The Silent Patient

Hello everyone.

I hope you are enjoying the winter weather and not too snow bound. Last time I was talking about the big storm that was coming and how my sister in upstate NY was due for something like eighteen inches. I admitted I was a little bit evil because I had a smirk on my face while writing about it. Hey, my family teases me about moving south when I complain about the humidity, fair is fair. Only I guess it isn't really. My sister slid while walking on the ice and really hurt her knees, like x-rays and Cortizone shots under both kneecaps hurt. Rrrrr, gives me the willies just thinking about it. Thankfully for her, she is much stronger than I am. Anyway, now I feel terrible, like a horrible rotten person. We were supposed to get a little ice and snow but had pouring rain and bad wind for a couple of hours, that was it. Just enough to make everything in our old house creak and groan, especially as the temperature dropped and the wood shrank. It was both creepy and annoying. I swore I heard dripping on the third floor, in the storage-rafters part. Of course I woke up hubby and sent him from bed to literally crawling all over to find no dripping. Phew, I would rather be wrong on that issue!

While all this "weather" was going on last weekend and we were hunkered down, I finished a book. I received an arc of The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides from Celadon Books. It is available for pre-order and is released February 5, 2019. You all have busy lives so I'll cut to the chase, it was great, I loved it. See ya later!

Okay, just kidding. Figures huh, spend 45 minutes yammering on about the weather and family issues and one sentence about the book. Seriously, this is my favorite, a thriller. A husband and wife seem like everything is fine, one day she shoots him in the face several times, killing him. Then she never speaks again. Instead of jail she is in an institution. The story is told as a new doctor arrives and is very interested in this silent patient's case and is determined to help her. Now you mystery and thriller readers will agree that when you read a lot of these types of books you think you can beat the author, figure out the "who dun it" or the big twist. Sometimes we get it right, which is fine if you enjoy the story. Sometimes, however, the author shocks you and you, as the reader, are wrong. This story has an enormous twist, HUGE, as I am ashamed and delighted to tell you I didn't see it coming. I've been trying to get hubby to read it. I'm wondering if I missed signs, was this twist obvious? But I keep telling myself that I have read so many thrillers I would have seen it coming. Nope, boys and girls, you can cross the butler off your list in this one, he definitely didn't do it.  You've got to love when a book can make you gasp out loud and that is what this one did.

One more thing, I hate medical stuff so the title had me a little leery, but rest assured that is not an issue here at all. Also, know that this book is nicely paced and certainly keeps you turning pages before and after the "gasp". Get ready for February 5th, see if you figure it out!