The Silent Patient

I read this in one day, so, there's that! Definitely better than The Maidens, but not better written or more interesting, just slightly less stupid. Michaelides has a lot of really interesting nuggets of ideas but either won't or can't execute them effectively. He is also allergic to subtlety. The twist IS a cool idea but it was cooler when Agatha Christie did it like 100 years ago.

I was also amused/frustrated that he makes such a big fuss over what a fascinating and unique person Alicia is, only for her POV chapters to be SOOOOOOOOOO banal. Slightly bitchy at worst. I started Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh today, too-- now that is a gnarly fucking book unafraid to get real weird with it. And I'm on, like, page 30. Anyways. I do give props to the author for writing a real page-turner because that's a skill. But having read two of his books now it's clear that all he can do is write the exact same thing over again. Shut up about Greece and weed, my God.

Also I'm pissed because Michaelides overuses the em dash so hard that he makes ME self-conscious about MY overuse. I literally deleted an em dash from this review. 😤