The Silent Patient (Michaelides)

The Silent Patient
Alex Michaelides (2019)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was selected as my Pandemic Book Club's selection for this month. I listened to it first, and then started reading the hardcover from the library.

This turned out to be an unsual experience in that in the past, I've started listening first because the audiobook is usually available before the ebook. Print books are usually available first but I tend to read print books more in the summer when I'm off. Carrying hardcovers back and forth to work (and along for all the walks I take) isn't preferable. Anyway, once I get an ebook, I generally catch up quickly to the point where I've listened to and then finish the ebook. Generally speaking, if I finish the book electronically, I'm less likely to finish listening to it.

This time, I finished the audiobook before I even opened the print edition. And I almost didn't bother reading it at all. Why? Because I was annoyed with the ending. So much so that I didn't want to actually read the book I'd listened to. However, since this is a reading blog, I will at least read until I have the online group meeting. If I'm not finished reading by then, I might not finish at all.

Okay. So why didn't I like this book? What was wrong with the ending. Also, I am aware that this is the third book in a row, where I hated the ending, but each for different reasons.

I can point to three specific problems: First, the narrator is unreliable; second, the narrator withholds information while telling a very long-winded story with a lot of details; third, the events are not documented chronologically and we are not told that it is not chronological. What I mean by this is that some scenes are actually flashbacks but we are not told that these are flashbacks. And I imagine the ending is worse in the audiobook because there really seems to be a tonal change in the narrator's voice while reading the epilogue (or the last portion).

Other points: the book is called "The Silent Patient" but should be called "The Bloody Pompous Psychoanalyst Who is Full of Himself". He's the story, not the patient. There's a side plot about his wife having an affair, which doesn't seem to have anything to do with anything, but when it actually does later on, it's more annoying than revealing. And the reasoning why the silent patient is silent is unsatisfying at best, even when he gets her to talk again.

Knowing the ending before I starting reading the print book left me open to question why he's actually doing some of the things that he's doing. It's the opposite of rereads when you see the subtlety worked into the narrative and say, "Oh, that's why he did that!". The second time, things make less sense. There are reasons I supposed, but again, unsatisfying.

The story: Alicia Berenson is a famous painter who is married to a fashion photographer (Gabriel) and who infamously kills her husband by shooting him in the face, or so we're told. From the time she is found until the present, she is mute. She either cannot or will not speak. She is committed to a mental hospital (the Grove) instead of prison. The trial was a newspaper sensation for a while.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who is intrigued by this case and takes a position at the Grove so he can take her on as a patient. He left a good position for one that might not be there in six months, as the Grove is not doing well financially. While working the case, he acts like a detective, visiting surviving family members and others associated with her painting career. He does eventually get her to talk about the case.

Ther eisn't much more to say about the book or the other characters. I will add that someone on the discussing list for my book club mentioned that htey saw the "twist" coming long before I knew that there would be a twist instead of a simple resolution.

Again, this was an audio book and a hardcover. The ebook hadn't become available before the meeting.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. The fourth book will be available by the time you see this!

Flume (Bigfoot)

Flume
Bigfoot (2025)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

I received an Advance Reading Copy of this book from Library Thing. The author's name is given as "bigfoot" (not capitalized). The review that I'll post there is included in this blog entry.

Basically...

This was an unusaul and imaginative tale in that the entire book takes place during the 33 minutes it takes three teens are in the world's largest water flume in London. The flume is over a mile long from London Bridge to Waterloo Station. We learn through a toy model in one of the many flashbacks that there's a secret Core in the flume that sliders can take and arrive at the bottom at the same time.

It's at this point where the book becomes fantasy, and it was difficult to suspend disbelief. Shanks, who's been afraid of the water since he was a child and who can't swim, is in the flume with two friends, Yam and Flo. Yam wants to search the secret of the Core when the builder of the flume, Poppity, disappeared in and was never found. Oddly, it's not sealed off and easy to get into. Once inside, they are in a world that could not exist in the structure of the flume, not without taking up a sizable amount of real estate in London, at which point, it would hardly be secret.

There's not much action but a lot of introspection by Shanks about his past. He also seems to do quite a bit of floating and swimming for someone who can't swim. I was ready to give this four stars just for being something different. However, the ending was out of left field and left all the questions that Flo and Shanks had been asking unanswered, or at least unproven as they were never challenged.

Shanks, who is an orpahn, has a phobia about water and doesn't like to swim. He's given a ride on the Flume by "Captain" (who has been raising him) as a birthday present, and he rides it with two friends. First is Yam who knows everything there is to know about Poppity, the sailor who created the flume, and Flo who wants to "hack" Shanks' code to figure out what his problems are. Shanks has flashbacks about a lighthouse and a woman falling from it. He realizes that the woman is his mother and he saw her die. He's not sure at first how she fell. If she was pushed, then who pushed her? Shanks believes he has the answer by the time he exits the flume, but then nothing comes of it because the author just goes off in an unexpected direction that has little to do with the everything that happened prior.

This was a free ebook.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

Fall Into Temptation (Score)

Fall Into Temptation
Lucy Score (2022)

[NO IMAGE, AUDIOBOOK ONLY]

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a Pandemic Book Club alternate selection. The wait for the ebook and audiobook were so long that I got a print book. This, of course, was silly, because by this point, Starter Villain, had already been selected so there was no urgency to read this. However, I'd forgotten which month this was for and was thinking that it was a choice for April. And then the library told me that I couldn't renew it because someone was waiting, so I have to dive in, reading this on the train every day. As it is, it's more than a week overdue. It may have been reported "lost" and I may have accidentally purchased it.

The book says that it is a "Blue Moon Romantic Comedy". Blue Moon is the name of the small town. The Library says that it is book 2 in the series, but the "Also By" page lists seven other titles, along with six other series and a set of standalones.

A capsule review: It not a will they or won't they with Beckett and Gia, it's when will it happen, and how will they handle the fallout, consequences, and repercussions. The romance level is moderate (by my own reckoning) but could be considered "mild" or "tame" by others. There are ample descriptions but they aren't vulgar. For comparison, New Beginnings was basically nil.

Beckett Pierce is the young, handsome mayor of Blue Moon. He returns from a vacation wedding to find that his associate has managed to rent out the house behind his house to a mother of two. One of the first itmes of business is cutting the ribbon at the new fitness center (renvoated by a new owner). He spots the owner (Gia/Gianna) working out the night before and is suitably impressed by her form. The next morning, he rescues her from being locked in the studio's bathroom. Beckett later discovers that she is his new tenant.

To add to the intrigue, Beckett goes to the family's farm, where the three brothers are starting a brewery, only to run into Gia and her kids. Beckett, whose father is deceased, has daddy issues and now his mother is dating someone and it's getting serious. And it turns out Gia's father is the boyfriend of Beckett's mother.

Between this and the landlord situation, the relationship is considered by the two of them to be off-limits, forbidden fruit, nothing can possibly happen ... except for every time that the two of them are alone with each other. And, of course, the whole town knows.

The first book appears to be about one brother and his new girlfriend, who quit her job and came to Blue Moon, so I wouldn't be surprised if the third book is about the third brother getting back together with his ex who is in this book but they still aren't on speaking terms.

Do I plan to read any more of this series, or even of this genre? I'm not counting on it. Maybe I'd buy a book if the author is doing a signing in my neighborhood. That said, I enjoyed the book for what it is, and I'm happy to read different things that I might not have read otherwise. And it wasn't trashy.

This was a March read even if I didn't get to post about it until April.

Paperback, if case I'm checking at the end of the year.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.