"As you will see, its an incredible story of that there is no doubt. Whether you believe it or not is up to you."
I am so riled up after reading this and not in the good kind of way. Should I take the time to rage write this review? Probably not, but I am RILED, and my husband listened to my rant and said "uhm I'm sorry?" So obviously he has never experienced this level of betrayal by mystery novel. I hope for his sake he never does.
This book came out sometime last year and I decided not to read it because I had somehow gotten it confused with the plot of another book. I thought this book was about a child in a coma, and I immediately thought, "yeah, mother of two over here! No thank you! I can't deal with that level of intensity taking over my reading hobby." Well, if you thought this book was about a child in a coma let me set the record straight. IT IS NOT.
This book started catching hype and I stumbled across a review that said this book was about a woman who snapped and shot her husband in the face 5 times and then refused to talk ever again. SOLD. I WAS SOLD. This is somehow intensity that I am fine incorporating into my reading hobby. I'm not going to explore that further and neither should you.
The Silent patient is in fact about a woman who snaps, shoots her husband 5 times and then refuses to talk ever again, but it is also about a psychotherapist named Theo, who over identifies with her story and really wants to help her.
In a very dramatic plot twist towards the end of the book I discovered that this book is also about HOW AN AUTHOR SHOULD NOT WRITE A THRILLER/MYSTERY NOVEL.
Listen Alex, (I'm not even going to ask him if I can use his first name because he didn't earn the honor of my using his last name so respectfully 💅💅💅) it's too late to mop up this mess, but if you plan on pulling these same shenanigans in a future "mystery novel" I'm going to need you to R.E.S.P.E.C.T your readers a little bit.
Here's the thing, mystery novels ARE MY JAM. I love unreliable narrators, I love thinking everyone is a suspect, and I love a good plot twist. This book had a good plot twist. It was so shocking I GASPED in the bathtub, and then I turned the page to keep reading, and that was when the RAGE took hold.
Do you want to know the difference between a good suspense/mystery and a bad one? It isn't how believable the twist is. It isn't even how the book wraps everything up. It is in the tiny minute clues and details that tried to warn you about the plot twist. The very best twist will shock you, but also have you screaming "oh my gosh of course! How did I not see that coming!?". This book did none of that and to me that is an inexcusable offense in this genre. You don't get to pull this out of your butt and say "hahahaha GOTCHA." You have to work for the 'gotcha.' The only ground work the author put down happened 4 pages before the reveal and it was not groundwork, it was a rickety-ladder-over-an-open-canyon-of-doom.
I'd give this book somewhere between 2.5-3 stars because it is engrossing. I did that "oh I'll just read a chapter while my kids play at the library" thing and then I binged the book in two days, but I'm disappointed in the way this went down. I'm disappointed in Alex for playing with me like this. I'm disappointed in the authors Blake Crouch and AJ Finn who shamelessly plugged this book as a GREAT, but mostly I am disappointed with myself for allowing this undeserving 'gotcha' to get me.
2.5/5 Stars
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