Book Review: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

 The Silent Patient opened with Alicia Berenson's diary. It began with "I don't know why I'm writing this. That's not true. Maybe I do know and just don't want to admit it to myself." And she went on to write about how much she loved her husband Gabriel so much so that she.....here she stopped and wrote "No I won't write about that. This is going to be a joyful record of ideas and images. No crazy thoughts allowed." 

With that, I was reeled in hook, line and sinker. With such an introduction, you knew there were going to be layers in the story, with plot twists.

At thirty-three years old, Alicia shot her husband five times when he came home one night after work and then went completey silent while her therapist, obssessed at finding out her motive, continued to work on her.

The story is told from the therapist's point of view and the silent Alicia's diary. At a certain point in the story, I started to wonder if one of the narration is reliable. Did Alicia kill her husband or did someone else do it? If so, why did she keep silent? Who was she protecting? Or who was she afraid of? Those were my questions as I kept reading. 

The answer wasn't what I expected, but it explained everything neatly. A well-written story, it kept me glued to the end.

Book Review: The Simple Truth by David Baldacci

David Baldacci is one of my favourite authors, besides Michael Crichton and Stephen King. I've devoured all their books. 

The Simple Truth tells the story of John Fiske, a former cop turned attorney whose investigation into the death of his estranged brother led him into the murky grounds of corruption in the powers that be.

Michael Fiske was a lawyer, and worked in the Supreme Court in Washington DC, the highest court in America. He had stolen a prison letter from Rufus Harm, a death row inmate, and sealed his own fate. Now John has to find out what his brother's death has to do with a crime that Rufus Harm committed twenty-five years before.

The story flows smoothly enough, with all the usual actions taking place, plot twists and what not. To read a synopsis and review of this book, please visit Amazon.com.