Even though the timelines aren’t linear, they play off one another beautifully, leaving you guessing until the very end.

Michaelides has a magnetic writing style, telling the story from both Alicia’s and Theo’s perspective, leaving me hungry for the conclusion, only to be broadsided by the huge twist in the end. I was unable to put this book down, finishing it in a matter of hours. It ties directly to how Alicia is unable to communicate after the death of her husband.Ī native of Cyprus, Greece, Michaelides weaves Greek mythology seamlessly throughout The Silent Patient. But Alcestis is unable to speak for 3 days before she can be fully restored. This is a clear commentary of how society viewed women back then, and even continues today.īy the end of the play, Heracles, an old friend of Admetus, snatches Alcestis from Hades’ hands to bring her back to Admetus. Admetus searches fruitlessly throughout his city, only to discover his wife, Alcestis, is willing to take his place, an offer to which the king accepts. In exchange for letting Admetus live, the Fates have but one condition: someone must take his place. The story of Euripides’ Alcestis revolves around Admetus, king of Pherae, who wants to live past his predetermined death.

I absolutely love Greek mythology, having studied it in university. As a crowning glory of this horrific circumstance, her last painting, titled Alcestis, was a self-portrait that seemed to confirm her guilt. Under a plea of diminished responsibility, Alicia is shipped off to a psychiatric hospital, where she’s lived for the past 6 years. When the police come upon Alicia in her home, they find her drenched in blood in a botched attempt at taking her own life, unable to speak. The story follows Theo Faber, a criminal psychotherapist, who becomes obsessed with Alicia Berenson, a famous painter accused of murdering her husband. Unfamiliar with Michaelides’ work prior to digging in, I took to The Silent Patient like a child with their new toy, curious and hoping it could live up to my expectations. The Silent Patient is a psychological thriller centering around a patient who loses the ability to speak after she murders her husband in cold blood. Known for writing 2013’s The Devil You Know and 2018’s The Con is On, screenwriter Alex Michaelides turns to novels with an impressive debuts.

Alcestis the silent patient