The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

 Not many books can lure me away from my morning ritual of coffee and flipping madly between Good Morning America and The Today Show. The Silent Patient grabbed me early on with the reference to Euripides play, Alcestis.  I haven't read that particular play but it was referenced enough in theatre history classes that I understand the basic plot.  A woman sacrifices her life for her husband, but by some miracle she is allowed to come back to life. She remains mute for the rest of the play.  That little thread kept me reading, following the clues and being lead right down the path the author laid out for me.

The premise is simple - artist Alicia murders her husband, or does she?  It's messy business, that's for sure.  From the time she is arrested, she appears unable to speak and so she is committed to a mental health facility where she remains silent for the following six years.  Alicia is a feisty one, often being in the center of a brawl, or the instigator of a brawl.  She is angry and vicious.

When Theo Faber, criminal psychologist joins the hospital staff, he takes Alicia on as a special project.  Fable breaks protocol numerous times in order to crack Alicia's silence, something that more than one staff member and friend of Alicia fears.

That's all I can tell you without totally spoiling the plot.  I guess that seasoned psycho drama readers may figure out where everything is going early on, but not me.  Agatha Christie would have been proud of me.  I read, I watched, I analyzed...and every single character became a suspect for me.  The Greek tragedy business might have thrown some people off, and I question whether it really added to the plot for most readers.  Anyway, that little thread, and my need to know kept me turning pages.  This  has movie written all over it, and although I know how it ends, I will still be there, in the dark - this time with a coke, popcorn , and no TV remote to pull me away. 

My weekend read: Alcestis.  

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