Despite the fact that I read constantly, I often feel insecure about not having read a lot of big-name popular authors that I see all the time. So I made a list of new-to-me authors to read before the end of the year, and I decided to give Alex Michaelides a try.

And I thought that The Silent Patient was resoundingly not bad! Pretty fun! Just the right blend of trashy and smart! I can join people back in 2019 in saying that I enjoyed it!

The audio edition I listened to included an author interview in which he talks about his influences being more Golden Age mysteries than contemporary thrillers, and I think that shows. This isn’t high-octane writing, but I relished the smoldering suspense and the reveal that’s like knocking the top layer of ash off a dying fire to reveal the blazing embers underneath.

Read this if you want to gasp as you voyeuristically peep in on the problems of people more glamorous and fucked up than you, but feel good about it because you’re also thinking about Greek tragedies the whole time.

PS I did not guess the twist correctly.