Hey, it’s Diego.

This week I’m on holiday by the beach, so not much reading is getting done. Last week, though, I read The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides.

And it made me realise how much I love the unreliable narrator trope.

Here are my top picks.

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Unreliable Narrator Psychological Thrillers

The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose

The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose is my third-best read of 2025, and it has my favourite premise of any book to date: Sarah Morgan, a high-profile case attorney, wakes up one day to discover her husband Adam has been accused of murdering his mistress. She takes on the case because she still loves him, but can their relationship survive as Sarah discovers the lies her husband has been feeding her all this time? Adam is an adulterer, but is he guilty of murder?

We follow both Sarah and Adam’s perspectives in alternating chapters, making it fascinating to read that the same marriage is viewed from such different perspectives.

Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney

Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney follows a couple experiencing marital problems who decide to go to a remote Scottish chapel for a weekend getaway to work it out. What starts as an attempt at reconciliation spirals into a chilling game of secrets, lies, and survival.

We again get the dual perspective from both parts of the marriage, the lies they tell each other, and how they are forced to work together when danger comes for them.

The Arrangement by Kiersten Modglin

In The Arrangement by Kiersten Modglin, Ainsley and Peter’s marriage is at a breaking point. Ainsley, as the fixer that she is, suggests they should start dating other people in the hopes that it will make her husband realize what he’d be missing if they were to break up. Peter agrees almost immediately. But soon enough, rules are broken and people hurt.

Following the same trend, we get alternating chapters for the husband and wife, and how their lies and omissions poison the relationship beyond breaking point.

None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

Alix, a podcaster whose seemingly perfect life takes a dark turn after meeting Josie, her "birthday twin." Both women turn 45 on the same day, at the same restaurant, leading Josie to suggest Alix feature her in a podcast about transforming her troubled life. Alix agrees, intrigued by Josie's mysterious past, but quickly realizes she's welcomed chaos and danger into her home.

In None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell, we get a different dynamic here, we get to see what Josie tells Alix in the podcast and what she does when she gets home to her husband, and things start to stray between what she recounts and what we see happening to the point that we start questioning everything.

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides – Review

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening, her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word. Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband.

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides is a domestic thriller set primarily in a psychiatric hospital.

Michaelides’ writing has a “dear diary” quality to it, which I don’t particularly care for. At some point in the book, it’s even referenced that what we are reading is Theo’s version of what happened, which explains why he glosses over details and actions. The problem with this kind of writing is that it creates a barrier between us and the characters, making a connection with the feelings almost impossible.

We follow Theo’s single point of view with some of Alicia’s diary entries interspersed between chapters as he attempts to discover the mystery of what happened to Alicia. I wish there had been more thrills, but the story centered around the mystery.

There are very strong themes of how people are shaped when not loved unconditionally by their parents.

Theo is a proactive character and will not stop at anything to find the truth of the mystery, which ended up being the reason why I finished the book, even if I couldn’t connect with any of the characters because of the mentioned issue of the writing. I was compelled to find out what happened, and Theo sniffed all the clues and went above and beyond to deliver.

There is no romance, no swearing, and no scenes of graphic violence.

So, what about the ending? (No spoilers obviously)

The ending landed great. Although it was cut short without a denouement. I wish we had had a bit more time with the characters to find out what happened to each one.

I get all the hype about The Silent Patient after the ending. I think it was a rather well put-together plot with some problems with the delivery. That said, I would still recommend it to someone looking for a smarter thriller.

This Week’s Finds

• Netflix has unveiled their first look of the psychological thriller ‘The Woman in Cabin 10’ starring Keira Knightley, based on Ruth Ware’s bestselling novel, set to release globally on October 10, 2025.

That’s all for this week. See you next time.

— Diego Dunne

P.S. Let me know how I did today by replying to this email.