A book that was supposed to distract me from pandemic related worries simply pissed me off. The Silent Patient is a much-applauded crime novel that to my view barely imitates Hitchcockian suspense and psychological thrillers. It seems that Alex Michaelides got his inspiration from 1940s Hollywood detective movies because the book definitely reads as such. But all characters are so unconvincing, and writing so banal (who on earth uses dialogue in their diary?), I only finished it because it was a quick read. As for my rating, the second star is for the twist a few pages before the book ends that the whole story desperately holds on to.
