgettable-and Hollywood-bound-new thriller.

**THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**

What is the silent patient about