Book Thrills

The Silent Patient ★★★★ Alex Michaelides, Orion, R295

This is a well-crafted psychological thriller. There’s a mystery, a femme fatale, a sinister man lurking in the shadows, a hidden diary and a riddle in the form of a painting. At the heart of Michaelides’ gripping debut is the question: what drives a woman to shoot her husband five times and then never speak again? Forensic psychotherapist Theo Faber is determined to get Alicia Berenson to unlock the secret of what happened. But the more he digs into her life — her troubled childhood, her art, and her dysfunctional relationships — the more he recognises parts of himself in her … and the boundaries between patient and doctor begin to blur.

Smart suspense from start to end.