Everything that you may have been hearing about THE SILENT PATIENT is true. Author Alex Michaelides is best known for his screenwriting work, but the basis for his well-deserved fame is about to change irrevocably. His remarkably surefooted debut novel is the type of read that makes and marks a literary career for all time.

Michaelides has stated elsewhere that THE SILENT PATIENT was inspired in part by his prior part-time employment in a secure psychiatric unit. Although undoubtedly a psychological thriller, there is a strong mystery at the heart of it that begins beating at the very start of the book. Alicia Berenson is a well-known painter who, for reasons known only to herself, kills her husband, Gabriel --- himself a famous photographer --- while he is tied to a chair. Alicia does not offer one word of explanation regarding her reason for doing so or for anything else. She maintains her silence during her arrest, trial and institutionalization in the Grove, a facility for the criminally impaired. What the reader learns gradually about Alicia’s internal workings throughout most of the book is set forth in the diary that she started prior to the murder.

"Michaelides’ experience as a screenwriter is on exhibit here as he combines mood, characterization, plot and flat-out surprises to create a novel that never missteps and keeps its trump card hidden to the closing pages of the story..."

A psychotherapist named Theo Faber is obsessed with her case --- although he does not admit this, at least initially --- and accepts a position at the Grove simply to try to uncover her motive for the crime. It’s a descending career move, as funding for the Grove is rumored to be on the chopping block, but Theo does not care. He wants to unlock the secret that is Alicia and sets out, steadfastly and patiently, to do so. He slowly makes progress of a sort, but at some cost, even seeking out people who were personally acquainted with Alicia before the murder (a treatment no-no) in an attempt to get a handle on what occurred that fateful night and why Alicia has not spoken since.

Theo has personal and professional problems of his own, which he lays out in the first person narrative and alternates with excerpts from Alicia’s diary. Both viewpoints, which ping-pong between the book’s present and past, ultimately reveal the truth of what went down and why. For some, the knowledge comes too late, even if justice or something like it is eventually served.

THE SILENT PATIENT is a stunning work by any standard, made more so by its status as a debut. Michaelides’ experience as a screenwriter is on exhibit here as he combines mood, characterization, plot and flat-out surprises to create a novel that never missteps and keeps its trump card hidden to the closing pages of the story, like a fist in a dark room that you don’t see coming until it’s far too late to dodge it. Read THE SILENT PATIENT immediately. This is the book that everyone will be talking about for the next several months.