The Silent Patient. How does that title make you feel? What do you think about it? I was immediately drawn to this book just from the title. I didn’t bother to check it’s description and dove right into it. It’s a story about Alicia Berenson. A broken woman from a broken home. She is clever, conniving, complex and the true protagonist of this story, the one who deserved to be the narrator.

 As a reader, I was hungry, devouring and searching for clues in every suspicious interaction. I made notes. I studied their characters. I researched psychotherapy- trying to understand their obsession to Sigmund Freud’s studies, why they mentioned him and his studies so much. After reading once, I replayed the whole story in my mind. Needless to say, I was mesmerized. I couldn’t stop thinking about how wrong I was to believe that it would be just another predictable story and I can’t emphasis enough just how I relieved I was at being wrong. It was a page turner, a time stopper. I was reading continuously for hours, not once wanting to stop but I had to, for meals among other trivial routines throughout the day. The moments where I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about it. I still am. I’m amazed at how impressed and fascinated I am by this novel. Psychological thrillers aren’t my usual preference so it came as a surprise when I saw myself hooked from the first chapter itself. The silent patient is truly a masterpiece. I should warn you though, you’ll want to keep coming back to this story as if it were real and play detective with it. I suppose that isn’t a bad thing, more room for critical reasoning.