Thewanderingjew

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, author; Louise Brealey, Jack Hawkins narrators There are two competing stories in this excellent psychological thriller. One concerns an artist, Alicia Berenson, a woman of fragile emotions and a victim of circumstance. After her mother committed suicide, she was placed in the care of her abusive father’s sister, who was a difficult woman. When she was able, she left the home and eventually fell deeply in love and married a successful photographer, Gabriel Berenson. When her father died, she had a nervous breakdown and attempted suicide, but afterwards, seemed fine, until the day she thought she saw someone watching her, from a distance. Was it her imagination? The second story concerns Dr. Theo Faber, a man who also had a troubled past. Raised by an angry, abusive father and an alcoholic mother, he too attempted suicide when younger. However, he fell in love and married and was now working as the psychotherapist at The Grove, where Alicia Berenson was sent after her trial. He seems to have been fascinated by her work and was obsessed with treating her. It was his dream to encourage her to speak, although she had not spoken a word for the six years that had passed since she was convicted of the murder of her husband. There is a third character that underlies the story. The character is Alcestis who became well known in the Greek tragedy written by Euripedes. She was willingly sacrificed and died in place of her husband. However, Hercules intervened, in some versions, and brought her back to life by battling death and winning. This theme permeated the novel in subtle and overt ways. The timeline was confusing for some readers, but the author, obviously intended it to be. To those of you who like to peek at the end, don’t. There are numerous twists and turns as the story plays out and the conclusion will be a huge surprise to most readers. The narrators who read the book on the audio were absolutely superb, interpreting each word perfectly for each character, with mood and setting becoming almost visible from their portrayal. My big criticism is the use of unnecessary foul language which did nothing to enhance the narrative. On a positive note, it would make a great movie.