The Silent Patient

Table of Contents
Quick Plot Recap
Section-by-Section Summary

Pt I, Chapters 1-2. Alicia is a painter. She murdered her husband Gabriel six years ago on August 25. A neighbor (Barbie Hellman) heard shots. Police arrived to find a gun with her prints and a knife, the dead body of Gabriel tied to a chair with gunshot wounds to the face, and Alicia with her wrists slit.

Alicia has not spoken since. Awaiting trail, she paints a nude self-portrait entitled Alcestis. Alicia was convicted and admitted to the psych unit at the Grove.

Pt I, Chapters 3-10. Theo (narrator) is interested in her case and applies to the Grove when an opening appears. His father was abusive. He tried to kill himself in college, which led to him getting help from a therapist (Ruth). He’s happily married to Kathy, who he has a passionate, wild and loving relationship with.

At the Grove, Theo meets Indira (psychotherapist), Yuri (nurse), Stephanie (manager), Prof. Diomedes (director). Also, Christian is head of Alicia’s care team and Theo’s former co-workers. Diomedes tells Theo the Trust is concerned about the Grove’s finances.

Theo meets Alicia and reads Diomedes’s notes. Alicia has mostly been withdrawn, but once attacked another patient (Elif) with a broken plate.

Pt II, Chapter 1. July 16-21 entries. Alicia writes about a painting of Jesus she’s working on, except it looks like Gabriel. She writes about her mother killing herself by driving into a brick wall with Alicia in the car as well.

Pt II, Chapters 2-12. Theo asks Diomedes to talk to Christian about reducing Alicia’s medication. Christian is unhappy but agrees. Theo meets with Alicia after and she attacks him. Theo thinks it means Alicia hasn’t given up, and Diomedes cautiously gives him 6 weeks to get results.

Theo meets with Alicia and gets her to shake her head in response to him asking if a part of her hated Gabriel. Theo asks Elif about the plate incident. She says she provoked Alicia by asking if Gabriel deserved it and about his brains being splattered everywhere.

At home, he gets high and comes across Kathy’s e-mail and finds out she is cheating on him. Theo goes to Ruth. Ruth tells Theo she thinks he’s drawn to Kathy’s unpredictable nature because instability is what he became accustomed to due to his abusive father. Ruth recommends leaving Kathy, but Theo decides Ruth is wrong.

Theo meets with Max (Gabriel’s brother, Alicia’s lawyer). Max was adopted, but not Gabriel. Max admits he hated Alicia. He says she was always crazy (violent, etc) and attempted suicide after her dad died. Theo senses Tanya (Max’s wife) is afraid of Max.

Pt II, Chapter 13. July 22-25 entries. Alicia writes about Max assaulting her and keeping it secret from Gabriel. She says Max resents his brother.

Pt II, Chapter 14-21. Theo finds out Max was Gabriel’s beneficiary in his will. Diomedes tells Theo to stop contacting Alicia’s relatives. Theo goes to find her cousin Paul anyway. Paul knocks him out when he arrives, saying he mistook him for a burglar. Lydia (Paul’s mom) is there too. She is angry about a painting Alicia did of her.

Theo visits Alicia’s gallery. The owner (Jean-Felix Martin) says Gabriel didn’t like him. Theo sees Alicia paintings. One is of her mother’s death. The Gabriel-Jesus one is there too, and in it Gabriel is holding the rifle he would later be shot with. The one of Lydia (looks grotesque) is there too, as is Alcestis.

Theo find a copy of the Alcestis story. In it, her husband is fated to die, Apollo allows someone to take his place. Alcestis agrees and dies. Hercules rescues her but when she comes back she doesn’t speak.

Pt II, Chapter 22. August 2. Paul asks Alicia her for money to pay off gambling debts, and Gabriel objects. Alicia tells Jean she’s planning on switching galleries.

Pt II, Chapter 23-33. Theo arranges for Alicia to be able to paint. He gets the supplies from Jean. Christian tells Theo to be careful not to be seduced by Alicia. Alicia does a painting of the Grove burning, with Theo carrying her.

Theo meets with Barbie (neighbor) who thinks Alicia is innocent and saw a man hanging around the house. Theo returns to the Grove to find that Elif has been stabbed in the eye with a paintbrush. Against Theo’s wishes, Alicia’s therapy is terminated. Theo goes to tell Alicia and she gives him her journal.

Pt III, Chapter 1. August 8-25 entries. Alicia tells Gabriel about a man hanging out outside the house. Gabriel is skeptical and wants her to see a shrink, Dr. West, who she also saw after her dad died. Dr. West writes her a prescription, but she doesn’t take it. She keeps seeing the man around. She suspects Jean or Max.

Pt IV, Chapters 1-20. Theo reads the diary and returns it to Alicia. He confronts Dr. West — it’s Christian, who has never said anything about being Alicia’s shrink from before. (The diary is how he finds out it’s Christian). Christian says it was unofficial and unreported, he could lose his license, begs Theo not to tell Diomedes. He also says she is crazy and delusional.

Theo catches Kathy cheating on him. Theo follows his wife’s lover and finds out that guy is married.

Theo goes to see Paul. Paul tells him that as a kid, Alicia overheard her dad say he wished Alicia had died in the car wreck instead of her mother, Eve, and it “killed her”. Theo asks Alicia about it and she finally agrees to speak.

Alicia describes how the masked man had a knife, tied her to a chair, and attacked Gabriel when he got home. He tied him up, shot him in the face and left. Theo is skeptical and notes some factual inconsistencies. Diomedes agrees, says Alicia’s mysterious man is mental projection so she can cast herself as a victim and let him be the murderer.

He gets the Grove the next day and finds out Alicia has OD’d and is in a coma. When everyone leaves, Theo realizes from her wrist that she didn’t take pills like they think — she was injected with morphine by someone. Theo tells Diomedes about it and about Christian’s motive to keep her quiet. The police arrive and arrest Christian.

Pt IV, Chapters 21. Theo goes to Kathy’s lover house and meets his wife — it’s Alicia Berenson. Theo brings a knife. (In other words, all the sections about Kathy and her lover were in the past. Gabriel was Kathy’s lover. Theo is the mysterious man Alicia had seen hanging around the house).

Pt V, Chapter 1. February 23 entry. Theo has just shoved the needle in her wrist and Alicia knows she will feel drowsy soon.

She had suspected Theo was the mystery man, and her previous story was intentionally inaccurate to test his response. Instead, after Theo tied them both up, he revealed Gabriel as a cheater and offered Gabriel a choice, either he or Alicia would die. Gabriel chooses Alicia. Theo says ok and shoots a shot straight up. Gabriel thinks she’s dead but then realizes she’s ok. Theo unties only Alicia and leaves. Alicia shoots Gabriel.

Pt V, Chapter 2. Theo is still with Kathy, who has never copped to having an affair. He never thought Alicia would shoot Gabriel. He went to the Grove to try to help Alicia, but had to kill her when he realized she was going to out him.

(Why did Theo do this? He had been wearing a mask when he tied them up and didn’t think Alicia would recognize him. He didn’t think Alicia would shoot Gabriel, because he didn’t know her past mental instability. When he planned out the scene revealing Gabriel to be a cheater, He genuinely just wanted to out him. Later, Theo realizes that Alicia is stuck in an asylum and not coping, so he feels bad that he started all this and goes there to help her. However, when he realizes that she has figured out who he is, he has to kill her.)

Jean comes to pick up some of Alicia’s stuff. Theo goes through the rest of Alicia’s things and realizes the journal is missing. Inspector Allen shows up to his house to ask him about it (Jean found it and turned it in). The book ends with Allen reading the relevant diary passage to him.