The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides

[balmy rampart]

From <t:1703635200:D> to <t:1706313600:D> | Leader(s): @loud acorn

Book Link
Cover: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1668782119i/40097951.jpg

ID: 657067eb3eb705c45848fc8f
Announcement: #buddy-reads message

[loud acorn]

https://tenor.com/view/dancing-cowboy-finger-gun-pointing-moves-gif-17170914

[foggy isle]

Oh yes I shoulda posted this here

[vestal yoke]

a few months ago, i got spoiled for the ending. i know what happens (hopefully getting spoiled for the ending in a mystery does not ruin the experience entirely)

[boreal token]

I'm going into this one blind, and I'm so excited for it!

[orchid vector]

I started it yesterday! So far, so good.

I also didn't know anything about it.

[fast fog]

Finally

[foggy isle]

[orchid vector]

starting soon!

[ebon heath]

yayyyy

im so excited bc i started it a while ago but a,m only like 50 pages in so buddy reading it will make me read it faster

[fast fog]

It'll be a January read for me. Excited to read this

[orchid vector]

Just finished it. I couldn't stop reading it!

[molten oxide]

Is it okay if I start it today?

[orchid vector]

sure its already 27 for some people

[molten oxide]

Chapter 1
||Okay, I'm intrigued! I like how straight forward it is at the start while still maintaining some suspense. I'm going in blind on this one, I don't usually pick a book just for the hype, but the premise is promising!||

[orchid vector]

||test||

Ok there ya go.

||Keep reading, it gets better!||

[orchid vector]

im-

😭😭

[loud acorn]

@everyone
Welcome to day one of The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides! This is a month long BR and I'm very happy to read along with all of you!

🏥 Where did you hear about this book? What interested you in checking it out?
🚑 What are your expectations for this read?

[balmy rampart]

@loud acorn,@foggy isle,@orchid vector,@fast fog,@orchid vector,@slender cipher,@ionic nebula,@vestal yoke,@molten oxide,@boreal token,@hardy tangle,@tired sail,@maiden thistle,@spice narwhal,@deft atlas,@final gale,@sleek talon,@main pumice,@fierce horizon,@ebon heath,@hollow edge,@tidal nova,@warm viper,@orchid vector,@tranquil spoke

See above, your mod is stupid. LOL but welcome in, looking forward to reading this with everyone!

[orchid vector]

🏥 literally everywhere. the hype
🚑 already know whats gonna happen but i expect it to be as interesting as it was and i do expect to read some things that i missed out on before

[fast fog]

🏥 I feel like I've heard from it in any of my social media, specially when I was reading mainly thrillers! It recently came to OBC's collective mind in a thread 🚑 🚑 somewhere and I got to read with a member I'm friends with, so I decided to finally catch that train
🚑 I honestly have very high expectations for this kind of novel! I'd be happy if we got a satisfying plot twist. I'm also wondering if this will get me back on my thriller hunting and reading!

[main pumice]

Ohhh I just got a notification I could pick it up but I coundt find out why I had reserved it. Now I see.

I just hward about it from the be and was like sure i will join
Honestly no clue.

[molten oxide]

🏥 I've heard several youtubers talking about it, I've also seen loads of people on my GR feed reading it
🚑 hm, I'm just going with the flow on this one, I've heard mixed reviews. I really want to read more mystery thrillers, so this was just a great opportunity!

[vestal yoke]

🏥 well i was searching up thriller recommendations, and this come came up on almost every list
🚑 well i know the plot, it’s very good

[fierce horizon]

🏥 Well.. I saw this pop up in my br and thought why not?
🚑 I have quite high expectations for this book as the reviews are positive and the blurb was really interesting.

[sleek talon]

🏥 Where did you hear about this book? What interested you in checking it out?

• My brother was gifted a copy and I was seeing it around Goodreads and Bookstagram for a while.
  🚑 What are your expectations for this read?
• I am expecting a dark, thriller but honestly I am going in pretty blind, on purpose.

[ebon heath]

🏥 Where did you hear about this book? What interested you in checking it out? i heard about it thru tiktok lol, and my family friend said it was really good so yea
🚑 What are your expectations for this read? i have quite high expectations bc everyone is telling me this book is good

[orchid vector]

🏥 I've seen it in bookstores. The cover always spooks me but I guess it's time for me to read it.
🚑 I know nothing about it besides the blurb says there's murder and plot twists.

[foggy isle]

🏥 I think I saw it on Tiktok first earlier this year. I see it in every bookstore now and I wanted to check it out because it's exactly my cup of tea from what I can gather so far
🚑 I think it's gonna be a fast-paced read with lots of twists and turns that'll leave you surprised

[hollow edge]

🏥 youtube mostly! im mostly interested because it just sounds cool nd ive not read a mystery/thriller in a while
🚑 tbh im not expecting to love it or anything, im just kinda expecting to have a good time lol. im also going into it blind, ive not heard people talk about it on youtube for a while (just because now i mostly watch extreme horror readers nd purely sci-fi nd fantasy readers nd reviewers on youtube rather than people that read a more generally) so i cant remember anything really anymore

[molten oxide]

Part One, up to (and including) chapter 6
||I am glad we're finally meeting Alicia. Honestly I am not that interested in Theo, so I am glad we're moving from his own story lmao||

[orchid vector]

🏥 Heard of this novel in this Discord channel. Otherwise, had seen it announced in Kindle but it never caught my curiosity. I'm very glad this channel brought it up!
🚑 From reading the first pages, I expected to love it!

[boreal token]

🏥 It's been on my radar for a while as a best-selling thriller
🚑 I'm really hoping for a fast-paced mystery that gets twisty and unexpected, but I'm going in mostly blind

[molten oxide]

Part 2, chapter 7
||I don't understand why the entire staff allowed Theo to continue his sessions with Alicia without a second person in the room when she literally attacked him. And why on earth were they locked inside?? Yuri turned the key to open the door, that would only take more time to reach Theo if she decided to attack again||

[molten oxide]

Part 2, chapter 8
||Theo and Kathy started their relationship by just dumping their respective partners in a blink of an eye, and now he's surprised she would have the guts to cheat on him? I mean... People can change, sure, but I don't understand how he's so surprised by it... ||

Also, ||I just can't connect with Theo at all. I want more of Alicia, not Theo... ||

Part 2, chapter 10
||Ahm, "what about the patients in my care? Certain people depended on me", is he delulu? ||

||This guy doesn't even know the name of more than 2 patients, only spoke with one and she doesn't even speak back, what ||

[orchid vector]

||He is so frustrating and highly unlikable||

[molten oxide]

||Okay I am glad I wasn't the only one getting annoyed by him ||

[fast fog]

Just started!
Part 1, ch. 01: ||Simple, straight-forward writing style that (hopefully) sticks around for the majority of the novel. I'm happy to be reading this on Kindle for the extra info on Alcestis, "wife of Admetus, king of Pherae in Thessaly. She saved her husband's life by consenting to die on his behalf." About 2.5k readers highlighted it on their e-readers ||
Looking forward to this read!

[fast fog]

I have to point out a few really neat quotes from ch. 03:
||"Our character was formed without us even knowing it. In my case, I grew up feeling edgy, afraid, anxious. This anxiety seemed to predate my existence and exist independently of me. But I suspect it originated in my relationship with my father, around whom I was never safe." - another book that'll constantly remind me that I shouldn't have quit therapy, and how everyone would benefit from it, in one way or the other. This main character is giving me weird vibes with their slight infatuation with the Alcedes case and him relating to her so much is... odd.||
||"My father's unpredictablle and arbitrary rages made any situation, no matter how benign, into a potential minefield. // I didn't know it then, but it was too late – I had internalised my father, introjected him, buried him deep in my unconscious. No matter how far I ran, I carried him with me wherever I went. I was pursued by an infernal, relentless chorus of furies, all with his voice – shrieking that I was worthless, shameful, a failure." - don't touch me.||
||"But that's how therapy works. A patient delegates his unacceptable feelings to his therapist: and she holds everything he is afraid to feel, and she feels it for him. And then, ever so slowly, she feeds his feelings back to him. As Ruth fed mine back to me." - ||
I promise you won't get quote walls of text from me as often thank you for bearing with me!

[fast fog]

Ch. 06: ||Theo and Diomedes treating Alicia like their own personal work project is very icky and foreboding to me.||

[foggy isle]

Can't wait to catch up with you hehe

[molten oxide]

Part 2, chapter 25
||"I hope you don't think it was an invasion of your privacy. Perhaps I should have consulted you first. I hope you don't mind."
She was not going to answer anyway lmao and he definitely oversteps, he's a psychotherapist and acts like a CIA agent, jeeez. I wonder if she will ever bbe grateful for whatever it is that he is doing right now||

[molten oxide]

End of Part 2
||Okay, finally we'll get some insight and Alicia's perspective... Honestly part 2 was just a drag for me, I don't like Theo and he's projecting a lot, I really didn't get invested in his life and story. ||

[molten oxide]

Part 3
||I wonder if she really saw a man following her or if it was all in her head and she accidentally restrained and shot her husband thinking it was that guy||

[fast fog]

I actually just reached this part of the book (Part 2, ch. 06), and ||I really enjoy how Theo has been written to be an unreliable narrator (at least so far). He's not overtly the villain of this story (... yet) and his motives are skewed - he has all these ideas of grandeur and how he'll handle Alicia and how he'll be the one to save her, there are so many icky themes and reasons for us to not like him. The way he described his relationship (and how we're now discovering more about it), how much his trauma affects him and can possibly be eating him up from the inside, how he's "failing" at the little things like getting along with staff he has beef with, or in stopping smoking. I think it's pretty neat. ||
EDIT: I replied to the wrong message, sorry Scarlatte!

[fast fog]

Sidenote and applying to the whole novel, ||I hate the author's usage of the word "exotic". Exotic to whom? Someone who's never tried a joint? How does someone look exotic? I avoid this term like the plague, it's really small-minded imo.||

[fierce horizon]

Hello.. how do you censor a message ?

[main pumice]

There is two lines ‘||’ and you have them on both sides of what you want ti sensor || Exanple ||

[fast fog]

hi! add 2 lines | | (no spaces) || to the beginning of your text
and || and the same 2 lines at the end

[fierce horizon]

Okay thanks

[orchid vector]

@tawdry trellis hi!

[tawdry trellis]

hi!

[orchid vector]

we ahve a br going on you can join this if you like

you have a month to read it since we just started

#buddy-reads message just react to this if you wish to participate

[tawdry trellis]

i really want to start reading it but i dont like reading two books at the same time-

ive heard it has multiple twists so i bought it

[orchid vector]

yeah lmao it does

[tawdry trellis]

the book im reading right, the way it is going i feel like burning it-

[molten oxide]

I finished it! I'll write my thoughts later, but all I can say is that I didn't see it coming!

[molten oxide]

okay, final thoughts!
||The premise was really strong from the start. I was intrigued and I was really enjoying the pace. However, I didn't vibe with Theo at all, which I guess it was the right feeling from the start lmao. But since he was basically the main character, it was a bit of a bummer for me to read all of that about him. I really liked the twist and honestly I didn't see it coming, but the author lost me a bit in the journey.
Theo investigates every member of Alicia's family and apparently they all have some dark secret, and are untrustworthy and creepy. But at the end, none of that comes to fruition, not even the fact that Max assaulted her, which is pretty serious. It felt like it was there just for the shock value and the fact that none of it was solved, not even Jean-Martin taking advantage of Alicia's work, was really meh. At the end Theo just gives him her paintings, which made absolute no sense to me because he was all about "protecting her", and he knew Jean was just banking on her work. It felt like a lazy resolution (just a way for the police to find the diary).
Also, something that really bothered me was how Theo injects Alicia with enough morphine to make her the new Sleeping Beauty, but she still has enough time to write a coherent and detailed account of the events that just happened, think of a place to hide the diary and actually hide it that really made me roll my eyes.
Still, I really enjoyed the premise and the plot twist at the end, which saved the book for me this was my second or third mystery thriller and I honestly just think this is not the genre for me, because I remember I disliked my previous reads. I won't give up just yet tho!||

[main pumice]

I will start this probely tomorrow

[orchid vector]

Final thoughts: || The book started really strong, but it was a confusing and butchered ending, in my opinion. Lots of things made zero sense, and both Alicia and Theo were unrelatable characters. I think the author was too focused on achieving a surprise ending, and missed on tying up loose ends and think details through. I would rate it 5/10.||

[loud acorn]

I begin

[loud acorn]

Part 2 Chapter 6
||KATE'S CHEATING? NO FUCKING WAY DUDE, THATS GUTTING.||

[finite panther]

Part 2 Chapter 6
||KATE'S CHEATING? NO FUCKING WAY
DUDE, THATS GUTTING.||

- Vaude (Krampus' Helper)🖤

[fast fog]

Part 2, Ch. 15: ||First of all, wasn't expecting this to happen so early in the novel. Secondly, I like that we are clearly aiming for the involvement of Max as the sole person being benefited by the death of Gabriel. The very short chapters in this book really leave you grasping for more! It's part of why I think it's hard to put it down; everything happens quickly and suddenly, there's little dragging along. Really digging it so far ||

[loud acorn]

Part 4 chapter 19
||??????????????????????||

[loud acorn]

And finished - my last book for 2023.
|| I'm not really sure what to think in all honesty - I think I benefitted a lot by coming in blind and with the bare minimum of expectations. I think I'm going to settle on a 2-3 ⭐ here for a lot of reasons. I thoroughly enjoyed the pacing and twisty-turny nature of the book. The reveal at the end of Part 4 was pretty cool on it's own right for how it slowly dawned that the events weren't happening tangentially to the current story but rather had already happened. I'm usually very on board with that kind of twist anyway and I liked how it was written! The Greek tragedy that runs alongside the main plot is a neat take too- the artistic elements were enjoyable. Plus I'll admit a bit of indulgent enjoyment at characters also missing old Camden ||

||Now my problem here is that there's so many weird underdeveloped characters that exist to facilitate the big reveal. There's not one red herring but there's several that are just...hanging out and weren't really sorted out in a satisfying way. Alicia apparently just had a bunch of people with issues surrounding her including a weird cousin in debt (not to mention the strange glanced over opening scene with him where he attacked Theo with a bat for no reason???), a gallery owner, ex-friend who couldn't make it as a painter and had a fixation on either her or her work, her brother-in-law that supposedly grabbed her and a doctor that was seeing her for her hallucinations off the books who would have benefitted from her silence because of tax/legality reasons. I don't know what to make of it exactly, so many of these characters were really creepy and off putting, each sewing the seeds of possibly being involved in Gabriel's death and then nothing came of it. ||
||Make no mistake I completely understand the purpose of false leads/ red herrings in Mystery/Thriller novels, they're fun1 But there was something about the outlandishness of these characters and how they didn't really do anything outside of keeping the big reveal delayed. Basically after the reveal it felt like that 3/4ths of the book which involved speaking with these people...felt pointless? Subtlety is also not this author's strong point ||
||Alicia herself is... I don't know how to explain it. In her diary entries her only activities are sitting in cafes for hours or sleeping with/painting her husband as Jesus. She's very hyped up by all the medical staff as almost a femme fatale. As such an important character in the book, she's hard to get a read on and feel...anything for really. We hear from characters from her past and even from herself about how charming she is, but it feels much along the lines of tell, don't show.||

||I'm not terribly impressed by much of the psychology/psyche unit research this author did - it was really flimsy. Why mention that you couldn't bring a lighter in if there's multiple scenes of them smoking on the unit? Why are the doctors just messing with medication willy nilly? Basically with how...poorly constructed The Grove is, I'm hoping optimistically it's this way to show how close it is to being closed? It was a bit distracting for sure||.

||It's like an upscaled Tommy Wiseau script in terms of poorly explained drama and things just happening - a bit more coherant but Theo with all his whinging and drama really makes me think of Tommy Wiseau screaming "YOU'RE TEARING ME APART KATHY!". Still in spite of it all, I did enjoy this read more than not. Do I get the hype? Kinda? The twist is genuinely a lot of fun, admittedly I was overthinking it a lot and thinking more along the lines that history was repeating itself But I don't think that the twist can carry against it's weaker aspects. It's definitely quite absorbing to read, I was inspired to try to finish this in one day and did after all. ||

[molten oxide]

||omg, your last comment about Tommy Wiseau could not be more accurate, that's exactly it I agree with everything you just said, that's pretty much how I felt as well!||

https://tenor.com/view/confidential-sex-life-tommy-wiseau-room-the-room-gif-17571225

[loud acorn]

https://tenor.com/view/tommy-wiseau-the-room-im-fed-up-with-this-world-johnny-gif-10660565

[fast fog]

Part 2, ch. 22: ||Alicia's diary entries are incredible so much tension and hatred and possible back-stabbing ||

[hollow edge]

i started this last night! i didnt get far but this is interesting. i like how (literally chap 1) ||its addressed that no one knows whats happening, so while it could be abuse that pushed her to kill her husband, no one knows for sure. i went into this kinda just assuming itd be a big "omg nd he was abusing her nd it was bad!!! he seemed lovely but he was actually a prick!!!!" but just with the author putting that in, its made me think like... hold on. maybe its not abuse||

[foggy isle]

Gonna start this tomorrow on my way to work :)

[fierce horizon]

Final thoughts:
Well... this was an interesting read.
"||The book began with a very promising start and Alicia's silence was truly indulging and captured my interest. As the story progressed the plot started unravelling. The narrator was a pathetic excuse of a spouse, physiotherapist, an employee and a man. The author is quite misogynistic when he describes the female characters, as submissive to their husband (Alicia & Tanya), ugly/ obese ( Lydia Rose & Elif) and chatterboxes (Indira & Barbie). Aside from its flaws as a physiological thriller the author lacks proper knowledge about proper diagnosis, medication and treatments which might discourage the readers who might need psychological help from seeking it. And the twist at the end renders the whole book irrelevant as Theo already knows the reason for her silence but still digs into her past. If the author had written this as Theo's diary where at the end we discover he was the reason for the crime or if he was recovering his memory slowly as he was treating Alicia then the book according to me would have been better. The plot had a lot of potential but it was poorly executed. I would rate it a 3/10. ||"

[fast fog]

Part 2, ch. 30: ||So much tension, so much build-up. It's hard to form theories since pretty much all of them could go tits up the following chapter some characters are clearly being framed by the author at this point. Personally I'm still wondering why all these near-witnesses and family friends are still providing testimony to a psychotherapist.||

[fast fog]

Entirety of Part 3: ||in theory, Alicia's journal was a good plot device to change POVs and provide some more context and backstory. In reality, would she be writing this coherently should there be an intruder in her house? I like the writing, and the plot, and the characters are intriguing. Back to Mr. CIA Psychoterapist now I guess.||

[fast fog]

I'm stopping my reading at about 80%; I don't feel like spoiling myself with the ending portion of the book, but also because I'd love to discuss your thoughts on it literally no pressure to post either! Let me know if it's OK to reply to your posts when you do

[foggy isle]

Yeah you can absolutely respond I'll start reading a bit now but not sure when I'll get to write down my thoughts

[fast fog]

So much is going on at this stage.

Part 4, ch. 21: ||Oh. OH. OH DAMN. I was wondering about whether this would happen or be revealed, and for a moment I was incredibly confused about the timelines, but now I understand we were being fed info from many different time periods. ||

[fast fog]

Oop, finished! @loud acorn and @molten oxide, I feel like your final thoughts were spot fucking on and I cackled reading them; I feel super similarly

** Final thoughts on The Silent Patient: **
||The hype was real... I guess? I enjoyed this book enough to admit it was a page turner. I enjoyed the writing and the pacing, and the short chapters were fun and engaging. My real issue is the character writing. No redeeming features. Everyone and their momma is a red herring (no, literally). I find it so so so hard to accept that these characters are writing these vital, incredibly plot-defining moments in a journal, one of them at the brink of slipping into a comma? I feel like I've come across beautiful thriller/mystery narratives where twists were unpredictable and surprising, but the delivery and reveal were believable.
Overally, an enjoying read, a cool twist but a severe lack of depth. A solid 3.5/5 (that 0.5 is for the twist chapter alone - I really think it's neat that we had been following a specific event in the present time, only for the reveal to happen in the last paragraph)||

[loud acorn]

Fantastic final thoughts, I'm glad so many of us are on the same page

[vestal yoke]

i would say i’m starting this soon but that's not true

[foggy isle]

Reading chapter 2 rn I didn't have a lot of thoughts about the first so I will make a post later for however far I come omw home from work

[foggy isle]

Part one; chapters 1-4
||I really like the writing as it gets you right into the story. Nothing unusual about the first chapter, but I like that it ends with the mystery of the Greek goddess. Didn't expect to learn so much about the narrator, but it was pretty cool that he waited a hot while to introduce himself. I was wondering who he was and not revealing it right away ties in nicely with the other mysteries which we seem to have a lot of right away. I'm excited to see how Theo's first day at The Grove is gonna go and what we learn about Alicia||

[molten oxide]

I completely agree with everything you said! As Vaude said, I am glad we all seem to be getting on the same page

[hollow edge]

ok I'm on chapter 19 nd i have some thoughts. mostly not good ones ||I genuinely hope that theos life has some kind of impact on the story of Alicia because I genuinely don't think I could give less of a fuck about his marriage issues. I'm reading this to find out about Alicia nd why she committed her crime, not for some guy to be like boohoo my wife's cheating on me but I don't have the balls to leave her... it feels so irrelavent to the actual plot|| I also don't like ||his mindset that "I can fix her!!!1!!1!1!!!!!" nd how he's dismissing the people who've worked closely with her since she was admitted... like I'm not being funny, but you reading the newspaper nd knowing that there's smth deeper going on doesn't mean you know more than the people around you. also Christian is soooo fucking boring, it feels like they're in secondary school. he's just being a prick for the fun of it at this point??? like are you 12????||

my current theory is that ||Gabriel was actually a piece of shit, but Alicia has BPD nd Gabriel is her favourite person, so she refuses to accept the fact that he's a piece of shit because she loves him so much nd has an unhealthy attachment to him. their relationship is already suspicious, considering they resolve their fights with sex, and the fact that we know it ends with her killing him. I also think he might know about Max SAing her, or at least is also a piece of shit which is why he looks up to Max so much? ||

oh nd another part of my theory ||because Gabriel has just said he wants to have kids with Alicia, I have a feeling that might end up having something to do with the murder||

[foggy isle]

Part one; chapters 5-8
||I love the writing so far, it's easy to follow and enjoyable! Now this might be a little far fetched, but I think it's weird that both Diomedes and Alcestis (forgive me for possibly misspelling, I don't have the book here rn) are Greek. It's just a very weird coincidence if it is one. I don't trust the guy either idk as for Theo, I'm sure he has good intentions (or does he ), but his whole ordeal sounds a bit too much like wanting to save the damsel in distress. He keeps going on and on about wanting to save and help her and I feel like it's a bit much. Maybe there's some ulterior motive even though he's been striking me as a good guy so far. I do think there's a massive plottwist coming though||

[fast fog]

I'm so glad you're enjoying it. As for ||greek mythology, it's the author's thing and he does it in a lot of other novels. I started reading into it and there may be some underlying mythos with Diomedes but I didn't bother checking it tbh ||

[foggy isle]

Ohhh I see hahaha

I was so

[fast fog]

it's super sussy

[hollow edge]

i just finished this. nd like. oh my god i did not like that book at all LMAOOO

its like 4am so ill see how far i get typing out my thoughts until i just get too tired LMAO but || that twist was. SO BAD LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOO as soon as i finished it i genuinely said outloud "well that was shit" because what the fuckkkkkkk????????????? like. i can kind of see the "set up" if i squint but jesus that was. so infuriating???????? like you can see he was a psycho when you look back, but thats only with hindsight||

i would also like to say the mental health representation in this is just piss poor. || i have bpd, nd christian AND theo both referring to people with bpd as "borderlines" nd making those horrific comments about them being seductive just made me so angry... it wasnt necessary at all to the plot, nd p much everyone treating her like she was insane made me want to put my head through a wall.||

im doing these in seperate msgs to represent different threads of thought because i have a lot to rant about LMAO sorry if it gets a little much

||THERE WAS SO MUCH TOO THAT WAS JUST. UNEXPLAINED?????? LIKE THERE WERE RED HERRINGS JUST FOR THE SAKE OF IT BUT WITH NO LOGICAL REASON??????? like you suspect christian because we have the unreliable narrator nd theos tryna blame christian nd shit, you suspect gabriel is doing something (which i guess he is) but hes made out to be this self centred prick nd like hes got something wrong... then theres the whole shit with Max, which literally has nothing to do with anything because i guess sexual fucking assult is just a plot device to make you suspect the wrong guy!!! (/s)||

||dont even get me started on jean-paul i thought he was such a terrible character... he couldve been a genuinely good villian but nopeeeeeeeee i guess not, hes just another flat red herring character. i felt like no character had much purpose outside of being a red herring nd to try to make it more mysterious nd scary or whatever, but really it was just annoying. christian was almost comically evil tbh, same with stephanie???? the way no one listened to her, despite the fact she was just trying to take care of the patients, nd just undermined her the whole book felt so... back handed???||

for my own mental health im gonna stop talking about this book /j

[finite panther]

for my own mental
health im gonna stop talking
about this book /j

- Zander || 47/50

[hollow edge]

haiku bot you have the worst timing LMFAOOOO

needless to say im giving this 1 star, go to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200

to be fair, it was page turning. at the end of the day no one had a gun to my head forcing me to finish this, so at least it was page turning and i clearly wanted to know what happened. ill give Alex Michaelides that at the very least

[loud acorn]

I'm a big fan of this Zander

[hollow edge]

I'm glad my insane 4am rambles entertained someone rereading over this now I've slept, im lowkey scared of 4am me, he has a lot of opinions nd is angry

[vestal yoke]

suggestion taken time to read a thriller at 4am to bring out the demon in me

[molten oxide]

I would be pissed too if I was awake at 4 am to read a book and this was what I was reading

[hollow edge]

honestly it really does bring out some inner being of pure rage

[hollow edge]

honestly i think thats why i was so mad about the twist because i was like "I PUT OFF SLEEPING FOR THIS ARE YOU JOKING"

also i dont know if its just me but || theo KNEW what happened that night. why tf did he go harass some random people abot the day of the muder if he knew full well what happened... it feels counter intuitive??? nd really dense???||

||theo was such a stupid villian, if for no reason then because he wasted all that fuel driving around the south of england to figure out what happened the day he literally kidnapped the woman and caused a murder LMAOOOOO||

im currently writing down my in depth nd a lot more aggressive thoughts in my reading journal thing nd honestly its very cathartic ive been rambling in there a lot more than in here, so if you thought my review here was unhinged nd aggressive my poor notebook is seeing sooo much more

looking back on other peoples thoughts here too is good, im glad we all agree p much unanimously thatt ||the characters in this are so flat theyre almost non existent at this point|| LMAOO it makes me feel less like a cynic

this has also reminded me why i need to stop picking up books that tiktok raves about, because i genuinely cant think of a book that tiktok insists is one of the best in its respective genre but is actually p shit (imo ofc)

[low umbra]

OH I downloaded this the other day and forgot the BR was still going so I'll probably join at some point

[foggy isle]

Part 1; chapters 9&10
||I didn't expect Theo to be married tbh. It irked me how he only went out with Yuri to get intel on Alicia: "But he probably knew Alicia better than anyone at The Grove - and his insights might prove useful." Idk I'm really suspicious of this guy and it's annoying that he seems to be so obsessed with her. It's interesting that we get to know him so well with the story of he and Kathy met and everything. I feel like there is more to him in this story and he definitely isn't just the helpful psychotherapist he claims to be.||

[foggy isle]

Part 2; chapters 1&2
||Finally got to read Alicia's diary and I found it very shocking that her mother tried to murder her apparently? If that's what happened. Definitely some fucked up shit to deal with as a kid. I'm sure we'll get to know more about it soon, but it definitely piqued my interest.
I also feel like there's a deeper history between Theo and Christian. I hope we'll get to learn more about that too soon 👀
I'm really enjoying it so far||

[loud acorn]

...I overlooked this but this is such a VALID PONT

[deft atlas]

I just purchased the book… so here I go!
🏥 feel like I remember seeing it advertised EVERYWHERE and the cover creeping me out lol
🚑 I hope it has a lot of shocking twist and turns

[foggy isle]

Part 2; chapters 3&4
||The animosity between Christian and Theo is super weird. I'm sure there was an incident at Broadmoor we'll learn about later, but both of them scream toxic masculinity to me 💀 honestly not a fan of most of the male characters so far? I've also been thinking; maybe Theo had something to do with Alicia's incident and is now trying to make up for it by "saving her". It's just a little too much involvement for me for a simple therapist ||

[vestal yoke]

just started this

up to chapter 3: ||wow, so theo has trauma too? didn’t know that. i’m still startled he doesn't think low of alicia,|| (spoilers for ending) ||a lot of foreshadowing if you ask me.||

[vestal yoke]

part 1: i forgot to write so my memory is mixing up a few things but ||theo’s obsession with alicia is a bit concerning. i get why he must find it interesting, since the mystery isn't fully resolved but it's getting a bit too propelled. might be for future references in the plot. why does he keep treating her like she's innocent (unless she is) whereas everyone else despises her and keeps her under heavy supervision? there is a major plot twist, i can feel it.|| the writing is really easy to follow, so that's great. ||he just seems too nice to not be evil, i don't trust or like him (maybe it's just me). excited to see what happens. didn't expect him to have a wife, he just seemed like a loner. the story feels too good to be true. i just think his whole life is a lie lol.||

[foggy isle]

^ lol my thoughts exactly

[vestal yoke]

||theo and christian are acting very strange, i can't decide if it's just usual rivalry or something deeper. ||

[vestal yoke]

||i knew it was too suspicious for her to be so nice, no way someone is that romantic and committed (im not a pessimist i promise )||

[foggy isle]

||The latter I think||

[vestal yoke]

||his perspective is starting to bore me out it's righteous and flat. not surprised his wife cheated on him||

[vestal yoke]

up until part 2 chapter 20: why is this turning into a ||murder mystery|| rather than a thriller? i mean i don't mind but it's annoying considering that ||theo’s main motive is just to get alicia to communicate with him. all the leads he’s discovered are very suspicious, none of them act innocent or normal.|| i’m suspecting something much bigger, something that connects all of them (or none) is at play here. there's so much ||drama and trauma in alicia’s life, it seems almost unrealistic for one person to have that much going on with them. kathy (if that's how you spell her name) is cheating because apparently she wants something more exciting, can't blame her. their daily routines seem boring, even to me. i wonder if she's cheating with tony. i wonder if theo is going to follow her. i have a feeling he’s going to do something stupid.||

[vestal yoke]

right? why is ||he so invested? and i get you're interested in an unsolved case, but going as far as to contacting everyone she knew|| is just unbelievable.

[vestal yoke]

this annoys me too. ||why is he mentioning his own wife cheating on him? it's not even that interesting. honestly if the story doesn't start focusing on alicia, who is actually the main character, imma starting to lose interest. christian and theo’s rivalry is so stupid, and its not even entertaining. none of the characters have any depth, they're just on-the-surface, if that makes sense. how is this a thriller???||

i am starting to see why zander wrote 3 whole essays on how much he hates this book

also this book is surprisingly short

i don't really have a current theory, but i feel like all the characters ||theo has interviewed so far are utterly useless to what happened on the actual night of the murder. i think it's involves theo too, but i’m not really sure. also have a feeling gabriel is not as nice as he seems. and max tried to harass alicia? how is her life so messed up???||

i was playing the audiobook at 1x speed and it said i had 7 more hours, but as soon as i put it on 1.2x i could suddenly finish it in under 3 hours

[hollow edge]

the audiobook math is impeccable, you gotta love it

[hollow edge]

FRRRR ||I will say it gets... a little better? idk you'll see LOL. ND IM SO GLAD YOU AGREE ABOUT THEO ND CHRISTIANS RIVALRY ITS SO DUMB he's genuinely comically evil to the point I was laughing at how stupid he sounded.... like in a psychiatric unit, you're tryna work together to help your patients, grow up||

[vestal yoke]

||you sound so skeptical about it getting better there better be a point to this rivalry because it’s so stupid and childish i just want them to man up already ||

[hollow edge]

|| no comment also I won't say anything about the rivalry because i want someone else to finish this book nd absolutely hate it with me ||

[vestal yoke]

||this is slowly turning into the silent patient hate club ||

[hollow edge]

||I mean you can see why how this has like 4.5 on goodreads is beyond me||

[vestal yoke]

up until part 2 chapter 25: why is literally no one in ||alicia’s life normal?|| it's honestly annoying at this point. the only thing going for me in this book is because it fits in one of the categories in winter bingo. what is up with everyone ||having a crush on alicia? i am curious why she isn't speaking, and at the many references to greek mythology||. i still do not enjoy this book.

[vestal yoke]

||i might have to join the hate club soon ||

chapter 27: ||jean felix is so annoying and flat. also theo is now seduced? why is christian so boring??? where is the drama??? this story is about theo’s life. no one can convince me otherwise. what's up with his wife? why is this turning into a mystery??? trust your wife, man.||

the only reason i haven't dropped this book is to see everyone rage at it

[foggy isle]

LMAOO

So valid

I need to continue tomorrow omw to work

[hollow edge]

HAHAHAHA MOOOOD i shit you not thats literally why i finished it too

[vestal yoke]

why is your rage so motivating

[hollow edge]

id say "youre welcome" but idk if finishing this book is a good thing

actually no it is because im looking forward to hearing your thoughts about the twist nd the ending HAHAHAHA

[vestal yoke]

im just here to hear you be your inner demons most entertaining br so far

[hollow edge]

my inner demons absolutely won with this one, it was pure 4am rage im so glad someone else is also mad at this book nd its not just me going demon mode HAHAHA

[vestal yoke]

im so excited to finish this just to feel something

[hollow edge]

LMFAOOOO

[vestal yoke]

i finished part 3 and almost done with the book

it seems i’ll stay up until 1 when i finish it

until part 3: i am now convinced this book could be made into a sitcom. ||not everyone just saying he's in love with her, while his wife is cheating on him with someone else.|| how is that relevant to the plot (i think it is, but if it isn't). ||when barbie was introduced, i died. “where is the manager” like could you be any more of a white karen???|| the characters feel really flat, and the plot twists are good, but it all goes to shame with how none of them really have a personality. ||i wonder if the strange man alicia saw was actually a real person. christian is so not evil, he is portrayed to be, but the man is just so dead on the inside.|| all the characters are just hollow shells made for the sake of the plot.|| i swear alicia wasn't even in half of the chapters. ||

[vestal yoke]

this is so true. ||her diary entries feel too much like her actual thoughts in real-time to feel natural. and why is theo acting like an fbi agent? just try to talk to her instead of writing an entire biography man. ||

[vestal yoke]

||the framing point is so genuine, the author is clearly trying to mislead the readers into thinking something big and dramatic happens. it annoys me too how he's acting like a cop instead of actually trying to talk to alicia ||

[vestal yoke]

that’s a plausible theory, but frankly, i don't trust the author and think all of these intricate characters and details are useless to what happened ||that night||. i’m just imagining how angry i’ll be if it's a really stupid reason for ||murder|| (if it really is that).

[vestal yoke]

||I AM WAITING FOR SOMETHING INTERESTING TO HAPPEN, please dear plot, JUST PICK UP. I’M LOSING MY MIND IT’S SO BORING ||

the demon inside me is waking the more i write

[vestal yoke]

OK OK OK HOLD UP

IT’S 3 IN THE NIGHT

AND THIS BOOK IS TRIGGERING ME

part 4 chapter 14: ||it annoys me that she started talking like it was no big deal. it didn't seem astonishing at all. and the fact that no one’s really acting stupefied is also irritating. ||straightforwardly, i’m starting to lose interest in the actual story too. this book is killing my soul.

||ALSO SHE JUST MAKES UP AN ENTIRE STORY? I’M SO CONFUSED. why is she making up an entire story, gurl no one cares. what was up with that useless story, it served absolutely no purpose other than to point out she was a) highly delusional or b) very bad at lying to get her way||

[molten oxide]

[vestal yoke]

OK ALMOST DONE

up until chapter 18 part 4: ||so now someone tried to poison her? boohoo. if its christian i will actually sue alicia.|| i need to know what happens next though, but my expectations are too high, i just know it. ||why is theo’s love life still on focus? unless it has something to do with the murder.||

42 minutes left, looks like imma finish this at 4 too

[molten oxide]

honestly now I just want to know your final thoughts

I'm invested

[vestal yoke]

chapter 19: ||ok so that guy is dealing drugs now, and led theo astray to (i think) kill alicia? ||this got interesting when the chapter ended and i realised it was a ||hoax||. why is this turning into a ||crime mystery???|| im just confused all the time

[vestal yoke]

same, i need to know what this book will do to me

[molten oxide]

I'll tell you how it made me feel once you finish

[vestal yoke]

also, my audiobook apparently includes an interview with the author

[molten oxide]

https://tenor.com/view/the-office-jim-wtf-what-gif-21922725

[vestal yoke]

chapter 20: ||if max had been shown to be caring towards alicia, to loving her and being gentle towards her,|| this book would’ve been more interesting. ||instead, he's only shown to care when alicia is in mortal danger (it's sweet, but unexpected)||

im scared to finish it

ALSO ||THEO TRIED TO KILL SOMEOME||? IS THIS FORESHADOWING?

WAIT WAIT HOL UP

@molten oxide IS ||THIS IN DIFFERENT TIME FRAMES? IS THEO THE KILLER? WHAT IS GOING ON||

IT SOUNDS STUPID BUT THE ||PERSPECTIVE DOESN’T FIT IN OTHERWISE||

OMG

WHATTTT

[molten oxide]

https://tenor.com/view/well-gabriel-jon-hamm-good-omens-what-now-gif-15689094505220012249

[vestal yoke]

ALMOST OVER

JUST STARTED PART 5

I’M GONNA BLOW UP

[vestal yoke]

I FINISHED IT

OMG I DID IT AT 4 TOO

[vestal yoke]

||RIGHT? IT’S THE KIND OF PLOT YOU CAN’T GUESS, BUT IT FEELS SO BADLY DONE WHEN IT DOES MAKE SENSE.|| i want my night back

[vestal yoke]

||THIS IS SO TRUE, WHY WOULD EVERYONE CALL HER INSANE? THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO HELP HER NOT GOSSIP ABOUT HOW PSYCHO SHE IS||. i could feel my mental health getting worse during this whole book, the representation is ominous

[vestal yoke]

||I AM SO PISSED ABOUT ALL THE RED HERRINGS. NOT ONLY DO THEY NOT ADD TO THE ACTUAL PLOT, BUT THERE WAS NO EXPLANATION FOR THEM??? I KNEW THESE CHARACTERS WOULD BE USELESS I CALLED IT||

[hollow edge]

LITERALLYYYYYYYYYYYYY

[vestal yoke]

||poor stephanie. and jean-paul had no personality whatsoever. what was up with christian like why my dude, why???||

[hollow edge]

TWINS HAHAHAHAHA IT MAKES IT SO MUCH MORE UNHINGED LMAOOO

[vestal yoke]

||I SWEAR I’M GOING TO SHOOT SOMEONE IN THE HEAD FIVE TIMES TOO||

[hollow edge]

DUDE LITERALLY ||when you were saying about hoping there was a point to his rivalry with christian i was just sat there like "dont say anything, dont tell her, dont spoil it, but also like i could save her the pain" ||

[vestal yoke]

||this whole time, theo was the villain. i get how that's really cool, with him being the narrator, but his personality points made him a really plat character overall capable of doing anything and it just didn't matter in the end. the red herrings were so confusing, and i just knew they had no real purpose in the plot, and that got me more annoyed at every character ||

[vestal yoke]

NOOO I GET IT NOW, so bloody stupid

[hollow edge]

99.9% of those parts in the book genuinely made me want to throw my kindle out a window, it destroyed my mental health too HAHAHAHHAHA

[hollow edge]

you wouldnt think they were both like... middle aged? i think?

[vestal yoke]

I LISTENED TO THIS AT 3AM I DESERVE A REFUND

[hollow edge]

LMFAOOOOOOO LITERALLY

[vestal yoke]

he was 42-

||why were they acting like high school rivals???||

[hollow edge]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA AUDIOBOOK COMPANIES GET ON IT!!!! i also want a refund for my time from reading this book, i couldve been like. actually doing my uni work. or like pulling my teeth out with pliers

[vestal yoke]

and then the audiobook continues with the author saying how much inspo he got from real life for all the characters

I DIED

[hollow edge]

LITERALLY ||at the big age of like 40, youd think christian would be over acting like fucking regina george||

[hollow edge]

BYEEEEEEE THERES NO WAY HE DID i dont wanna know what kind of people he knows LMAOOO like are all his friends cardboard cut outs or smth

[vestal yoke]

honestly listening to ||jean-whatever|| with the narrator’s fake ||french|| accent at 1.8x speed was so mind-blowing

[hollow edge]

LMFAOOOOOOOO NAHHH that wouldve been my final straw i think HAHAHAHHA

[vestal yoke]

STAWP i’m cackling at 4 in the morning like a borderline

[vestal yoke]

i just wanted to get the book over with and listening to 1.8x was my best shot not worth it

[hollow edge]

this book genuinely felt like everyone was just ||rip offs of mean girls characters like everyone is so fake nd two faced nd like. be fucking fr i know sometimes youre in a bad place nd you have a lot of shitty friends nd a lot of the people around you are kind shit but this is just over the top for the sake of it HAHHAHA||

[hollow edge]

IM DEADDDDDDD HAHAHAHAHAHA

||everytime christian said "borderlines are seductive" i was just like damn why do i get no bitches then?!? i need to step up my borderline game|| if i dont laugh at it ill cry HAHAHA

[vestal yoke]

I SNORTED SO LOUD WTHH

IT WAS SO WEIRD HOW EVERYONE WAS USING THE WORD ||‘SEDUCE’||

[hollow edge]

LITERALLY TOO LMFAOOO LIKE JUST TALK LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE

referring to ||sex as "making love" killed me a lot too, personally i think thats the worst way to say that someones having sex, like just say they fucked in the woods, please ||

[vestal yoke]

i was hearing it at 1.8x and i completely missed that part until he started talking about the ||noises they made and i was so confused, like weren't they just kissing in the open a few seconds ago||

i can't believe i’m having this conversation at 4am, my life is so ||seductive||

[hollow edge]

LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOO

what a ||seductive|| life

[vestal yoke]

[hollow edge]

reading shitshow books like this at 4am, living the dream

[vestal yoke]

i’d give the book a 2.5/5, but a 5/5 experience

[hollow edge]

if it makes you feel any better, i was reading it like. regularly nd i was confused LMAOOO ||they went SO FAST! also the fact they just. made out in the fucking street is insane to me, like yeah its later on in the evening but its only like 8pm, its not like 2am or smth. like just get a room dude jesus LMAOOO||

[hollow edge]

that is so real HAHAHAHA i regretted reading it before but now im glad i did just because i like laughing at it

[vestal yoke]

||onlookers would be so truamtised||

[vestal yoke]

laughing at a thriller at 5 what has my life succumbed to?

[hollow edge]

welcome to hell, we have fun here sometimes

at this point i keep reading tiktok books that i dont think ill like just because theres a chance ill laugh about it like this

[vestal yoke]

||“oh she killed her husband”
THAT’S SO FUNNY, WHY IS IT SO FUNNY?||

[hollow edge]

FRRRRRRR LIKE IT SHOULDNT BE BUT ALSO LIKE IT IS

[loud acorn]

This drove me nuts too! ||She didn't have ONE REGULAR PERSON TO TALK TO? Like I get it, she was surrounded by artists and people in that circle but not a single normal person she could like...have a coffee with? Literally everyone she was surrounded by was mentally ill or an eccentric, so unrealistic.||

The fucked up part is that TikTok books occasionally have a real gem in them but more often than not its overhyped garbage.

I'm standing by Madeline Miller but that's probably it

[vestal yoke]

exactly, ||why was no one in her life normal? everyone was either wrongly attracted to her and tended to assault her or they acted like complete lunatics.|| it was so unrealistic and didn't make sense at all.

[vestal yoke]

she is amazing honestly this br was fun only because i cackled like a demon at 4am

[molten oxide]

honestly I am living for these reactions

[vestal yoke]

im glad someone is enjoying it, i feel like a lunatic raging

i changed my mind and now give this book a 2.1/5

[molten oxide]

Why the 0.1?

[vestal yoke]

well i gave it a 2.5 before but that felt too much; 2 felt too little so the additional 0.1

[vestal yoke]

OMG I FELT THE SAME WAY ABOUT THE ||INJECTED DOSE, how did she have enough time to write an entire story the diary entries always felt too much like her views on the spot to be considered journaling. theo’s character really ruined this book for me too, because not only is he bland, his admittance of the crime was so anti-climactic that it didn't even make sense. in the end, he comes to terms with the fact that he's evil, and i wished he wouldn't because at least acting like a psychopath would give him a personality of some sorts. ||

[vestal yoke]

the author focus the entire latter half on the ||relations of alicia and how they all were guilty and obnoxious in some way. the fact that they payed absolutely no relevance to the plot at all was so bothersome because if you're not going to include these characters in the murder, at least finish off their respective stories and tie up the loose ends instead of forgetting about them entirely in the end. ||

not me just writing entire essays on how much i dislike this book im sorry to whoever actually liked this book

[vestal yoke]

i agree with you for the references to ||greek mythology||, but the issue is that it takes note of the connection once and forgets all about it. it's one of the many ||loose ends the author leaves|| in the book. i generally would’ve enjoyed the different ||time periods the story was taking place in, but theo’s viewpoint is so dull i just wanted him|| to move on with the story.
you're right about the ||red herrings too. it's irksome how everyone was left off the hook as soon as theo admitted to be the culprit. everyone in alicia’s life was a criminal of sorts. EVERYONE||. i’m still wondering what happened to ||christian after theo was captured. i get the whole ‘trying to be subtle’|| thing but this is not the way to do it. you don't just create ||toxic, unhinged characters|| and leave them be. i need an ending. a proper one.
||even from alicia’s entries about how they always slept through the arguments and bad times, i could tell something was wrong with their marriage because no couple ||(i think?) ||sleeps that often just to make up for horrid arguments. gabriel also seemed like a jerk in my opinion, and the way she worshipped him (perhaps literally) proved how messed up their relationship was.
the grove deserved to be close. who the hell injects a horse’s dose into a human? and there's so many fights and security risks, why not just keep alicia and that one other girl (can't remember name) apart? ALSO THEY WERE DEALING DRUGS IN THERE, A STAFF MEMBER AND PATIENT.|| IS NO ONE GOING TO MENTION THAT?
||the twist was good, but i think the author was hoping the twist would be so overpowering it wouldn't matter how the rest of the book went. i really liked the ‘histiry repeating itself’ concept|| but alas.

also you mentioned you'd give it a 2-3 stars. out of 5 or 10?

[vestal yoke]

yesss ||when he was describing how his wife had gained weight, i felt so furious. not only is theo the blandest man alive, he's also a major creep.|| you're right about the ||diagnosed patients too.|| this book is really inaccurate as not only a thriller, but psychological representation of ||criminals||.

[vestal yoke]

||how alicia manages to write her exact thoughts and dialogues in the diary hours after the incidents happen will forever be beyond my understanding. none of the characters were portrayed to have even the slightest of remorse or empathy, which is so astonishing.||

ok there, now i got over this book

[loud acorn]

5! I usually go by 5 star ratings but in hindsight ita definitely a 2

[vestal yoke]

we all seem to be on the same page in this br then

[frank venture]

The beginning was so good but over 30% in I'm so bored

[vestal yoke]

just play the audiobook at 1.8x speed like me

[frank venture]

I sadly have it as an ebook. 😭 I might actually be able to get through it as an audiobook

[hollow edge]

honestly i feel you so bad there. if it helps i ||skimmed nd barely read the parts to do with theo's wife nd shit.|| it helped me get through it a lot quicker

tbf i skimmed a lot in this book. like i did read it, but a lot of the time, if it was just something unimportant, or i was getting bored, i just kinda scanned my eyes over the page nd kept going lmao

[foggy isle]

Part 2; chapters 5-9
||not really sure what to do with the heartfelt story of how Theo got cheated on and relied on weed during his troublesome years. Maybe Kathy cheating on him is karma in some way?? 😭😭 Sounds mean maybe, but I really don't like the guy so far. I thought it was super sweet that Ruth was still there for him after all those years though. Overall I feel like we're not really progressing with Alicia's storyline at all (up to this point) because I'm like 32% in and it's still ????||

[hollow edge]

welcome to the struggles of this book lmaoo

||theo is such an unlikable character but i genuinely think hes meant to be likeable which is just kinda unfortunate for the author lmao||

[vestal yoke]

||when the main character isn't the main character theo is the lamest guy i know||

[foggy isle]

Yepppp

[frank venture]

so true

I finally progressed to 60% but it only worked because I started skimming lmao but || I genuinely can't stand most people in this book??||

[vestal yoke]

are you referring to the ||menagerie of characters that theo (who himself is also very irksome) interviews?|| if so, then ME TOO

can't wait for everyone in this br to finish

[frank venture]

yes! like is there || anyone in Alicia's life who wasn't terrible? ngl i'm kinda worried a twist is coming up at the end that I won't like ||

[vestal yoke]

you wont believe it but i said the exact same thing about ||alicia’s choice in humans, why is no one mentally ok?|| the twist at the end is good, in a way, but it wasn't exactly conducted nicely. it'll take a while to get over

[hollow edge]

i wont comment on the twist HAHAHAHA but 100% agree ||99.9% of the characters in this book are fucking awful||

[ionic nebula]

🏥 never heard of it. i got it off BOTM box lol
🚑 i have none. i havent even read the back i have no idea what this is about . all i know its a mystery. literally lol

sorry for ping 😔

i wish i could turn it off and keep it off

[foggy isle]

Part 2; chapters 10-13
||Finally some good fucking ACTION. I like that we learn more about Gabriel's and Alicia's relationship and Max is wild 💀 I didn't expect that, bur now I believe he's definitely involved somehow. He lied to Theo (duh) and I'm honestly excited that something is happening finally - like 40% in 💀||

Probably forgot some parts lmao

[vestal yoke]

not you just waiting for the book to start booking it keeps you on your toes, desperate for more, doesn't it

[foggy isle]

I was a bit before but now I'm hoping it'll start picking up

[vestal yoke]

||you’ll keep hoping until the end||

[foggy isle]

[frank venture]

I finally finished it yesterday because I wanted to be done with it. It did grip my attention for a while the last 30% so I breezed through it but || I hated the twist with everything in me. So much so that I'll never read anything be the author again. No whole thing was so non-sensical because it produces so many plotholes. How was Alicia able to keep her diary? If she had it on her then the police would have taken it in as evidence and if they didn't then how would it get to her if she doesn't speak so she can't anyone to ask them to bring it to her! It lets the whole thing unravel. Plus every character in this book sucked. Theo especially can eat rocks. He can't just kick them. || One more book done on my TBR though.

Oh and || what was the point of Max SA'ing Alicia, Jean-Felix being a possessive ahole and every other bad character in the book? Like nothing came out of it ||

[vestal yoke]

YESSS join the hate club the part about the ||diary too, because it just doesn't fit in with how closely monitored alicia is. why would the police let her go with the most incredible evidence? ||

[vestal yoke]

the author just adding ||random|| characters and ||forgetting about|| them

[frank venture]

Finally catching up on all the convos her and literally this. || How is Alicia described as charming, loveable etc etc and yet she doesn't have a single genuine friend and people treat her like shit?? make it make sense ||

[frank venture]

exactly!! and also || alicia writing down the events of the man (Theo) standing outside her window until he broke in, like if she wrote that down while it was happening he would've seen the diary and snatched it up. i mean??? ||

[frank venture]

definitely couldn't be bothered and || just wanted to throw red herrings in there because who cares if it makes sense right ||

I honestly liked my theory more || that Gabriel was actually the guy stalking Alicia, trying to scare her because he was sick of her or something (the cheating would still fit in there then) and wanted to mess with her head (hence also sending her to a psychiatrist he was controlling) and that's why she eventually killed him bc the person she loved betrayed her ||

[vestal yoke]

||from her childhood to being admitted to the grove (even there theo the psycho was present), not one normal person, what is this messed up reality ||

[vestal yoke]

i was waiting for ||everyone’s stories to have an ending|| but the author was just too busy writing a ||flat character|| to bother with the more interesting aspects of the book

[vestal yoke]

that's actually so much more interesting why is this book so hyped

[finite panther]

that's actually so
much more interesting why
is this book so hyped

- chico234

[vestal yoke]

thanku haikubot

[frank venture]

yeah. || like why was theo so boring and the fact that he couldn't even confront kathy and would rather they both be miserable?? theo my dude, get a grip on yourself. ||

[vestal yoke]

and ||he didn't even break up with kathy and instead goes on to comment on how she had gained some weight. he's a condescending coward and a prick. he finds out his wife is cheating on him, so he goes on to kill the guy and traumatise his wife.|| i get how the plot is nice but if ||theo just had an actual personality||, it would be nicely executed too

don't think i’ll ever get over this book lol

[ionic nebula]

ch2 ||bro said "i can fix her"||

[vestal yoke]

||and he continues to say that throughout the book ||

[ionic nebula]

ch10 ||bruh theo left his mom to his abusive dad??||

part2ch3 ||from 16 mg to 5? im not a doctor but that sounds like a terrible idea. i thought theyd go down 2 mg at a time or sum ||

part2ch5 ||christian u lowered her dose by ELEVEN MG of course she isnt reacting well bruh||

part2ch6 ||once a cheater always a cheater||

part2ch8 ||oooh that co dependacy that theo has on kathy is... ||

[vestal yoke]

this is also one of the problematic, unrealistic aspects of the book

[foggy isle]

Part 2 chapter 15
||this guy's too far gone jesus fucking Christ. Hes so obsessed ||

[frank venture]

when you take into account || that the author studied psychotherapy and worked in a psychiatric unit for a bit that's honestly terrifying because what on earth did he learn ||

[ionic nebula]

part2ch13 ||hmmm the way alicia's diary in written in this one makes me think shes lying here|| ||also i dont like gabriels sudden change of heart lol it feels weird||

[vestal yoke]

what i did not know that

man, this makes the book more weird, considering the messed up ||psychiatric unit|| in the book

[frank venture]

and i read in an interview today that the author's sister is a psychiatrist. it's wild

[ionic nebula]

part4ch5 ||the fucked in the woods? on the dirt??||

[hollow edge]

LITERALLY ||as someone on a lot of mh meds, this aspect pissed me off soooo much because its just like yeah no shit christian when you fuck with psychological meds, theres gonna be psychological effects dipshit||

[hollow edge]

if his sister is a psychiatrist, i wouldnt wish her on my worst enemy because jesus christ

[hollow edge]

WHATTTTTTTTT ||im so sorry to his patients what the helllll ||

[ionic nebula]

Part5ch1 ||I fucking hate cheaters but shooting them 5 times in the face is a little much. Just slash his tires like a normal person damn||

Finished

||im disappointed that this is another "actually the main chara is the murderer oooooo" like I haven't read that 17 times already||

[vestal yoke]

it's even more surprising considering how ||boring theo normally is and then suddenly he's a psycho||

[vestal yoke]

i wonder what the hell his sister taught him to make the book turn out like that

[hollow edge]

dude literally I think what worries me is that she isn't a forensic psychiatrist, she's just a regular one which is probably why ||the Grove is such a shit show nd why they're so weirdly trusting of these literal criminals|| because his sister doesn't actually know about that field specifically

[vestal yoke]

the fact that ||it puts so much trust into two people who’ve fought multiple times and that the staff are dealing drugs to the patients|| the author must’ve seen some real ugliness to write this book

[hollow edge]

I wanna know where his sister/he worked so I can avoid it like the PLAGUE

[ionic nebula]

ALSO ||what happened to the whole Yuri dealing drugs to elif||

[vestal yoke]

I MENTIONED THAT TOO, literally ||criminals roaming free ||

[frank venture]

I think || Theo was the only one who really saw it, right? He's a shitty therapist who only truly cares about himself so as long as he got off scot-free he didn't care unless he could've shifted the blame onto Yuri ||

[hollow edge]

I think that's one of my big issues with the book like ||the lack of realism within The Grove, like Elif is a convicted double murderer, Alicia is also a convinced murderer, nd while we don't know about the other patients, to end up somewhere like that with Alicia nd Elif they've also got to have done something pretty fucked up SO WHY CAN THEY ALL JUST FUCKIN ROAM FREE!!!! THERES NO SECURITY SO WHY IS ANYONE SURPRISED THAT ALICIA STABBED ELIF IN THE EYE ND THEN WHEN ALICIA ALSO TRIED TO KILL THEO LIKE????? HUH???? also why tf would they leave theo alone in the room with Alicia. like at any time. not just at the end, but also just in their sessions. that is an accident waiting to happen, nd then they're surprised when someone dies or someone tries to kill someone else||

[vestal yoke]

RIGHT? at least ||separate elif and alicia AND USE THE SECURITY CAMERAS, they were invented for a reason. to think all of this could be prevented if people had security cameras (not only talking about the grove, but also the street where theo was lurking and alicia’s house, if she was really paranoid)||

[hollow edge]

tbf with ||security cams|| we wouldnt have 99% of the book, but like lets be honest is that a bad thing

i think if your book can be solved with smth as simple as that.... personally i dont think its a good book

[vestal yoke]

tiktok and goodreads would disagree

[hollow edge]

disrespectfully to tiktok, im glad we disagree

[vestal yoke]

what if ||alicia was kathy||

[hollow edge]

https://tenor.com/view/big-brain-markiplier-gif-14835823

[vestal yoke]

and ||she was faking everything because theo would kill her otherwise ||

i can think of a million plot twists that would make the book better

[finite panther]

i can think of a
million plot twists that would
make the book better

- chico234

[hollow edge]

choco youre on some megamind shit rn oml that wouldve been so much more interesting HAHAHAHAH

[vestal yoke]

let's send a strongly worded letter to the author to edit his book

or start a fanfic

[hollow edge]

LMAOO A FANFIC YESS icl im 100% the person who watches a movie/tv show nd when i dont like smth im just like "no screw you i could write this better" so like that would be so fun

[vestal yoke]

me too wonder if there is a fanfic for this book

[hollow edge]

~~considering english is my first language nd i just said "right" instead of "write", maybe i should just stay in my lane ~~

[vestal yoke]

~~i didn't even notice so maybe i should too ~~

found wattpad stories for the silent patient

[hollow edge]

of course its on wattpad i also checked on archive of our own nd didnt find anything which im grateful for at the very least

no hate to people who like wattpad, no one can deny though its not surprising because of wattpads... reputation

[frank venture]

why did || alicia not get any security in general and especially lock her garden door everyone was freely walking into when she was sure she was being stalked?? i mean make sure you're as safe as you can pls ||

and then to || write in her diary while she watched the stalker and narrating it second by second. call the police, a friend, lock yourself in another room to have a barrier, just something! idgi ||

the more i think about this book the worse i gets

[vestal yoke]

omg i completely forgot ||her gate was open|| ||anyone paranoid who doesn't lock their gates deserves to be admitted to the grove||

[vestal yoke]

what was up with the unrealistic ||diary entries? oh, im getting drugged but just one last juicy detail ||

[hollow edge]

LMFAOOO FR TOO ||i think what got me was when theo broke in nd she was like "hold up i gotta write this in my diary rather than call the fuckin police||

[hollow edge]

||this annoyed me SOOO MUCH LIKE. IM NOT BEING FUNNY BUT YOU CANT BE THAT PARANOID IF yOU ARENT DOING THIS BASIC THING LMAOOOOO LIKE????? nd then shes surprised when he breaks in||

on that note too ||she complained about jean paul or whatever his fuckin name was coming in while she was working, but he also got in through that damn gate, sO JUST LOCK IT. SHUT THE GATE. HE CANT GET IN. SIMPLE||

[vestal yoke]

to think i could’ve had my 3 hours of the night if ||SHE JUST ACTED LIKE AN ACTUAL HUMAN BEING||

[vestal yoke]

||WHO THE HELL KEEPS THEIR DOOR OPEN? she's paranoid, but just has to keep her door open ||

[vestal yoke]

oh yeah, ||if you don't want to see him DON’T KEEP THE DOOR OPEN||

[hollow edge]

alicia is comically stupid tbh nd i blame no one but alex michaelides because what the fuck

[fierce horizon]

I think the book should be retitled || "The Patient Who Was Not Silent Enough"||

[foggy isle]

I fell asleep reading it yesterday I have to check where I was

[fast fog]

[foggy isle]

Part 2; 27-31
||Not surprised that Theo went after Kathy to spy on her, but I can't even judge because I don't know what I would do in his place. I hope they sort their shit out though, it's distracting from the main plot 😤 Letting Alicia paint was great until it wasn't it seems like lol
I'm at like 62% and somehow I still don't know shit??? Only that her gallerist is creepy and she allegedly was afraid of someone other than her husband. Maybe Jean-Felix? Who knows, not me because I don't know ANYTHING ||

[vestal yoke]

not me just waiting for everyone to finish the book and get a big blow-up like i did

[fierce horizon]

After I finished the book I wondered who was crazier, the author or I.

[foggy isle]

LOL

[vestal yoke]

i started to doubt reality itself

[boreal token]

Starting this tomorrow!!

[foggy isle]

Part 2; chapters 32-34
||I don't even feel bad for Theo, he probably needs to be kept away from Alicia for both their sakes. He's just annoying me; all this "now I can't help her anymore :(" fuck off lmaooo
At least he gets to read her diary now 👀||

[foggy isle]

Part 3
||Now I'm just wondering if both Alicia and Gabriel are crazy? He's clearly trying to gaslight her into thinking she's imagining the man, but then again, her behavior is so erratic and obsessive that it does seem like she might be imagining it. Or maybe that's what the author wants us to believe? Gabriel scheming together with Max and Jean-Felix to make Alicia seem crazy and then stage his death? Or the death is the staging gone wrong lol||

[hollow edge]

HAHAHAH THATS SUCH A MOOD-

[boreal token]

Part 1 Ch 1-5 || very basic set up so far of murder most foul. I’m excited that this will have a psychiatric focus, and don’t know why, but I wasn’t expecting the main POV to be the therapist. Shady motivations for taking the job, and a bit of a hero complex going in. I suspect Theo of being an unreliable narrator, even tho he had already shared experiences of his personal trauma. So far the facility is what I would expect. Very multicultural group of characters. I really want Alicia to out-psyche them all||

[boreal token]

Part 1 Ch 8 || woah, her lawyer was her victim’s brother? Conflict of interest much? But he did get her an insanity plea. Sooo? Hm. || In the UK are you innocent until proven guilty? Or do you have your prove innocence?

Also ||I’m wondering if the bleakness and disrepair of the building is symbolic? He seems to be quite good at manipulating people to get what he wants||

[boreal token]

Part 1 Ch 10 || hmmm. Relationships that begin in lust are not very stable in my experience. I don’t trust his description of her at all. No one is all good or all bad, but he can’t seem to admit her shortcomings (at least not yet). He seems to fixate on people, in a maybe not great way? So many Greek references tho even Diomedes leading the staff||

Oh, the chapter numbers refresh :/

[boreal token]

Part 2 ch 1 || yay, her diary is back! Interesting that she had to point out he wasn’t her savior, when my first thought about the painting was that he was a sacrifice. Also, whenever I read about problematic parenting, I feel so much better about myself, and I want my kids to read it for comparison lol||

[boreal token]

Ok. Names.
||Dio = of Zeus / Diomedes = god-like cunning (Greek)
Christian = follower of Christ (Greek)
Theo = God (Greek)
Catherine/ Kathryn = pure (Greek)
Stephanie = crown (Greek) also name of the first Christian martyr
Elif = slender, upright (Turkish derived from Alif - first letter of Hebrew alphabet)
Yuri = Light of God (Hebrew)
Gabriel = Hero of God (Hebrew).
Ruth = Friend (Hebrew).
Jean/John = Graced by God (Hebrew)
Felix = Lucky (Latin)
Indira = alternative name of Hindu Goddess Lakshmi
Alicia = noble (Latin).
Beren = strong, clever (Turkish)||
I sense a theme

[boreal token]

Part 2 ch 6 || Kathy’s unfaithful? Shocking. I knew that wasn’t going to last lol. Also, I don’t like Theo much at all||

Part 2 ch 8 || why am I suddenly so nervous for Ruth? ||

[boreal token]

Part 2 ch 21 || now I want to see the play Alcestis. Also, pretty interesting stuff with Jean-Felix; this story is very compelling! Don’t really like any of the characters yet, except maybe Ruth lol||

[boreal token]

Part 2 ch 22 diary || I love that we get a peek at the characters through Theo’s pov, and then a diary entry to see Alicia’s experience. It reminds me of Gone Girl which makes me not trust any of it ||

[boreal token]

Idk why but I thought this author was a woman until I just checked his author page on GR; some things make more sense now lmao

[boreal token]

Part 2 ch 31 || she stabbed her in the eye? Hardcore||

End part 2 || I wonder if he’s gonna break her out of the facility ||

Omg! I just had a thought ||what if the dude watching Alicia’s house is Theo? He seems obsessed enough||

[boreal token]

This author uses scent description more than most authors do. It’s interesting because scent is so often tied to memory

Part 3 || could be factual, could be delusional, not sure whose side to be on at this point||

[vestal yoke]

||literally no one likes theo ||

[boreal token]

||He’s really not very likable is he? Interesting choice to have an unsympathetic mc narrating the story||

Part 4 ch 1 || Christian. No wonder he was keeping her so sedated||

[boreal token]

Part 4 ch 3 || what if Alicia killed both her parents too? ||

[boreal token]

Part 4 ch 8 || parents just suck sometimes 😔 ||

[boreal token]

Part 4 ch 14 I’m running with this … |||what if Gabriel was having the affair with Kathy? And the timelines are not linear? And Theo is the murderer!||

[boreal token]

Part 4 ch 17 || and he kills her to shut her up making it look like suicide. I think Christian has been calling Theo “borderline” this whole time||

[boreal token]

Part 4 ch 21. ||OMG I FIGURED IT OUT!!!!||

Part 5 ch 1 || ok, well mostly figured it out. Oof brutal||

[finite panther]

Part 5 ch 1 ||
ok, well mostly figured
it out. Oof brutal||

- lemondrop

[boreal token]

Lmao

[boreal token]

Finished!!

[boreal token]

Ok. I just read through allll of the comments thus far. And while the book was clearly compelling to me since I read it in a day, your thoughts were much more entertaining than the book lol I’ll write final thoughts tomorrow, cuz I personally am not staying up until 4am for the sake of this book

[fast fog]

I enjoyed it an moderate amount tbh, and I can't be bothered to unspoiler the behemoth of a conversation that's ensued since. This BR's discussion kinda taught me I'm not God's strongest soldier when it comes to looking "on the bright side" of books when the majority of reviews are astonishingly negative. I just don't have the patience for it

[main pumice]

So@I@will start this now

[ionic nebula]

I enjoyed it just the ending was disappointing

And if u ignore all the medical ||failures||its fine

[fast fog]

It's not a great book ||from a realistic standpoint||

[main pumice]

Only up to chapter 3: || So she is mentally fucked. Ok I@knew this but why the painting? How is that relevant?||

[foggy isle]

I'm almost done but I might have to do the rest with the summary of the whole book since I don't have as much time

I'm at like... 87%

It's not a bad book by any means, but I wouldn't say I'm enjoying it either

[boreal token]

Final thoughts. || I agree with all of the criticisms you’ve pointed out. There were several red herrings that went nowhere. I’m not as bothered by the flat characters here because I don’t expect much development from thrillers as I do in other genres. Thrillers to me indicate it’s going to be mostly about the plot. And as for the twist… welp. I figured it out except the final piece.

I did like the Greek tragedy inclusion and would have liked more exploration of character done with Alicia’s paintings. Mostly I didn’t like any other characters, and there were convenient/unrealistic plot choices and I think several of you have explained that better than I already.

The aspect that is really poorly handled was the treatment of mental health and addiction (of which there were a few: drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex in the park) and for that the only character that resonated with me was Theo’s therapist Ruth. The facility was so terribly managed, and had shocking reveals like Yuri selling meds to patients, and it going unnoticed for so long. Why did Theo as a therapist even have access to meds and a syringe? Tho I suppose he could have brought them in. Wtf?

I also think diagnostic/therapy terms were tossed around too much without explanation. My husband is rapid-cycling BPD (with a few other conditions too), and has spent time on a ward. He would HATE this book with a fiery passion and would find it to be misleading to everyone. There’s enough stigma around mental health issues, and authors really don’t need to muddy the water with lousy professional representation smh

This is not a genre that I read often, but I’m glad that I read it with all of you!||

[main pumice]

Now I feel@many people are saying it isn’t good so I@am almost scared to@keep reading

[hollow edge]

ykw now you mention about ||the flat characters thing|| that has changed my mind a little on that issue, because youre right there. i think with the focus on ||characters nd relationships though, the author maybe shouldve maybe done more, but i do agree it isnt as big of a thing considering in thrillers its usually more about the plot||

[hollow edge]

i dont blame you tbh! if youre enjoying it so far, id say keep going but if you feel like you resonate with some of the points made then dont force yourself to read it!

[main pumice]

I mean so far it is neutral but not bad so I will keep reading

[finite panther]

I mean so far it
is neutral but not bad so
I will keep reading

- littlesuperme

[boreal token]

Keep reading the book, then read the commentary

[boreal token]

I really like it ||when there’s strong character development too. Sadly not all mystery/thriller authors are created equal lol||

[hollow edge]

Good idea!!! life's too short to read books you don't like, so don't let us sway you lol

[hollow edge]

lmao fr! ||sadly this one didn't have that though, I think it would've been really cool if there had been, like maybe Christian coming to respect theo nd vice versa but sadly not lmao||

[vestal yoke]

||maybe an enemies to friends to lovers ||

[main pumice]

Plus since I don’t hate it I will Finnish it

[hollow edge]

||if we wrote a fanfic rewriting the book, i think we should make them gay theyre both assholes nd clearly bad at their jobs nd misogynistic, theyre made for each other. itll keep em away from the rest of us too ||

[low umbra]

I started this

The ||descriptions of the abuse Theo experienced as a child are not fun to experience tbh||

Chapter 4: ||It is a little bit weird that he's got a new job mainly to try and crack the case of 'the silent patient' but you do you bro.||

Chapter 5: ||Genuinely terrifying that Alicia is on so many different drugs to make her docile and that she barely seems to be conscious. It just doesn't feel right to do that to another person.||

Chapter 6: ||Yes, call him out on how his whole plan seems very 'male saviour'. This guy is so obvious so it doesn't shock me that his plan is transparent to other people from the word go.||

Chapter 7:
Theo: ||Knows Alicia is super drugged up.||
Also Theo: ||But why isn't she acknowledging me? ||

[vestal yoke]

||there's enemies to lovers, a psychologically ill patient high on drugs, a drug-dealing hospital with staff dealing said drugs — what more could you want in a book? we have created the perfect fanfic||

[vestal yoke]

||he's so pathetic and clingy|| you'll finish this book in an hour won't you

[low umbra]

Chapter 8: How this guy thinks he can relate to a woman: ||I'm married but I hate my wife.|| PLEASE why are men like this?

[low umbra]

give me 2 hours 👀

[main pumice]

I thought the exact same. Exept a little darker

[low umbra]

Sorry but I do not care for this man's personal life

[frank venture]

I started skimming those parts and it helped so much tbh

[low umbra]

I'd much rather have more of the main plot than ||the mmc wondering if his wife is cheating on him.||

[low umbra]

I'm not sure if I like that ||we're seeing Alicia through Theo's eyes and that he's essentially the main character. I might be enjoying this a bit more if he wasn't the mc||

The way I'm on chapter 34 and have barely given any thoughts

[main pumice]

Honestly || The book is just ‘flying’ by but I feel there is like@nothing really interesting ||

[low umbra]

That's exactly how I feel too

The way there's Jean-Felix but I've been hearing it as Joao Felix and thinking of this guy

https://tenor.com/view/joao-felix-shooting-cause-he-pro-gif-26086440

[boreal token]

I was surprised that he was the mc too

[low umbra]

Okay so I finished this last night and then basically fell asleep. Sorry to say but this was just very boring to me. ||I still don't get why Theo was so obsessed with Alicia. The way the entire thing is posited as a mystery but he basically knows exactly what happened because he was the cause of it.
I don't know if it's because Kathy was cheating with Gabriel but you'd expect him to be sympathetic to someone else who was wronged in this situation, not give the affair partner a choice of whether him or his wife dies. Theo's motivations didn't make much sense to me sometimes but I'm guessing the author is just like 'well he's mentally ill so he doesn't need to make sense'. I'm not sure. Also the whole unreliable narrator aspect; he might think that on the night of the murder he couldn't be identified because he had a mask on but what if he thought his disguise was good but to other people it wasn't and that's how Alicia ended up identifying him.
I get him wanting to silence Alicia if he thinks she's going to expose all his crimes, but I don't get why he did them in the first place. I got creepy vibes off him from the beginning so it adds up character-wise that he stalked multiple people but I still don't understand why he did a lot of things. That's just who he is? Childhood trauma? I think that's one of the reasons why I couldn't really get into the book because I didn't understand or like the mc. I suppose there'd be no book if he didn't go to The Grove and try to 'fix' Alicia but he could've easily just...left it alone.||

Anyway I rated this 2/5 stars

[low umbra]

||Maybe I would actually read this version of the book and enjoy it more ||

[low umbra]

I totally agree with this ||and it definitely felt like some aspects of mental health in it were somewhat sensationalised for drama or just completely ignored/not given focus at all. The fact that multiple staff members were either overstepping boundaries or breaking the law and they did absolutely nothing about it. The Grove shouldn't have even been open in the first place.||

[vestal yoke]

||time for a fanfic ||

[foggy isle]

I finished it

||I knew Theo was fucked up from the beginning and I don't think this was entirely unexpected, but it did feel predictable and a bit over the top. I didn't expect Gabriel to be Kathy's lover, but I guess it figures with the whole "I need to save Alicia" vibe. I'm glad that Theo was (seemingly?) brought to justice in the end; I think I'd be feeling a lot worse about the book if he hadn't. It wasn't a bad book overall and I enjoyed some of it, but I think I'd rate it a solid 2/5 stars. The main characters are entirely unlikeable imo and Theo is (even before you read the ending) just a pick-me guy you wanna punch in the face 😭
I get now why there were so many chapters about Theo's and Kathy's relationship, but they could have shortened that by a lot because only a fraction of it is relevant for the story in the end. I guess maybe the author wanted to make Theo look like a poor guy whose wife is cheating on him and he has it rough at work too. Well I hate the guy lol and aside from Indira there wasn't really a character that I genuinely liked. They didn't feel fleshed out and important enough for me to even care more deeply. Would I recommend the book? Honestly no, but I'm glad I read it anyway||

[vestal yoke]

||omg you're right, during the chapters about his wife, he felt like such a pick-me guy. i think i would’ve liked the book more if the chapters about his wife were shortened, because i thought they were irrelevant to the plot and didn't care much for them. ||

||i think this book would be better overall if it was just alicia’s diary through the years, and not anyone’s perspective||

[foggy isle]

||Yeah that would have been an interesting format for sure because I really didn't care for Theo's perspective at all||

[hollow edge]

LMAOOOO STRAIGHT FIRE 10/10 would read

[hollow edge]

LMAOO FR TOO

[vestal yoke]

maybe i’ll publish it someday, just have to change the names a bit

[hollow edge]

yeah i skimmed like most of those chapters nd it made 0 difference, which is just like... christ youd hope ||that because its relavent to the ending theyd be better nd make more sense nd shit but nopeeeee||

[hollow edge]

i think itd be a power move to keep all the names the same "the silent patient 2 electric boogaloo"

[vestal yoke]

the unsilent patient

[hollow edge]

LMFAOOOOOOOO

[main pumice]

This book is killing me. Why is it so boring

[hollow edge]

yepppp welcome to The Silent Patient

[main pumice]

I@mean I only have a few chapters left but also WTF

I finished and I need some time to write a less…… horrible review as I am just in that bad kind of shock rn

[hollow edge]

do ittt write a horrible review

[main pumice]

Lets be honest, I am now

|| This book deserves no more. I mean come on!!!!!!! In what univers can this even be considered good? I had like NO fucking intrest in the main caracther apart from maybe the two first chapters.
I felt like no feelings. Neither posetive or negative. Stuff just came as information out of the blue, like there was no build up. No real exitment. It was just a bunch of infromation and nothing I had or coud think of.
I mean the main carather, like I dont care about the stuff happening with you or how great or bad of an actor your wife is. Just get it over please, i dont care. Plus it wasnt even needed for me to know. Ye fuck this book|| 0.75/5

[vestal yoke]

that’s the worst rating yet

beat the record for the lowest rated yet

[main pumice]

I don’t know if I wanted that record tho

[hollow edge]

FOR REALLL TOO i agree with literally everything you said here

i also agree with the rating, because tbh if it wasnt for goodreads nd storygraph needing at least 1 star, i wouldve also given it around the same lol

[main pumice]

It acsepeted 0.75 on SG? Atlwast for me

[hollow edge]

does it brb gonna change my review on sg HAHAHA

[finite panther]

does it brb
gonna change my review on
sg HAHAHA

- Zander || 6/50

[main pumice]

Hahaha

[vestal yoke]

i feel like we’re all high on this book

[hollow edge]

LMFAOOO FR TOO

[fierce horizon]

Fr.. maybe the author was high while writing it and the editors didn't bother reading this spiral of madness.. therefore here we are questioning our sanity and existence

[main pumice]

That, is a likley case actually

[vestal yoke]

i had to convince myself i wasn't insane while finishing this at 4 am

[main pumice]

I mean… are you sure you aren’t tho

[loud acorn]

@everyone
Only 3 more days guys!!!

[deft atlas]

I feel guilty for starting right now. But here I go

[vestal yoke]

finish this and the guilt will all but turn into pure rage

[fierce horizon]

True

[main pumice]

Yesss

[hollow edge]

join us in the rage club

[loud acorn]

Does anyone need an extension btw? The end of the read is today but if people are still finishing up, I can add a week! @everyone

[loud acorn]

I take this as a sign that no one needs an extension so I'll try to fill out the report and sign off later today. Reading your thoughts has been 10/10.

[boreal token]

Thanks for hosting it Vaude!

[fast fog]

ty for the BR!

[hollow edge]

TYSM FOR HOSTING VAUDE even if I disliked the book (nd that's being generous lmfao) this was still really fun to read everyone's thoughts nd scream together about it

[foggy isle]

Thank you for hosting I didn't particularly enjoy the book either, but it was fun to read it with y'all and to see everyone's thoughts

[vestal yoke]

loved this br (best to never speak of this book again) thanku for hosting it

[hollow edge]

the last time i had this much fun with a br was "Go Ask Alice" which was on a similar level of unhinged nd awful but the talk about the book was absolutely gold worth it imo!

[loud acorn]

Currently a lot of my latest BRs have been sick,
Earthlings was an amazing one if anyone else was in that.

[foggy isle]

earthlings was very surprising haha

[loud acorn]

God that book is already in my top reads for this year and it's only January

This one isn't

[foggy isle]

[vestal yoke]

the lowest of the lows

belongs in the dungeon

[low umbra]

thanks for hosting vaude

[main pumice]

Thank you for hosting so we could all express our displeasure together

[hollow edge]

I've not read earthlings but from everything people have been saying about it I'm not surprised the br was a good one I defo regret not joining nd picking it up tbh

[balmy rampart]

@loud acorn,@foggy isle,@orchid vector,@fast fog,@orchid vector,@slender cipher,@ionic nebula,@vestal yoke,@molten oxide,@boreal token,@hardy tangle,@tired sail,@spice narwhal,@deft atlas,@sleek talon,@main pumice,@fierce horizon,@ebon heath,@hollow edge,@tidal nova,@warm viper,@orchid vector,@tranquil spoke,@orchid vector,@warped elm

Hey guys, just giving a closing message for this Buddy Read! Thank you so much for joining me, I've submitted the final report for everyone's points. If you happened to read it but haven't posted anything to keep us updated, feel free to post your thoughts so that I can add you to the report!
I feel like everyone walked away feeling more or less the same :kek: the discussions here were top tier and a pleasure to read.
Final question just to close off if you guys feel like answering:
Who would you cast to star in the movie version?

[molten oxide]

That's at easy one...

https://tenor.com/view/tommy-wiseau-laughing-laugh-gif-9533123

The one and only, Tommy Wiseau as Theo

[loud acorn]

YES

I'll be honest I wanted to see how many people would say this

https://tenor.com/view/tommy-wiseau-the-room-the-best-why-scream-gif-13721134

[main pumice]

I mean I know like NO actors so cant answer

[fast fog]

https://tenor.com/view/tommy-wiseau-the-room-do-you-understand-life-gif-14714764

||Theo sitting Alicia down after his obssessed ass broke into her house and mansplained relationships to her||

[molten oxide]

LMAO YES

that's exactly how I imagine it

[vestal yoke]

i would rather this movie not have an adaptation actually

i wouldn’t go watch it either way

[hollow edge]

i dont want to insult any actors by saying theyd be in this movie /j

[hollow edge]

obc watch along of the silent patient movie nd we all just clown on it nd laugh til we cry

[vestal yoke]

let’s do it

[fierce horizon]

Thanks for hosting Vaude

[loud acorn]

Yw Willow! Looking foward to reading more with you in the future

[finite panther]

Yw Willow! Looking
foward to reading more with
you in the future

- Vaude (Eep!)🖤

[limber canyon]

anyone can explain the ending to me? :-: