Secrets behind a wall of silence
THE SILENT PATIENT by Alex Michaelides
(Orion £12.99, 352 pp) THIS is a brilliantly told story by a terrific new writer who has had the courage and skill to dump the more conventional tropes of thrillers and write from the heart.
The story centres on Alicia Berenson, a beautiful young artist, who suddenly kills her photographer husband, refuses to speak again and is sentenced to life in an institution.
Theo Faber is a young psychotherapist who is convinced he can get through to her and break into her silent world. A simple plot you might think.
But this is a complex and compelling examination of how damaged people are so uniquely equipped to do damage to others.
The writer — a qualified psychotherapist — wears his learning lightly but to great effect right down to the final sentence, which is quite brilliant.
BLOOD ORANGE by Harriet Tyce
(Wildfire £12.99, 336 pp) THERE is a fashion for flawed lead characters and ambitious lawyer Alison Wood certainly delivers. She is a drunken, adulterous, neglectful mother.
She has just landed her first murder case — a woman who has stabbed her husband. Soon Alison begins to feel a strange psychological connection to her client, and then an overwhelming compulsion to save her.
Things get creepier when Alison starts to receive anonymous threatening texts. Someone is watching her.
There is a gripping prologue which describes a weird auto-erotic sex act involving a blood orange. The writer is at her best when describing Alison’s hopeless dependency on inappropriate sex and alcohol.
But the men — her sanctimonious husband and arrogant lover — are not as well drawn so the story loses some of its tension and becomes a bit of a one-woman show.
THE SECRETARY by Renee Knight
(Doubleday £12.99, 304 pp) THE oddly old-school title puts this book at a disadvantage from the start: most secretaries self-identify as personal assistants these days. Secretary Christine Butcher more or less runs the life of Mina Appleton, her dynamic boss, and she worships her.
Then a series of melodramatic events makes Christine see her boss in a different and unfavourable light.
Christine’s loyalty is tested and the power shifts to her. She begins to plan her revenge.
The relationship between the two women is interesting and well-observed, and the writing style is assured, but sadly the twists and turns in the plot are disappointing and ultimately unconvincing.