The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
☆☆☆
Fiction — Drama
Alicia, an artist, adores her husband but then inexplicably shoots him five times and then never says another word. Theo, a psychotherapist, is obsessed with her case and manages to become her therapist at her mental hospital.
To be honest, I was pretty bored for the first half. It wasn’t thrilling or suspenseful; just drama laced with Deep Thoughts. I found Alicia’s diary more interesting than Theo’s life. I don’t care about art (my kids all surpassed my drawing ability around the age of 4) or other people’s marriages.
Then it got a little more interesting as I developed a bunch of wild theories, most involving split personalities. The surprise twist was one of those theories. So the ending is pretty exciting, but I wouldn’t call this a psychological thriller — just a psychological drama. I was pretty satisfied with the final ending. But is a book still a good book if it completely relies on a single gimmick to make it more interesting?
It is written well, though. I listened to the audio; I learned that Alicia is pronounced totally different in British English than American English.
Lots of strong language; some sexual content that is not too graphic; some violence.
(Sorry it has been so long. It has been crazy busy lately.)
Rein and reign and rain all sound the same*, and they all have both noun and verb forms, so it’s easy to mix them up. Misusing rain (as in weather) is very rare, so I’ll focus on the other two.
Reins are what you use to steer horses. It’s also used in metaphorical expressions such as “We’ve got to rein in spending.”
Reign is what a king does. Note how similar it is to sovereign.
Trick to Remember
Reins are long and used for control.
A king may reign long or short.
*This makes them homophones, not homonyms, as I was told in grade school.
I have a short story published in a Utah humor anthology. The anthology is titled Heard at a Utah Diner. My story is called The Road from Grief. I set it on a road trip so I could mock Utah drivers. Several of my writing buddies are also in it.
I also have a few hard copies to sell cheaper than online.
The difference isn’t a firearm vs. looking through stuff. You can actually both rifle and riffle through belongings. The difference is in your method.
To riffle is to flip through something like a book or shuffle a deck of cards. It’s basically a blend of ripple and shuffle.
As a noun, a rifle is a gun with a long barrel with grooves called rifling. As a verb, to rifle is to ransack. You can rifle through a drawer or suitcase, for example.
Tip to Remember
A burglar may bring a rifle to rifle through your stuff.
You may riffle by gently shuffling.
Exit Strategy by Charlton Pettus
☆☆☆
Fiction — Thriller
This wasn’t bad but could have been a lot better. My biggest issue was the weak characters. Jordan and Stephanie Parrish are the two heroes of the story yet neither has a personality. They are incredibly generic and therefore impossible to connect with. I don’t know why they care about each other; I don’t get a sense of motivation from them.
The bad guys don’t have much personality, either. Our main villain engages in sexual and animal torture. I guess this is to show how bad he really is, but there’s no point to this behavior other than to compensate for a lack of personality. His motives are never explained.
The plot relies on the bad guys making some big mistakes and the good guys making just a few little ones. I get annoyed when either side is perfect, but it should be more balanced. I really enjoyed the chase/escape scenes.
There is a lot of jumping around. A scene will be a paragraph and then jump to another POV for another paragraph. (There are 88 chapters plus an epilogue and prologue in 406 pages.) Sometimes these are flashbacks, so at times I didn’t know who or when or where I was. And who the heck is Natalie??
Some plot threads didn’t seem to wrap up. What did the end mean, “folding”? Jordan and Stephanie were supposed to have a strained marriage at the beginning. Then they’re perfectly happy together. No talking it out? No counseling? I still have a few questions about Alex and Sam. Maybe I’m just dense.
The writing is fine but utilitarian — no thoughtful prose or literary qualities; just the straight facts. The writer also doesn’t know what bemused means. (Hint: not amused ) But I think any true thriller fan will enjoy this.
Content Warning:
Consistent strong language that just felt gratuitous
Explicit sexual content, including abuse and torture
Some gory medical details and graphic violence
Deliberate harm to animals
