2020 Barry Award for Best First Novel (nominee)
**THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**
"An unforgettable—and Hollywood-bound—new thriller... A mix of Hitchcockian suspense, Agatha Christie plotting, and Greek tragedy."
—Entertainment Weekly
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.
Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. 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. 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.
Alicia’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. 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.
Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. 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....
Genre: Mystery
"An unforgettable—and Hollywood-bound—new thriller... A mix of Hitchcockian suspense, Agatha Christie plotting, and Greek tragedy."
—Entertainment Weekly
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.
Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. 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. 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.
Alicia’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. 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.
Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. 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....
Genre: Mystery
Praise for this book
"The Silent Patient sneaks up on you like a slash of intimidating shadow on a badly lit street. Michaelides has crafted a totally original, spellbinding psychological mystery so quirky, so unique that it should have its own genre. I read it in two nights and savored every luscious word, every grim encounter, every startling twist. The pages will burn with the friction from your hands turning them." - David Baldacci
"Genuinely chilling and with a real sucker punch of a twist." - Sharon Bolton
"Smart, sophisticated suspense - a very fine novel by any standard." - Lee Child
"Alex Michaelides has written one of the best psychological thrillers I have ever read. The Silent Patient is a swarming, paranoid nightmare of a novel with an ending that is destined to go down as one of the most shocking, mind-blowing twists in recent memory." - Blake Crouch
"The perfect thriller. This extraordinary novel set my blood fizzing - I quite literally couldn't put it down. I told myself I'd just dip in; eleven hours later - it's now 5.47 AM - I've finished it, absolutely dazzled." - A J Finn
"Absolutely brilliant . . . I read it in a state of intense, breathless excitement and never saw the ending coming. Not for a second!" - Stephen Fry
"An excellent, slow-burning psychological thriller; sharp, clever and with a whammy that genuinely took me by surprise (it takes a lot to do this). Kudos to the author. More, please." - Joanne Harris
"One of the best thrillers I've read this year. Masterfully plotted and brilliantly paced by a writer at the top of his game." - Cara Hunter
"The definition of a page turner. The twist comes as hard and fast as a slap across the face." - John Marrs
"I was kicking myself black and blue that I did not see *that* moment coming. I have never been so happily wrong-footed. A very clever book - highly recommended." - C J Tudor
"Genuinely chilling and with a real sucker punch of a twist." - Sharon Bolton
"Smart, sophisticated suspense - a very fine novel by any standard." - Lee Child
"Alex Michaelides has written one of the best psychological thrillers I have ever read. The Silent Patient is a swarming, paranoid nightmare of a novel with an ending that is destined to go down as one of the most shocking, mind-blowing twists in recent memory." - Blake Crouch
"The perfect thriller. This extraordinary novel set my blood fizzing - I quite literally couldn't put it down. I told myself I'd just dip in; eleven hours later - it's now 5.47 AM - I've finished it, absolutely dazzled." - A J Finn
"Absolutely brilliant . . . I read it in a state of intense, breathless excitement and never saw the ending coming. Not for a second!" - Stephen Fry
"An excellent, slow-burning psychological thriller; sharp, clever and with a whammy that genuinely took me by surprise (it takes a lot to do this). Kudos to the author. More, please." - Joanne Harris
"One of the best thrillers I've read this year. Masterfully plotted and brilliantly paced by a writer at the top of his game." - Cara Hunter
"The definition of a page turner. The twist comes as hard and fast as a slap across the face." - John Marrs
"I was kicking myself black and blue that I did not see *that* moment coming. I have never been so happily wrong-footed. A very clever book - highly recommended." - C J Tudor
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Used availability for Alex Michaelides's The Silent Patient