Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

15 reviews

anastashamarie's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

⭐ 5/5

✒️ Well I flew through this one and finished it in just around 24 hours, which is a rare feat for me while I'm living the doc candidate life. My experience of this book was inextricably connected to my background as a counselor-educator and supervisor so I just want to give a few unique notes from that perspective. (Though before I start, I do feel obligated to say that this is not a book about "good" therapy by any means and should not be seen as a representation of the therapeutic experience. This story is to proper therapy as dark romance is to appropriate relationships. Which is to say fiction is fictional; caution advised.)

🧑‍⚕️ 1) The debate of "is this person delusional or have they really seen some stuff" is one I've seen so many mental health professionals struggle with (myself included). It made the mystery of Alicia so much more visceral as I read because there was a part of me that is biased/jaded/whatever-you-want-to-call-it towards the labels that come with psychiatric care and a diagnosis but also a part that leans so heavily towards a trauma-informed "we need to believe people regardless of how outlandish it sounds because what if it's true." This is an incredibly nuanced issue that is beyond the scope of this review, but I just want to say this is a realistic internal debate that the author really captured well. 

🎨 2) Idk if it hits different because I'm a counselor educator/supervisor, but the conflict between personal bias vs professional boundaries is also portrayed in such an interesting way. So often I see young counselors who want to save all of their clients, but at what cost? There's only so far that our role extends before our "helping" actually becomes harmful to both us and to the client. Again, this plays out in a realistic relatable way at points throughout the story. 

🧠 3) I honestly hate the psychoanalytic approach to therapy for a lot of reasons that are also beyond the scope of this review. But I will say that it played so well with the two other points above, and I think my dislike of the theory added to my experience of Theo as an unreliable narrator. Honestly, this thing is a masterpiece in a way that it only could be if someone spent time studying the craft of psychotherapy in depth. 

🎭 I was so absorbed in my experience of all of the above that when things went off the rails as we got to the end, I was shocked at how well all the pieces fell into place. I can't say that I didn't see the end coming, but the tragic beauty with which it coalesced definitely stopped me in my tracks. I could write a whole essay on it, but instead I'll just wholeheartedly recommend this for my therapist friends who also love murder mysteries.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Child abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Murder, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol, Addiction, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

Inappropriate therapeutic boundaries

katherinek's review

emotional 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Blood, and Gun violence

Minor: Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, and Medical content

saskiahill's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Blood, Car accident, Stalking, Murder, Violence, and Mental illness

Moderate: Drug use, Death of parent, Death, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Torture, and Gun violence

Minor: Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Sexual content, and Rape

bri__'s review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I've been in a reading slump for over 5 months now so this mind boggling and fast paced book helped to get me out of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug use, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Stalking, and Infidelity

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Body shaming, Blood, Fatphobia, Sexual content, and Torture

izypup's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Stalking, Gun violence, Self harm, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Blood, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Death, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Car accident, and Child abuse

becca_w_'s review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Violence, Medical content, Self harm, Sexual content, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Gaslighting, Gore, Car accident, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Stalking

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Confinement, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

anton13's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

First of all I would jus like to say I love the attention to detail this has. Like the way it all connects in the end is amazing. At this point I’ve been staring at the wall for minutes just processing everything that happened. I never saw that coming and I still can’t believe it. I wanted to believe Alicia so much but so much pointed to her but wow ok- I- I’m at a loss of words. I can’t explain how amazing this book is. As things twist and turn I started to have different theories but I could’ve never gotten to the conclusion if they hadn’t just come out and said it at the end like they did. I would’ve never thought them to be who they are. I’m gonna need to take a few more minutes just to really let it sink in how good it actually is. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Suicide attempt, Violence, Infidelity, Death, Murder, and Stalking

Moderate: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Car accident, and Self harm

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual assault, Drug use, Vomit, Rape, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Domestic abuse

thebookpaiges's review

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Blood, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Stalking, Alcohol, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Cursing, Grief, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Sexual assault, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, and Rape

hannahrogers's review

dark tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Infidelity, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Cursing, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

annoyedhumanoid's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

i take issue with the fact that

Spoiler

Alicia sees the play Alcestis about a husband condemning his wife to death, can't get it out of her head, and then like the next day it happens to her

. like, i appreciated the revelation at the end that

Spoiler

Gabriel effectively sacrificing Alicia for himself reignites her memory of her father wishing—aloud—that she had died instead of his wife, and causes her to snap

, and i really like tying the play into that, but i think it was done too perfectly and thus unbelievably.
the narrator reminds me of an Edgar Allan Poe character. not any in particular, just in general.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Abandonment, Blood, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Violence

Moderate: Gore, Grief, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Suicide, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Cursing, and Car accident

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, and Forced institutionalization