I realise that rating this 5 stars has me in the minority. I read The Silent Patient and it was good, but not great. This, however, blew me away.

I just really loved the setting Michaelides chose for this story. The historic buildings of Cambridge University, the River Cam, the academic themes, the very clever use of literature and Greek mythology as symbolism, the plot twist at the end. It just hit all the right spots for me, personally.

I feel somewhat shallow that I enjoyed this, having read an abundance of bad reviews. Granted, there were major plot holes - for one, how is a psychotherapist ahead of the police and snooping into investigations so easily? I also concur with other reviews saying Mariana is not exactly the strong female character we all wanted to root for. Her decisions are questionable and you could argue that she puts herself in the most ridiculous situations. But then again, it could also be argued that maybe that's what the author willed - maybe she's supposed to be flawed and she's supposed to make absurd decisions because of her background and the things she's faced in her life. Just offering another viewpoint here. 

I don't expect to convince anybody with this review, as I myself was sceptical of this book. Nevertheless, to improvise on Tennyson, " 'tis better to have read and disapproved, than never to have read at all".