She  is beautiful. And married.

She loves her husband very much.

He is handsome, successful, and the kindest man she has ever known; and has been a wonderful husband to her. 

She is a painter. He is a fashion photographer. 

They live in a good neighbourhood, in a beautiful house. She stays at home and paints, while he keeps busy with photo shoots for fashion magazines. 

He has always encouraged her to paint more and she has thrived under his encouragement; now painting full-time, associating herself with a gallery run by a friend. 

Their life is perfect!

And then one day, she kills him.

With five bullets fired right in his face. 

And then she goes silent.

All through her arrest and subsequent commitment to a physiatrist hospital, she doesn’t speak a word. For years. 

Until one day, a psychotherapist at her hospital decides to help her.

The psychotherapist has followed her case closely. He knows she has been silent and uncooperative for six years. 

And he believes he can help her. 

He is, in fact, keen to help her. 

They begin regular sessions. He encourages her to paint. He insists that her medication be reduced so she could be more responsive to treatment. He spends all his time helping her; or trying to help her.

And she slowly begins to trust him. She still doesn’t speak; but she gives him her diary. 

Armed with the insights of that diary, the psychotherapist begins a quest to find out more about her life, her past, just so he can use something there to explain why she did what she did and/or help her heal...

Among other things, her diary reveals that she was being watched by a man. Stalked really...

But then the diary abruptly stops there. At the mention of this man.

Was he involved somehow, in what happened? Or was he a figment of her imagination as her husband and her doctor keep telling her? 

Does the psychotherapist find out? 

A wonderful debut, The Silent Patient, is a page-turner that keeps you engaged right till the moment you are gobsmacked by the twist in the tale! 

Told alternatively in first-person and through diary-entries, the story progresses at a fast pace and keeps the reader completely engaged as more and more twists ans turns are revealed. 

Read it for the satisfaction of a good mystery/thriller, read it for the beauty of the plot, read it for an excellent execution of the plot, or read it for its sheer ability to keep you on the edge of your seats! But read it you must!

One of the most unassuming books, with the most underrated narration I have read in recent times. And yet, when it hits you, it takes your breath away!

Pick it up for a weekend read, and trust me, you’d be glad to have one of the best weekends in a long time! 

Happy Reading! 

#mystery

#thriller

#bestseller