The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Celadon Books, 336 pages, $26.99

Has the market finally become saturated with books with unreliable narrators and twisted endings? Since “Gone Girl” made such a tremendous splash in both the book and movie markets, there have been read-a-likes galore. “The Silent Patient” is one. In my defense, I’m not spilling too many beans with that statement. The narrator, Theo Faber, is a forty-two year old psychotherapist, and it is obvious from the start that he has some deep issue himself, so it shouldn’t be surprising that there is an “unreliable” nature to what he says. In Theo’s words:

We are drawn to this profession because we are damaged — we study psychology to heal ourselves.

and

It’s odd how quickly one adapts to the strange new world of a psychiatric unit. You become increasingly comfortable with madness — and not just the madness of others, but your own. We’re all crazy, I believe, just in different ways.

At the center of the book is the story of Alicia Berenson. While in her early thirties, she was convicted of murdering her husband, Gabriel. Six years later, Theo begins to treat her as a patient in the psychiatric facility where she lives. Since the police discovered her standing over her husband, she has not uttered a word. Furthermore, she has tried to kill herself several times. And she has attacked people. Her actions, as most people conclude, condemn her. But not Theo. He is determined to get her talking, to relieve her of the burden of whatever happened the night her husband died, to “find her.”

Theo should be more worried about his own life. As he becomes more obsessed with Alicia’s case, he seems to be helpless to put his own marriage back together with his wife Kathy, an actress. As firm and directed as Theo seems in his professional life, he staggers and waffles in his personal one.

Both stories rush to an ending in which everything will be revealed, but not until the story’s final breath. Is your adrenaline spiking as you read the last few pages? Then Alex Michaelides’ work is done.

I cannot award this book a star because while this type of thriller is still compelling, mostly I’m over being tricked. My “gullible bone” is nearly numb.