playboypink OP t1_j5v2t1l wrote on January 25, 2023 at 7:44 PM

Reply to comment by PlathTheSalt in Just finished The Silent Patient and have only one nagging question… *contains spoilers* by playboypink

This is a good explanation, and the only one that makes real sense for the story, so I’m sure you’re right. It just is so frustrating that it seemed really important and then completely fell short. I usually can move past a red herring, but this one was irritating to me due to the timing of him telling her this.

I also felt confused about the way it ended, because while Theo is being confronted by the investigator for what happened, it just didn’t seem like a big deal? Alicia’s journal proved that Theo was practically a sadistic mastermind, but the investigator just comes over to his house like “hey guy, listen to this fun story I read about you” lol

And THANK YOU for the warning, I considered getting it and was on the fence so that’s really good to know!

PlathTheSalt t1_j5vmdyu wrote on January 25, 2023 at 9:42 PM

Doesn't Theo go outside and catch snowflakes while the investigator reads the journal?

The one part of the book which was a dead give away for me was the neighbor that was always in everyone's business. Michaelides tries to discredit her, so I figured he was trying to direct attention away from her story.

playboypink OP t1_j5w4hpi wrote on January 25, 2023 at 11:44 PM

Theo didn’t go outside to catch the snowflakes, the investigator came inside the house and they sat down at the dining table (?) and Theo opened the window next to it. Still, a bizarre thing to do!

That’s a great point actually, I had thought Barbie to be an irrelevant character but now that you mention it, she was the only person who believed Alicia about seeing the man, so of course the author would try to make her seem untrustworthy and Theo would go to see how much info she had on him! I hadn’t even considered that.