The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides 📚 BOOK REVIEW

Alex Michaelides

I listened to an audiobook edition of The Silent Patient.

Genre: Psychological thriller, mystery, crime.

Publisher: Orion Publishing Co, Macmillan Audio.

Originally published: February 5th, 2019

Pages: 352 (paperback)

Audiobook length: 8 hrs and 43 mins

Synopsis by the publisher:

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….

My thoughts:

Mysteries, crimes, and thrillers aren’t usually my go-to genre. I think that is why I often find myself being overly critical and harsh when reviewing them, so after listening to The Silent Patient (which I had heard so many great things about) I took my time with letting it sit in my mind before reviewing it. Mainly because I didn’t want my genre preferences to shape this whole review, but also because I wasn’t really sure how I felt about it.

Let’s start with the characters.

Alicia Berenson was my favorite character to follow in this story. There’s something about hearing the written voice of the mystery woman that has suddenly gone quiet that I found extra intriguing.
Theo Faber had quite a few mysteries and some backstory to unravel as well, at the same time as he was trying to get Alicia to find her voice again.
I loved how we got to see both characters evolve in very different ways and in different timelines. That made the mystery even more mysterious, and the psychological aspect more interesting to me.
I also really enjoyed getting to know Theo’s journey with mental health and how that got him into the line of work as a criminal psychotherapist.
Stories and non-fiction that explores psychology and the workings of the mind always seem to appeal to my curious nature.
Michaelides definitely did that with this book!

Now, the story.
A lot of reviewers mention that this book was impossible to put down. I didn’t feel that way because even though I was curious about the story and the mystery surrounding the characters, I wasn’t wholeheartedly invested in the story. This might be due to my genre preferences again, especially since there wasn’t really anything specific that I could put my finger on that made me not as invested in this as so many others seem to have been.
But the pacing was really good, the way the chapters shifted between Faber trying to solve the mystery and Alicia’s journal from before it all went down was really interesting, and I didn’t find myself bored at any time during this story.

There are a couple of major plot twists in this story, and as we were getting closer to them I had sort of an idea of what they were going to be. So it didn’t take me entirely by surprise, but I thought it was all very well thought out and executed.

All in all, I did really enjoy this book, and after letting it rest in my mind for a bit, I liked it even more than I thought I did.
If you’re a fan of psychological thrillers and mysteries, then I definitely think that The Silent Patient is worth checking out.

And I think that I need to push myself to read more of the genres that I’m often too quick to judge as well so that I might not miss out on some brilliant stories just because I judge them by their genres before giving them a chance.

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Night Film by Marisha Pessl 📚 BOOK REVIEW

Marisha Pessl

I read a papberback edition of Night Film.

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller.

Publisher: Cornerstone – Windmill Books

Originally published: July 16th, 2013

Pages: 624 (paperback)

Audiobook length: 23 hrs and 9 mins

Synopsis by the publisher:

On a damp October night, beautiful young Ashley Cordova is found dead in an abandoned warehouse in lower Manhattan. Though her death is ruled a suicide, veteran investigative journalist Scott McGrath suspects otherwise. As he probes the strange circumstances surrounding Ashley’s life and death, McGrath comes face-to-face with the legacy of her father: the legendary, reclusive, cult-horror-film director Stanislas Cordova – a man who hasn’t been seen in public for more than 30 years. 

For McGrath, another death connected to this seemingly cursed family dynasty seems more than just a coincidence. Though much has been written about Cordova’s dark and unsettling films, very little is known about the man himself. 

Driven by revenge, curiosity, and a need for the truth, McGrath, with the aid of two strangers, is drawn deeper and deeper into Cordova’s eerie, hypnotic world. 

The last time he got close to exposing the director, McGrath lost his marriage and his career. This time he might lose even more. 

My thoughts:

I’ve had Night Film on my shelf for a few years, and although I’ve always found the premise very interesting, I’ve been slightly intimidated by the size of the book. But from time to time I ask my son to pick out my next read for me and he finds great pleasure in picking out the chunkiest books on my shelves, so this time it was Night Film’s turn. It’s a good way for me to get a randomly selected book to read, as well as it is a way for me to finally get to the books that I keep putting off because of their size.

As I said, I’ve found the premise of Night Film interesting ever since it came out. It sounded very dark and mysterious, so definitely something up my alley. I’ve heard mixed reviews of Night Film over the years, but most of the reviews were on the more positive note, at least from reviewers who tend to like the same books as I do. So I wouldn’t say that I had super high expectations for this book, but I had a feeling that would like it before I even picked it up.

Night Film hooked me from the beginning. It has a very dark and mysterious atmosphere to it that I really liked, and I also really enjoyed the way the layout of the novel, specifically the added websites and files. It made it feel like I was a part of the investigation to find out what happened to Ashley.
The story has a really good pace, so even though it is a long book, I never got bored. I was constantly at the edge of my seat wanting to know what would happen next. The story also took quite a few twists and turns that I wasn’t expecting and that is always a big plus with a mystery novel like this one.

I really enjoyed the characters in this story as well, and the ones that I found to be most interesting was probably the most mysterious characters; Ashley and Stanislaus Cordova.
Reading this book made me wish that Mr. Cordova was a real person so that I could’ve watched his movies afterward. There was just so much history and mystery around these two characters, and even though I quite enjoyed getting to know Scott McGrath and his “team”, I was more interested in getting to know the Cordova’s and their story.
It also felt like McGrath and his “team” lacked a little bit of character development, and they ended up coming out a little bit flat for my taste.

Let’s talk about the ending (without spoiling you). Even though I didn’t predict the exact way that this story would progress and end, I had a gut feeling as to what kind of ending Night Film would have (if that makes sense), and on some levels I was right. When I turned the last page of the story I had conflicted feelings about it, and I still do. In one way I feel like the ending was perfect to the whole Cordova mystery of it all, but in another way I feel like it left me slightly unsatisfied.
Even so, I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to the horror lovers out there. It’s dark, eerie, and very atmospheric. When it comes to the ending I think it comes down to personal preference if you’ll like it or not. I’m somewhere in between.
The book felt a bit unnecessary long as well, even though I got through it pretty quickly. I still feel like it could’ve been condensed just a little bit.
But overall it was a very interesting and enjoyable read!

Would love to know your opinion on the book if you’ve read it💛

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A Magic Dark and Bright by Jenny Adams Perinovic – REVIEW

A Magic Dark and Bright was sent to my by Patchwork Press via Netgalley for an honest review. 

This is the first book in The Asylum Saga.

Published: April 28, 2015

Publisher: Bookish Group Press

Pages: 330

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A Magic Dark and Bright is the story of Amelia Dupree who lives in the city Asylum, Pennsylvania. She’s been seeing a ghost from the night that her brother died.

Amelia set out to help the lady in white that turns up at the edge of the forest behind her house hoping to in someway connect with her brother. She had no idea that trying to help will unleash a curse on the town.

Charlie moves in to the creepy MacAllister house and Amelia immediately likes him even though she spent most of her childhood fearing Charlie’s grandmother because of the rumor that she’s a witch.

And when young girls start to drown in the Susquehanna River, one after the other, the people of Asylum looks for someone to blame. And the blame falls on the MacAllister’s.

Amelia and Charlie work together to uncover the dark secrets of the town and realize that they might have unleashed an evil bigger than they could have ever imagined. Is it too late to save everyone that they love?

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The Writing

I found this novel to be really well written. The surroundings and events were written in a way that really had me feeling like I was there and could experience all the emotions that Amelia went through. I thought that the dynamic between the characters and in the town felt very real. The story was creepy at times but I feel like it could easily have been written even creepier.

The Characters

Let’s start with out female protagonist here. I really liked Amelia and felt that I connected with her pretty early in the story. She’s curious and funny. And  even though she has her issues she came off as a strong character. I miss her already!

When Charlie showed up I was curious but did not trust him. I felt that there was something off about his character, but he definitely grew on me.

There were loads of other characters that I enjoyed, but Ransom annoyed me from the moment he appeared. I do believe that was the intent of the writer and so I hold no grudges. I enjoyed to dislike him.

The Plot

I have to say that some of the plot twists I did kind of see coming and then there were some that definitely took me by surprise.

I thought that the build up was done beautifully and the story had me entertained and curious all the way from beginning to end. Well done Perinovic!

***

This was a book that I really did enjoy and flew through in about a day. I already miss it and I definitely look forward to the next book! The wait will be too long, but I have good feeling that it will be worth the wait! 

The perfect blend of teenage romance, magic, creepiness and mystery! Highly recommend!

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Workman’s Complication by Rich Leder – REVIEW

Workman’s Complication is the first book of the McCall & Company series, published by Laugh Riot Press. I was kindly sent this book to read and give an honest review. 

Kate McCall is an off-off-off-off Broadway actress in her mid forties. When her father is found brutally murdered in a company elevator, Kate inherits her fathers private investigation business. Kate has helped her father through the years but feels nowhere close to wanting to change profession from actress to PI, but going through the case files in the company she stumbles upon something that might be connected to her fathers murder.

A new case also lands in her lap. A possible insurance scam. She was ready to burry the business with her father, but she could really use the money and decides to do this one final job.

Kate assembles the extremely unique, quirky and eccentric tenants of her building complex and her acting colleagues and gets herself and them in a whole lot of trouble along the way to solve both cases.

***

The Writing

The writing was so witty and hilarious. I went into this not really knowing what I was going to get, but this book had me giggling at the third page already. Leder writes in a way that really captivates, entertain and holds your attention throughout the whole story.

The Characters

I’ve been reading a lot of YA lately and I was in dire need of something more adult now and it was so refreshing to read a book with such a strong and funny female protagonist. I loved Kate from the very beginning. She is smart, hilarious, sexy, doesn’t take crap from anyone and she is confident. I think the real female confidence is what I’ve been really missing in a lot of other books that I’ve been reading lately, but Kate definitely brought that to the table. That combined with the human flaws that made her so relatable made her an amazing character.

When it came to the side characters, I have two personal favorites.

Ray was a phenomenal character. Every time he came around I knew that I would laugh out loud from the words coming from that old man.

And Fu is my absolute favorite. He’s a mystery and just lovely and all kinds of quirky in a lovely way!

The Plot

I really did fly through this book and it had me curious and at times at the edge of my seat. The book’s plot was consistent and good.

The only thing I missed here was that I would have loved for the “edge of my seat” moments would have a lasted a bit longer. It just felt like some of the problems were resolved a little bit too fast.

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This was such a fun and interesting read! Highly recommend if you want a funny and different kind of mystery read!

I can’t wait to read more of this series and to see what happens next with Kate.

Thank you so much to Shannon and Rich for sending this my way!! 

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Do you want your own copy of Workman’s Complication? Click on the Amazon link below:

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Have you read any funny or interesting books lately? Tell me about them 🙂