Book · 2019
The Silent Patient
by Alex Michaelides
A criminal psychotherapist takes a job at a secure hospital for one reason: to get near the patient who shot her husband and hasn't spoken since.
What does Reddit think of The Silent Patient?
r/suggestmeabook's top-voted mentions read like a pile-on: "I don't get the hype," "ugh," "it baffles me to see it recommended so often." The subreddit's scored sentiment for Alex Michaelides's thriller lands critical, and the ↑397 comment names the actual complaint: this keeps surfacing on booktok and bookstagram, not on its own merits. Nobody displayed here defends the twist outright. One r/RomanceBooks tweet (↑1037) uses the title purely as shorthand, filed next to The Book Thief and a royal memoir as proof you can judge someone by their shelf. Even the reader who calls it their go-to answer (↑278) says they hated it. That's the pattern: it keeps arriving as the default psychological-thriller pick, and the people naming it keep doing so with a grimace. r/booksuggestions logs 1,623 mentions with no scored opinion attached, which just confirms the volume is real. The verdict, on this evidence, isn't kind.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · A twist built around an unreliable narrator who won't speak
- · A hype-versus-quality gap logged mostly in r/suggestmeabook
- · BookTok and Bookstagram named as the actual delivery mechanism
- · Recommended by readers who admit they didn't like it
Common praise
- + The ↑284 pairing with Alice Feeney's Sometimes I Lie puts it in the same twisty, unreliable-narrator lane readers actually go looking for.
- + It's still the reflexive answer when someone asks for a fast psychological thriller, hype and backlash both included.
Common criticism
- − The top-voted line is just "ugh" (↑359), and the next comment down just says it doesn't get the hype (↑330).
- − The ↑321 comment calls the hype baffling, on a book it says gets recommended too often.
- − The ↑278 commenter admits it's still their go-to answer, then says they hated it.
- − The ↑397 reader calls it outright awful, crediting BookTok and Bookstagram with keeping it alive.
Who it's for
Come for the reveal if you haven't already had it ruined by four years of BookTok; that's the closest thing to a defense anyone here musters. Pair it with Alice Feeney's Sometimes I Lie if the twisty unreliable-narrator lane is what you're after, since the ↑284 comment already put them side by side. Steer clear if "I don't get the hype" from three separate top comments (↑330, ↑321, ↑359) matches your own gut reaction to oversold thrillers before you've even cracked the spine. This is a book people recommend on autopilot, including the reader who hated it and still names it first when asked (↑278).
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for The Silent Patient?
The most relevant excerpts across the subreddits where this book is mentioned — opinionated, argued takes first, then top-upvoted mentions. Click through to read the full thread.
“The Silent Patient, City of Gods and Monsters, most of Frieda McFadden, and many so called self help books that are done by non doctors or therapists.
“The Silent Patient. I thought this was awful, but it’s constantly making the rounds on booktok and bookstagram as a book that is highly recommended.
“The silent patient.. ugh
“Late for the party, but The silent patient is horribly written, predictable and boring.
“Life of Pi really shocked me! People feel the Silent Patient was also shocking, but I hated the writing and while I didn't predict the ending I wasn't surprised. It does have several twists though.
“really really lazy portrayals of mental health. it is so painfully obvious when an author doesn't do their research. main characters become an amalgamation of stereotypes when two seconds of googling would tell an author everything they've just written is bullshit. it's pretty much an immediate DNF …
“Totally agree on the Silent Patient. I felt the big twist was cheap. I also felt the same about Ruth Ware’s The Woman In Cabin 10
“The Silent Patient. Mediocre writing, one-dimensional characters, weird attitude towards the female characters and the narrator didn't seem to have done any research when it comes to mental health/psychiatric care.
“The Silent Patient. I loved it until the end. It fell very flat for me.
“The Silent Patient. I work in mental health and I got about 20 pages in. It felt so mean-spirited to me and I didn’t want it in my head.
“The Silent Patient….absolutely absurd plot line and not even written well. No idea how anyone likes this book.
“No matter how many time I tried to keep reading “the silent patient” it bored me to death. The writing felt childish and everytime I closed it I would think “why are people raving about this”. Did not ever finish it.
“The Silent Patient. Bland, trite, boring, predictable. I do not understand the appeal *at all.*
““The silent patient” By Alex Michaelides. I DID NOT see that twist coming!!!
“The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides. Was one of the top recommend thrillers, won a Goodreads award, people rave about it...and I hated it. None of the characters had any positive or redeeming qualities. Plenty of plot holes and lose ends. Just a waste of a weekend.
Convinced? Pick up The Silent Patient
What else does r/suggestmeabook read?
Other books mentioned in the same sub, ranked. Shared-sub overlap with this title breaks ties.
The Silent Patient — frequently asked
Is The Silent Patient worth the hype?+
No, according to the loudest voices in r/suggestmeabook. The top comment (↑397) calls it awful and blames BookTok and Bookstagram for keeping the hype alive; two more top replies just say they don't get it (↑330, ↑321). Nothing displayed here argues the opposite case with any force.
Is The Silent Patient similar to Sometimes I Lie?+
Close enough that a top r/suggestmeabook comment (↑284) names them in the same breath. Both lean on an unreliable narrator and a late reveal, and Reddit treats them as answers to the same request, whatever it thinks of either book's ending.
Why does r/suggestmeabook dislike The Silent Patient so much?+
The subreddit's scored sentiment for it lands critical, and the top comments back that up directly: "ugh" (↑359), "I don't get the hype" (↑330), and a flat "awful" from the ↑397 reader, who adds that BookTok keeps recommending it anyway. The dislike is specific to this sub, not universal across the tracked subreddits.
Should I still read The Silent Patient if Reddit hated it?+
Depends on why you're reading it. If you want the plot twist everyone's already discussed, you'll get it, and the ↑278 commenter still calls it their go-to pick even after hating it. If you want a book r/suggestmeabook stands behind, this isn't one; the top-voted comments call the hype baffling, not deserved.