the writing is scalpel-sharp and uncluttered, the style spare and concise, uncrowded with extraneous detail.' The Guardian concurred, praising its 'tight, uncluttered prose' and 'skillful building tension until the novel's shocking denouement'. The Independent lauded the book for its plot, characters and style, writing: ' vivid enough to warrant devouring it in a day.

The novel received generally positive reviews from critics. Michaelides decided to set his novel in a psychiatric unit as he had worked at a secure psychiatric facility for teenagers while he was a psychotherapy student. The Athenian tragedy Alcestis, by Euripides, served as an inspiration for the plot, while its narrative structure was influenced by Agatha Christie's writing. I kept seeing scripts being mangled in the production and this sense of frustration made me decide to sit down and finally write a novel.' He rewrote the draft around 50 times before finalizing it. On writing his debut novel, author Michaelides, who is also a screenwriter, said, 'I was feeling very disillusioned as a screenwriter. It later won the Goodreads Choice Award 2019 in the Mystery and Thriller category. Upon its release, the book debuted on The New York Times Best Seller list at No.1.

The story is narrated by an English psychotherapist, Theo Faber, dealing with a patient who turns mute after murdering her husband. The audiobook version, released on the same date, is read by Louise Brealey and Jack Hawkins. The successful debut novel was published by Celadon Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers, on 5 February 2019. The Silent Patient is a 2019 psychological thriller novel written by British–Cypriot author Alex Michaelides.

The quiet patient