The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides. Summary, Psychological Thriller Part 1.

 

    The Silent Patient is a thriller book written by Alex Michaelides. This is the first ever book he has written, but it's way too perfect to be his first book. I loved reading every page in this book. The end was incredibly twisted for anyone to predict. 

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    The story is narrated by Theo Faber, psychotherapist of Alicia Berenson. Now it's my perspective that you all going to read. I may detail some situations that I remember and brief the scenes that I don't remember much. I do give spoilers because I love hearing spoilers. I believe there are some people who love hearing spoilers, too.  This summary is for them. This post itself is a spoiler! Continue with your own interest.

"The aim of a therapist is not to correct the past, but to make the patient confront his own history, and to grieve over it."

Alice Miller

    Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband, Gabriel. Alicia was an artist— a painter to be specific, while her husband, Gabriel, was a photographer. Alicia Berenson goes mute after killing her husband, Gabriel.

    Why had she stopped speaking after the murder? Is it because she could escape the punishment from the court? If not that, what could the reason be? 

    Theo Faber, a psychotherapist, becomes obsessed with Alicia Berenson's case—the reason behind her silence. He was determined to solve the mystery and make her speak again.

    Alicia shot her husband, Gabriel, five times in his face. That night, when the cops arrived at the crime scene, they found Gabriel tied to a chair with his chin facing down. The cops thought that he was alive, but then a beam of light revealed that he was shot five times in his face leaving the place flooded with blood, fragments of his skull, brain were sprayed against the wall. Alicia stood there frozen. That's when she had stopped speaking. She hadn't spoken a word after that. She hadn't even opened her mouth to justify her actions or prove her innocence. Not even once. She did only one thing — a painting. A self-portrait with a Greek note on the left-hand corner of the canvas — Alcestis. 
    

    Did she really kill her husband? If yes, why did she go silent after that? 

   The case went viral overall the media, so as the painting. The painting attracted a huge number of audiences only because of the murder. She stood naked with a blank stare — no emotions behind that stare. 

    Alcestis is a fictional character from Greek literature. In the story, Alcestis sacrifices her life for her husband, Admetus, dying for her husband. No one ever knew how it related to Alicia's case. The painting remained a mystery like her silence.

    Although Theo Faber was obsessed with dealing her case, he didn't get a chance to treat her until six years after the murder. She was admitted into The Grove, but Theo Faber worked at Broadmoor. After six years, he joined The Grove as forensic psychotherapist. It was his dream come true moment—even if he becomes unfortunate to treat her, at least he gets to see her.

   Theo became a psychotherapist to retreat himself than to retreat others. He spent his early days in childhood at his father's house—the person he hated the most. His father was hot-tempered, beating him for unpredictable reasons. He never felt safe around his father. He lived with anxiety, which never left him even as he grew. He was resolute to get out of that house as soon as he could. Fortunately, he escaped from there for his higher studies. Although he escaped from that house and his father physically, he couldn't get away from there mentally. He couldn't go out and socialize. He couldn't live without being edgy. He couldn't feel visible to others. He felt suicidal at times. This is when he got a psychotherapist for himself—Ruth, through university counselling service. She helped him to cope-up with his suicidal thoughts. He continued to see her even after finishing his studies there. Ruth had been there for Theo as his well-wisher and emotional caretaker apart from being his psychotherapist. 

    Theo had been happily married to Kathy, an actress. She was his one and only happiness in life. After their marriage, he started to lead his life for her. He was not even ready to imagine a life without her. She helped him forget his father and habits he got from thinking about his father. His world turns upside down when he found his wife, Kathy, cheating on him. He didn't have enough courage to go ask her. He remained silent after finding the mails of her cheating with a stranger. He waited for her to open up with the issue. He waited for her to apologize to him. He waited for 'them' to get through the issue. None of them happened until now. He couldn't imagine them getting apart, which kept him quiet and made him pretend nothing had happened.

    Though Theo's personal life became a mess, his professional life started booming a little. When he started his career as a psychotherapist at The Grove, he got a chance to see Alicia for the first time. Professor Diomedes, a psychotherapist who treated Alicia at the time of murder, agrees to let Theo treat her. Finally, he gets the chance to treat her—a six year dream to solve the mystery behind her silence and make her speak again. It was a surprise that Alicia Berenson agreed to meet Theo. 

     "She refused to see me in the office, so I went to see her in her room. During the sessions, she simply sat on her bed and looked out the window. She refused to speak, of course. She even refused to look at me," Professor Diomedes said to Theo. It's a surprise because she had agreed to meet THEO.

    

Part 2 link -- The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, summary, Psychological Thriller Part 2

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