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lindaahogannxo's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Pedophilia
_scvvter's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Going through booktube and bookstagram, I always saw people mentioning The Silent Patient as one of the best thrillers they have ever read. So I ended up putting it and his other book, The Maiden, on my future reading list. Finally, I saw this book on sale at the bookstore and I ended up buying it.
Now let me be quite honest with you all, I enjoyed the book for literally a good 90% of it. Michaelides' decision to make the chapters short and use a simple writing style—not too simple cause that would make me lose interest—greatly helps with making this book addicting. Like, I knocked out 130 pages in one night, that's very incredible feat for my neurodivergent ass. I was hooked and trying to figure out the mystery myself.
But as you see, everything came crashing down in the end. One of the first critiques I'd say is that this is definetly not the book for people who need good characters. All of them were pretty one note for the most part. Mariana, the main character, felt 3 emotions of self-doubt, depression, and anger throughout the whole novel. With fellow book people always talking about how much they need character driven stories and pick that over plot, It made me curious to think how a book with the exact opposite of that would look. That's this book.
And for the grand reveal of what ruined everything about this book for me: the ending.Call me a snowflake all you want, but using grooming and rape of a child as a twist is high key very trashy to me. It turns out that Mariana's niece Zoey, who I clocked as being super suspicous, turned out to have been the killer. But you find out through some love letter that came from none other than Mariana's dead husband. This twist came out of fucking left field. Like there was no way for us to see this coming which makes it just cheap shock value. And the fact that both of them were planning on killing Mariana before he did, sick. Like it's all so gross and just ugg. Also that ending battle was pretty anticlimatic. Zoey nearly stabs Mariana, Mariana tussle for a second and knocks her off, Fred tries to help but gets stabbed, Mariana hits Zoey with a rock, boom it's all over. Like this is a time where this simple writing didn't work whatsoever.
It sucks to see another novel I liked so much fall apart in the end, I lowkey hate it more than i hate The Song of Achilles, which is really saying something. I may still try The Silent Patient but this novel may have made me want to never read this author again.
Final Score: 2/10
Now let me be quite honest with you all, I enjoyed the book for literally a good 90% of it. Michaelides' decision to make the chapters short and use a simple writing style—not too simple cause that would make me lose interest—greatly helps with making this book addicting. Like, I knocked out 130 pages in one night, that's very incredible feat for my neurodivergent ass. I was hooked and trying to figure out the mystery myself.
But as you see, everything came crashing down in the end. One of the first critiques I'd say is that this is definetly not the book for people who need good characters. All of them were pretty one note for the most part. Mariana, the main character, felt 3 emotions of self-doubt, depression, and anger throughout the whole novel. With fellow book people always talking about how much they need character driven stories and pick that over plot, It made me curious to think how a book with the exact opposite of that would look. That's this book.
And for the grand reveal of what ruined everything about this book for me: the ending.
It sucks to see another novel I liked so much fall apart in the end, I lowkey hate it more than i hate The Song of Achilles, which is really saying something. I may still try The Silent Patient but this novel may have made me want to never read this author again.
Final Score: 2/10
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Violence, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Pedophilia
trumpetlion909's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Grief
Moderate: Mental illness and Murder
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Toxic relationship
tiff__dawg's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual harassment
meganbelisle's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
doodlebeanz's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wow... Alex Michaelides has done it again. Left me completely confused and grasping at straws and then wanting to throw the book across the room when the twist inevitably reveals itself. I actually DID throw The Silent Patient across the room and proceeded to pace around my bedroom for 10 minutes before I could continue reading... but with this one, I was on a packed train and had to keep my total shock and 'omfg' moment to myself but oh BOY I was floored.
I read The Silent Patient a few years ago and I have never been able to find a mystery/thriller that got me the way that book did. Other books came close, but nothing surprised me like that twist. I read The Fury by Michaelides back in March I think, searching for that same WTF moment, but it did not impress... in fact, it fell so flat and horrible and so I thought that Michaelides was just a one hit wonder and didn't rush to grab this one. I came across it at the library over the summer and figured I'd give it a shot... I put it off for a few months and finally picked it up for spooky szn since it's dark academia and all that, and I read it in just a little over 24 hours. It FLOORED ME.
I liked all the characters. I was suspicious of everyone, feeling tense and putting my head in my hands very often. I was convinced certain people were the killer, but nothing compared to the truth. I had some inklings that the murderer was indeed the murderer, or at least an accomplice in some way, but... even my thoughts did not come close to what was actually going on.
I saw some people online say that the book was pretentious, but I never felt that way. I loved the whole Cambridge scenery and the nods to Ancient Greece and Greek mythology. It was perfect for cozy autumn reading which is exactly what I was looking for (if you consider murder/thrillers to be cozy like I do!). Other people said it was boring and drawn out, and I could not disagree more. I thought the writing was so smooth and it flowed so well, it was such a page turner and it left me wanting more after every single chapter. There was never a moment where I was bored or felt like a scene could've been cut out, especially knowing what I know now. I especially loved the random journal entries thrown in, giving a look into the murderer's mind. I get goosebumps looking back at them now and knowing... fuck, this book was SO GOOD!
There are some dark and heavy topics covered in this book and I would suggest reading the TWs before going in.
I read The Silent Patient a few years ago and I have never been able to find a mystery/thriller that got me the way that book did. Other books came close, but nothing surprised me like that twist. I read The Fury by Michaelides back in March I think, searching for that same WTF moment, but it did not impress... in fact, it fell so flat and horrible and so I thought that Michaelides was just a one hit wonder and didn't rush to grab this one. I came across it at the library over the summer and figured I'd give it a shot... I put it off for a few months and finally picked it up for spooky szn since it's dark academia and all that, and I read it in just a little over 24 hours. It FLOORED ME.
I liked all the characters. I was suspicious of everyone, feeling tense and putting my head in my hands very often. I was convinced certain people were the killer, but nothing compared to the truth. I had some inklings that the murderer was indeed the murderer, or at least an accomplice in some way, but... even my thoughts did not come close to what was actually going on.
I saw some people online say that the book was pretentious, but I never felt that way. I loved the whole Cambridge scenery and the nods to Ancient Greece and Greek mythology. It was perfect for cozy autumn reading which is exactly what I was looking for (if you consider murder/thrillers to be cozy like I do!). Other people said it was boring and drawn out, and I could not disagree more. I thought the writing was so smooth and it flowed so well, it was such a page turner and it left me wanting more after every single chapter. There was never a moment where I was bored or felt like a scene could've been cut out, especially knowing what I know now. I especially loved the random journal entries thrown in, giving a look into the murderer's mind. I get goosebumps looking back at them now and knowing... fuck, this book was SO GOOD!
There are some dark and heavy topics covered in this book and I would suggest reading the TWs before going in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Abandonment
trin_16's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Was slow starting and hard to get into at first (for me personally) but overall, I did really enjoy this book. Picks up a lot in the last third of the book and the twist was truly unexpected. Great read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Self harm, Violence, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder
beccaburchett's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Animal death and Drug use
maryconney's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, and Murder
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, and Sexual content
Minor: Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, and Alcohol
hmatt's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
I did not get on with this book. I think it was trying to do too much.
It felt to me like the author had a really interesting concept in mind but struggled to execute it fully. Alternatively, the original manuscript was about twice as long and the author had to pare it down (and if this is the case, I think it was done poorly). There were also some aspects that I feel like "other" the reader: the Cambridge setting feels very surreal and elitist, as does the Greek tragedy... theme?
My biggest issue, though, is that the MC keeps sticking her nose into a police investigation very obviously and everyone just lets her. She is very clearly unwell and crossing so many professional lines and she doesn't try to hide her actions... but she just isn't called on ituntil, just a little, and then it doesn't come up again . This really prevented me from buying in to other aspects of the story.
It felt to me like the author had a really interesting concept in mind but struggled to execute it fully. Alternatively, the original manuscript was about twice as long and the author had to pare it down (and if this is the case, I think it was done poorly). There were also some aspects that I feel like "other" the reader: the Cambridge setting feels very surreal and elitist, as does the Greek tragedy... theme?
My biggest issue, though, is that the MC keeps sticking her nose into a police investigation very obviously and everyone just lets her. She is very clearly unwell and crossing so many professional lines and she doesn't try to hide her actions... but she just isn't called on it
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, and Abandonment