From Goodreads
Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.
Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.
Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....
The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.
My thoughts
This book is a NetGalley read that has been sat on my TBR pile for far too long.
Reading the reviews on Goodreads, this book is very much a marmite book with plenty of people loving it and plenty of people hating it. I was on the fence with my view of it. At times it had me riveted and at others I was a little lack lustre over it. I enjoyed the premise of it, but didn't feel that it completely delivered the full potential of it in my opinion.
Telling the story of a woman who has been locked up for the murder of her husband. Alicia is reluctant to talk about what has happened and finds herself living in a secure unit that deals with patients that have committed crimes and require more than just being locked in a cell in prison. Whilst residing in the Grove she meets therapist Theo whose job it is to try and talk about things.
This is a psychological thriller that you will either love or hate, grab a copy for yourself and see which side of the fence you find yourself on.
I will look out for more books by this Author as I would like to see where he takes us next.