Book Slayers

Bonny (00:01.161) Okay, we need to talk about a book that people are obsessed with.

And I did not like it at all, not even a little bit.

And I know, I know that is a really dangerous thing to say about The Silent Patient, because people ride for this book.

They defend it.

They recommend it like it's a personality trait.

And yet here I am, confused, unconvinced.

be annoyed.

But here's the problem.

Betty has a different opinion.

What a shock!

Betty (00:38.942) I know, shocker.

Okay, just take a breath Bonnie, it's fine.

Because we already know what's about to happen.

I loved it, you hate it.

But I felt the bit of tension.

It built for me, I got the atmosphere.

It quietly built and then it just clicked into place.

I finished it and I was really excited to talk to you because I know you've spoken about it before.

and I know you already didn't like it and I was hoping your mind would change, but I've totally gone off my script.

So let's just cut.

Bonny (01:15.277) You totally have!

I don't know where you are now!

Betty (01:18.734) No for me it was like this doesn't make sense anymore right you know where to stop anyway God God yeah, let me start again.

I will just read it Thing is sometimes it just doesn't sound like me talking, but I was alright a bit earlier right let's start again Okay, I need everyone to just take a breath especially you Bonnie because I already know what's about to happen I love this book the tension Bonny (01:23.097) You want to start again?

Betty (01:47.554) the atmosphere, the way it quietly builds and builds until everything clicks into place.

I finished it and I couldn't wait to talk about it.

And the twist, I'm sorry, but that absolutely worked for me, like fully.

Did I see it come in?

No, didn't.

Did I sit there like, wait, wait, hold on, hold on, yes.

So today I'm here to defend the silent patient.

with my whole chest.

Because if you love psychological thrillers that mess with your head, this one deserves the hype.

And apparently I'm going to have to prove that.

Okay, slayers, let's slay this book.

Bonny (02:31.331) Welcome back to Book Slayers, the podcast where we read the same book and then we absolutely never agree on it, which basically means today's episode is a psychological thriller and a psychological battle between me and her.

So if you've read The Silent Patient and you have strong opinions, you're going to want to stay for theirs.

Coming up today with opinions, questions, and honestly, a little frustration.

And I'm joined by Betty, who is about to defend this book like it's her job.

Today we are deep diving the silent patient by Michael.

Michael.

Betty (03:06.578) Hee hee!

Bonny (03:08.365) Michael Eades?

Jesus Christ!

The thriller that had everyone talking, gasping and recommending and in my case, side-eyeing.

We're breaking it down.

We're breaking the plot, the twist, what worked and what absolutely did not.

And most importantly, is this actually a brilliant psychological thriller or is it really good at convincing people?

Betty (03:32.652) We love reading all your comments you leave us on the podcast.

So if you're enjoying our crazy unhinged book talk, don't forget to follow, comment, subscribe and share your favorite episodes with all of your book slayer besties.

Bonny (03:45.145) You wrote, your Patreon bit.

Did you want me just to say that or did you want me to put something else in there?

Betty (03:49.59) No, I thought you could write it.

I thought you could say Bonny (03:51.449) Okay, I guess I was like...

Hmm, okay.

Betty (03:54.446) I saw you in it earlier, I thought, she's gonna write something and then you didn't and I was like, okay, she's just gonna freestyle.

Bonny (03:59.255) I'm going to wing it.

Yeah.

And don't forget if you like things a little more unhinged and after dark in its fantastical ism, you should definitely be joining us over on our Patreon where we hold nothing back.

Now let's get into this.

Betty (04:01.645) You Bonny (04:19.225) okay.

Look, I get it.

Okay.

I get that people love this book.

I get that they seem to think that this is the best thing since sliced, but I don't agree.

I don't.

I do not agree.

No, no, no, no.

Betty (04:37.17) went into this knowing that you had eaten it but also I liked gongo and you didn't so I wasn't too worried about that.

I also have a friend that read it and also to starred it don't choke it's fine.

I also had a friend that read it and they starred it so I was like and me and him are normally quite on point together so I was like I didn't I didn't find it too slow I know you did I felt like it worked Bonny (04:48.739) didn't think you were gonna make me laugh.

Betty (05:04.247) There was a point in the book where I got a little bit confused because it reads as if it's the same timeline and then, but I never read it like that.

I kind of was reading it as if it was a dual timeline.

I don't know where I got it from, but that's how I naturally went through it.

I wasn't, but halfway through, I got a bit confused with Theo's point of view.

Cause I was like, hang on.

One, is it still Theo?

Because I realized that his name hadn't been mentioned or no one had used his name.

And I was like, shit if I miss something and this is a trick and it's not Theo's point of view I thought it might be another character but halfway through and also then I then I was like is it supposed to be a dual timeline but I think other people do the other way around where it seems like it's the same timeline but it's actually dual timeline so that didn't confuse me I did not see the ending coming I'm dying to know how on chapter four you knew the exact ending Because I've got faults on what I felt at that point, which I'll tell you, but I want to know how you knew.

Bonny (06:03.545) Okay.

Well, we're going to come to that.

Like we're going to get through some stuff first, because I'm going to explain to you exactly how I knew.

I'm going to explain.

But I want to start with the twist.

Okay.

Because people talk about this bloody twist like it's the Sistine Chapel.

Okay.

Like it's some kind of mega feat.

Firstly, it wasn't mind blowing.

Okay.

I'm sorry.

If you didn't see that coming.

I've got a bridge to sell you.

Okay.

I've got bottled air.

I'm not joking.

I don't know how anyone didn't see it coming.

I don't.

Okay.

And it was so, okay.

Psychological thriller is where you're building up the tension and things are going to come in and you're going to be like, you can see the layers coming in.

There was no layers.

It was flat.

It was like, meh.

And Theo was a, Theo was a twat.

Okay.

What a fucking knob end.

I didn't enjoy any of his POV at all.

didn't like it and we were kind of stuck with him.

So that was really annoying.

But I was like, I was waiting for a buildup to this twist.

It was just kind of like meh.

And I was like, here.

It was just him explaining what happened to him.

And I'm like, my fucking God, you loser, you're pathetic.

Betty (07:17.422) Wow, we have such, I don't know if it's because you've read so many books that we have a difference.

I've obviously only got into like really reading a lot in the last couple of years.

But to me, the way that I felt about it was I knew from the beginning that Theo went right.

It didn't sit right with me, obviously.

He already had a job in another like, I can't remember what the place was, but he was a psychotherapist in another place.

I want to say Broadmoor, but it's not Broadmoor, I don't think.

Bonny (07:42.285) No, no, no, no, Betty (07:44.719) don't know where that came from.

But it's like, really like the best place to work if you're that kind of person.

And he basically changes jobs because he's a bit obsessed with Alicia and her story.

And she's kind of like the holy grail of like psychotherapists.

Like everyone wants to know like why she just committed this crime and then just didn't speak.

But I was still like, but you've left the best job in the world.

But then I likened it to, well, if you got to work with your famous celebrity.

but he still didn't sit right with me.

I knew he was in it from the beginning and I knew he was part of it, he was part of what happened.

And I was convinced it was just him the whole way through.

The twist bit at the end, which I think is what people talk about is, we'll get onto that, that I didn't see coming.

So I don't know, I didn't hate the story.

At one point I thought it was slightly weird that we kept going back to this storyline with him and Kathy, his girlfriend.

who he's slightly finding out is cheating on him.

And I was kind of like, what relevance is this to this?

To like what's happening with finding out what happened with Alicia and why she killed her husband.

That halfway I got slightly confused of, which is why it wasn't a five star, because I couldn't quite grasp the relevance.

It didn't flow as well as what I wanted it to for me to be totally into like both the timeline bits of the story.

But the end played up for it because it did explain it all and why.

Yeah, but it did.

It had to be like that.

Bonny (09:11.095) Yeah, yeah, but it didn't.

Well, a psychological thriller is supposed to build you up to this tension and the crescendo of what the plot is, you're supposed to go, fuck me.

I mean, I was like, so what?

Yeah, okay.

I don't know.

I read a lot of psychological thrillers.

That's like my main, the genre I always go back to is psychological thrillers.

I read a lot of crime fiction and I know the difference between the two.

Betty (09:25.038) I did though.

I did at the end.

Bonny (09:40.857) crime fiction set the crime out and you plod along finding it.

Well, that's exactly what The Silent Patient did, except it didn't have any crime in it until we find out what happened at the end, because the crime had already happened.

So it didn't even meet psychological thriller as far as I was concerned, and it certainly didn't meet crime fiction.

So it was mis-genreed as far as I was concerned.

It was a story about this woman's already been institutionalized for killing her husband and she's not talking.

And it was him going, let's try and figure out why.

I'm like, fuck off!

How's that a thriller?

There was no...

he wasn't terrorizing her.

That's what you would expect from a psychological thriller, that he would be there with this intent of like doing weird stuff to her, like he wants to go in there and like experiment on her.

That would have been thrilling, not what happened.

Betty (10:12.558) you Betty (10:28.846) Yeah, when I read a book, I think I don't get caught up in the different types of thrillers, I guess, as long as it's that kind of vibe.

But like, you're quite, you're like a reviewer.

So I think these things are probably more important to you than what it is to me.

So I just like to read the book.

I suppose you could call it a kind of mystery, like what's happening, like why isn't she talking?

That was my biggest thing, like why is she not speaking?

So if it was, so if it was labeled differently, would you have liked it better then?

Bonny (10:39.095) Yeah.

Bonny (10:50.99) Yeah!

Bonny (10:59.085) Yeah.

I went in expecting something.

No, probably.

And you're probably right.

I would have said, yes, it's probably more of a mystery thriller.

And if I'd have gone in with that anticipation, I wouldn't have, and the twist would have been a nice surprise at the end.

And I probably would have forced started, but I went in there expecting to have my brain interfered with.

And I didn't get that.

I did.

I was expecting to start like mistrusting my reality.

I was expecting like looking at side eyeing at Mike and going, Betty (11:01.678) Bye!

Betty (11:23.032) rated.

Bonny (11:29.049) What are you up to?

I didn't get none of that shit.

And I think my biggest problem the first time around was I own it.

I paid full price for a hardcover when it first came out.

that was back when I didn't have a lot of money.

Like buying a brand new book was like, that was a treat.

You know what I mean?

Now it's like every fucking day.

But back then, and then it really disappointed me and I was really upset.

And maybe that even factored into it.

And I went in with a new set of eyes and I didn't up my star rating at all.

Betty (11:31.694) Please.

Bonny (11:58.497) didn't because actually I was I found it worse this time around because I could see even more gaps I saw all the things I missed Betty (11:59.032) No, it's cool.

Betty (12:07.918) Well, do you know what?

This is why I was like, so once I finished it, like I said, I four starred it because I think you might be right, maybe sort of a bit flat in the middle, like, maybe I was feeling that, but I didn't associate it with like the genre of the book.

But I always like to go to Goodreads after and check things.

You're like, what do other people think and what do they say?

So when you say there was gaps, where was the gaps for you?

Because I couldn't actually find anything tangible online that I was like, yeah, that didn't make sense.

Bonny (12:39.993) Well, firstly, like one of the biggest gaps in the story for me was this, whole, know you were talking about the thing with like his, the girlfriend at the time and what was going on with her.

Well, he never went home and talked about what was going on.

And obviously that was because the timeline was completely different, but they never, it would have been easy to understand why this storyline was coming if it had separated it into two.

actual timelines and it didn't do that.

So the first big problem was that he didn't have any friends to talk to.

All we were getting was like his dialogue in a dialogue and it didn't make sense sometimes.

And I guess the reason why it didn't make sense for the most part was because it was two different Theos, right?

Like one was earlier because that would, she was in jail for ages, right?

Eight years when he went there, five, eight years, something like that.

So the timeline, Betty (13:27.277) Yeah.

Betty (13:36.526) in the hollow.

Bonny (13:37.987) So for me, some of the things that were missing were the character development, because Theo was exactly the same in each timeline, and that really grated on me.

So not developing him as a person to find out why he did what he did.

And he wasn't really, I don't want to spoil it yet, like, we're not at the end yet.

So for me, was like, he said why he was doing it, but then when he got to the end, that's not what he was up to.

Betty (13:59.023) Yeah.

Bonny (14:07.085) You know what I mean?

It didn't match.

Like he said, I'm there to help her.

We find out why he wanted to be there to help her, but that's not really what was happening.

He was there to close that gap to make sure she couldn't talk.

So for that, for me, there should have been clues.

There was to have.

Betty (14:08.557) Yeah.

Betty (14:21.134) I don't know if I agree with that because she didn't know him as a person so she could never have sort of spoke about what he was to do with like the main bit of what happened like she wouldn't have been able to identify him she wasn't speaking because that was one of my questions at the end I was like why didn't he just leave well enough alone like he's got a way with his part of what happened so why didn't he go back but I think again we're gonna spoil the end but without his part in it, maybe things wouldn't have played out.

And I think that he genuinely didn't know that she had mental health issues already.

And he wanted to help her deal with that because he felt like he put that on her.

I do think it was a guilt thing.

I do think he felt responsible for her and what happened.

But also I think he wanted to clear his own conscience of why she did it.

Was it only because of what he did or was there like a bigger part?

And I feel like he thinks...

Bonny (15:02.999) No, I don't think so at all.

Betty (15:18.552) that there was a bigger part in it and if she wasn't already mentally unstable then that wouldn't have happened and then he could clear his own conscience.

That's what I think.

Bonny (15:24.739) See, I don't think so because if you think about the logic here, okay, I think it's because he knew that that guy that he used to work with worked at that place.

There was a chance that she would start to talk.

Otherwise, why would you go in there under the anticipation?

She'd already didn't recognize him.

Although I don't actually agree with that.

She flew at him in chapter four.

She flew at him, right?

And she starts attacking him.

That right there should have told him, hey, Betty (15:44.532) No, don't.

Yeah, she knew.

Bonny (15:52.375) she does recognize me.

Something has triggered her off.

And I think when he said he was scared, that's why he was there.

He wanted to know whether she did.

And if she started to get better and said, well, this guy broke into my house and this is where this all started, they would start looking for him.

So I think...

Betty (16:11.234) Yeah, but she couldn't identify him.

She doesn't know him.

He wore a balaclava.

She can't identify him.

They've never had any contact before this.

So she can never identify him.

Plus you think all them years later, there's nothing to tie him now to this crime unless he's already committed a crime, which we don't get told that he has.

So there's nothing identifying him.

I think it's a little bit of what I've just said earlier, but also maybe, you know, like if you commit a crime and you go back to the crime, like the person just needs to see.

see what's going on.

There's like a few different things.

I think he is also mentally like obviously fucked up in the head as we find out a bit later.

But yeah, it's very, that's why it didn't five star for me because some of it didn't make sense because he could have just left well alone.

And then no story.

Also, I didn't like that she wasn't speaking and when she did speak, she was like, he's like, why haven't you spoke before?

And she's just like, didn't really have anything to say.

Like what?

But obviously, Bonny (17:09.322) That's why I Betty (17:10.774) traumatized and whatever but yeah didn't I wanted Bonny (17:14.105) I think if it was me, if I was that person and I was in there because I committed a crime, I probably wouldn't talk either.

I don't know.

I wouldn't want to get out, I guess.

She seemed like she was pretty happy being drugged up and you know.

Betty (17:31.736) Well, that's the other thing as well, isn't it?

Like, is it most of the time she didn't talk because she was so drugged up?

It's just like, this is just easy.

yeah.

Bonny (17:37.591) Yeah.

That's what I mean.

Cause she was on a lot of drugs when they're explaining it and it's like, we need to pull that.

How would you talk if you're so doped up?

I probably wouldn't bother either.

Someone's feeding me Jell-O cubes or whatever.

Betty (17:48.835) And also, even if you did talk at that point, which I know she didn't, but no one would believe anything, because you're so off your head.

It wouldn't even matter if you spoke at that point, you could be saying anything.

Should we talk about some of the other characters that are in this care home?

Because I've got a bit of a funny thing, but you've mentioned...

Well, my funny one, I'm going to go in with the funny one.

I didn't know how to pronounce this name the whole way through.

Elif?

I just kept thinking Elf the whole way through.

Bonny (18:06.743) Yeah, tell me.

Betty (18:18.19) You Elif is like the other crazy patient who at the end is like dealing.

Is that how you say it?

I think that's it, it's Elif.

And I was like, I wonder what, well, actually, before I do that, the character of Elif, who do you, it doesn't even sound like a word the more I say it, it's a Turkish name.

How do you imagine that that character looked?

It's obviously female, but it's like described as like quite physically imposing.

So I would imagine like quite big.

Bonny (18:21.463) Yeah.

Yeah.

Bonny (18:47.431) Yeah Betty (18:48.46) We'd say hench.

Fucking hench.

Like she's a big girl.

What I...

So I was like, because I was preparing for today and I was like, I don't know how to say the name, which I still can't remember now.

And I was like, I wonder what the name means.

So bearing in mind, I don't know if this is purposely done by Alex.

I don't think it's meant to be funny, but I think it's either the first letter of the alphabet in Turkish or slender.

just found that really funny.

was like, are you trying to be funny?

Are you trying to be ironic?

And I think maybe not.

Bonny (19:22.297) You know what?

Alex is a bit of a joke.

He's a bit of a jokester, so I can believe that.

Betty (19:26.37) Yeah, that was great.

Yeah, that just really made me laugh.

But she was a bit of a crazy character, especially at the end, the whole drug dealing thing was quite funny to me.

What was the other characters?

Yuri, the other guy that loved all the patients and then was drug dealing to Elif.

By the way, where is she getting the money to pay him off for these drugs?

That's what I want to Bonny (19:44.855) Yep.

Yep.

Betty (19:52.856) Surely he's getting some money.

I think money changed hands at the end.

Bonny (19:53.401) I'm so glad.

Bonny (19:57.113) But if she's dealing, who is she dealing to?

Is she getting money for that?

Betty (20:01.214) so she's taking it on tick and then she's on sleep.

I know.

Bonny (20:03.798) I probably taunt it.

Is that drug dealer term?

Un-sick.

Betty (20:11.978) It is.

Bonny (20:12.468) or consignment Betty (20:16.43) Yeah, but then she's selling to other patients.

So where are they getting the money from?

Whole other story.

Bonny (20:21.113) I don't This is, you know what?

That's one of those plot holes I was talking about.

One of those plot holes.

Maybe they're dealing in jello cups or like puddings or sugar packets.

Sex maybe?

Betty (20:25.582) You Betty (20:31.118) Yeah, but what's Yuri getting out of it then?

I'm sure there was some, with Elif.

What did Yuri look like?

don't know.

No, I'm pretty sure at the end, money changed hands.

I'm not 100 % don't quite be, I read the Christian, what did we think of Christian?

Bonny (20:38.979) With Slender!

Bonny (20:49.721) There you go then.

Bonny (20:56.505) was a twat.

I just, he just, I don't know.

I didn't like the fact that like the more that we learned about Alicia is Alicia, right?

Because I listened to the audio, but I could have sworn they were saying Alicia.

And that's freaking me out.

like, which is Betty (20:57.902) I it was bit exciting.

Betty (21:13.262) Do you know what though my mum is Alicia and that's exactly how you spell her name but other people Who don't know her very well or just know from where it will call her Alicia.

I think even Gemma calls her Alicia people people pronounce Gemma always calls her Alicia Yeah, I can't wait for it to be like no I fucking don't I'm sorry, but I'm sure she does yeah, she's Bonny (21:26.093) Really?

Bonny (21:32.963) with...

Bonny (21:37.953) Let's have a look.

I'm just going to Google that, bad boy.

Yeah, it's Alicia.

Betty (21:40.921) But like, same like, but like, Elise, well, my mum is Alicia, but it is French, so I don't know if it's different, because our nan named all of her kids like French names, didn't she, basically.

But, anywho, I know.

Yeah.

When I was reading it, though, I don't know, this is obviously me being weird, and obviously Alicia's a bit of a mouthful, even in your head.

Bonny (21:55.907) That's so fucking weird, Bonny (22:00.525) Bizarre.

Betty (22:09.358) At the beginning I just kept saying Alice.

Do remember that song?

Alice, Alice, who the fuck is Alice?

24 years, no don't put that in, don't put me in singing.

Do you remember that song though?

Bonny (22:16.793) the fuck is Alice?

yeah Bonny (22:23.165) that's not getting cut.

I don't cut nothing.

It's funny because Christian just was for me the embodiment of the dead husband, like the douche club.

Betty (22:36.109) Yeah.

Bonny (22:37.305) And that's just how I felt about it all the way through.

And I don't like when there's no likeable characters.

I didn't like, I'm to call her Alicia, because I'm pretty sure it's how the audio book was saying it.

I didn't like Alicia.

I did not like Theo.

I did not like the husband.

I did not like Christian.

I didn't like anybody.

And I think that's another reason why I need somebody to like in a book.

And there was no one.

No one.

I didn't feel sympathy for Alicia.

I didn't feel sympathy for Theo.

Betty (22:46.35) That's all right.

Betty (23:01.966) Do you know what I've?

Bonny (23:06.155) I feel sympathy for the dead husband, couldn't give a shit.

Betty (23:10.808) You know what, feel like we've had this conversation before and I think in some books, absolutely you need to like some characters.

But I think with a lot of psychological thrillers, I'm not too fussed if I like them.

I just want to know the story.

And I think this is how we're sometimes different in how we read books.

I don't want to, I don't need to always like really root for a character.

I just want to know, I want to know the answer.

I want to know what happens.

That's my goal.

I don't give a shit if I like them.

I mean, if there's a real arsehole.

I probably like them more because it's more interesting because I'm fucking weird.

But I don't care if I don't like anybody particularly.

Bonny (23:42.83) You all weird.

Bonny (23:49.081) But you do not need somebody to win at the end.

Do you not need there to be some kind of conclusion where things have turned out exactly the way they were supposed to?

Like I understand that Theo, like this is one of the tropes in the book is that he had childhood trauma.

Like there was, there was some horrible things in his childhood that kind of made things the way they were.

But I didn't care.

I didn't care.

Betty (24:14.092) No, I don't care.

I think your question a second ago, I want the truth.

That's it.

I don't care who they are.

I want the truth, yeah.

I have my detective hat on and I'm trying to work out and I wanna read a book and be like, can I guess the end?

And as much as we know Theo is to do with the end and I...

Bonny (24:24.067) Very Sherlock.

Bonny (24:28.025) I don't know, I need something to care about.

Betty (24:41.108) I was sure that Alicia was absolutely, she didn't actually do it.

And I was sure it was Theo the whole time.

And I thought that was the twist.

When I think I got to about chapter six and then I remembered our conversation was like, she's asked if I've worked out.

And I'm like, well, yeah, it's Theo.

It's quite clearly that he's involved in it, even though we're not supposed to think he is.

But then I'm like, are we supposed to think he is?

But then at the end, obviously we've got a different story.

Bonny (25:03.639) Yeah.

Yeah.

Betty (25:05.504) So I'm like, did I literally, I feel like I might've literally walked down exactly the path that Alex wanted me to.

And I was.

Bonny (25:12.153) Yeah, you did.

He laid you like a little flipper.

He laid you.

See, I- Betty (25:16.288) I was going to say little bitch, but yeah, he alleged me.

Bonny (25:19.299) It's funny because I always thought she did it.

Betty (25:24.108) No?

Bonny (25:24.353) I always, you know why though, because I've read so many bloody books where it's really hard to commit somebody of a crime if there's not physical evidence.

And because they didn't tell us why they put her away, like gunpowder residue on the hands, or they didn't give us any of that information, I knew she did it.

I knew.

Because all they said was that, that her lawyer managed to convince them that she wasn't within her right mind.

Betty (25:45.922) Did she actually go to Bonny (25:51.907) Well, that tells me that they had evidence to prove that she did do it.

Betty (25:56.3) Fuck, I missed that.

Bonny (25:57.901) Yeah, but that's why I was like, by chapter four, because I'm like, I didn't understand where Theo came into it until chapter four, when she flew at him and I'm like, she knows you motherfucker.

She knows she knows you and that's why you're fucking scared right now.

And I'm like, you were there.

Now I thought there was a good chance that maybe they were having an affair and that she was so doped up.

Like I didn't have the complete specifics.

Betty (26:09.026) Yeah.

Betty (26:19.81) Bonny (26:24.355) But then as we, and as the story went on with Cathy, I'm like, you know what?

Something's really weird here.

Something's really weird, but I knew full well that she had committed that murder, chapter four, I knew it.

I had no shadow of a doubt that it wasn't her.

Betty (26:36.546) I saw- You've just called me Sherlock, but you are because you've picked that up, that one little thing.

Cause I didn't even really think, I don't even remember reading that she went, no, she didn't go to prison.

She went straight to the night house.

They've convinced her.

I've totally glazed over that.

But actually, you're really clever.

You should join the police, I think.

Bonny (27:00.281) They have really horrible coffee.

Bonny (27:04.857) That was the one thing I do remember is that the police here, for example, are just like, the coffee sucks.

Betty (27:11.008) say that, it's always on TV, innit?

The coffee's always shit.

Bonny (27:13.185) Yeah, like they're always eating donuts and drinking coffee.

I'd be really fat then.

Betty (27:16.108) You are police not deserve nice coffee.

Buy your own fucking donuts by the way, but coffee?

Come on.

It's like a rite of passage.

Bonny (27:19.352) Yes.

Yeah, come on.

But no, I just, I knew, I knew, I knew she did it because it takes so much.

The defense, it's the prosecution's job to prove they did it.

It's the defense's job to sit there and have them basically lay out the crime.

So they had to have done that because otherwise if her defense lawyer was worth their weight in salt, they wouldn't have taken that deal.

So I knew she did it.

I knew she did it.

Betty (27:47.725) Wow, you're amazing.

Did not pick that up.

I'd like to know if anyone else picks this up, by the way.

If you did, comment on this episode, because I would like to know how many super sleuths we've got listening, because I totally did not get there.

I was convinced it was Theo, but can we do the twist now?

Because when it happens at the end, right, and we know that Theo is now, Theo's found out that Kathy's cheating on him.

Bonny (27:52.334) Sorry.

Bonny (28:01.113) I just read too many of these.

Bonny (28:08.579) Go ahead.

Betty (28:16.716) He's followed, he's seen Cafe with Gabriel.

As soon as that happened, I was like, I knew who it was and I knew what had happened at that point.

And I knew it was him following them home and he was the stalker.

It clicked very quickly, but it's obvious because he's basically kind of, he's already led me there.

Do know what mean?

I didn't work anything out.

Yeah.

But when the end happened and he was in there, I fully thought that he was going to be the one that did it.

But then I was like, but how did she get free?

Bonny (28:30.713) in the same.

Betty (28:42.902) And then all these little, cause it happens not like really fast, but it does happen quite quickly when you find out.

obviously he shoots, he shoots the gun once and then he leaves and he leaves her with the gun.

Why did he leave the gun by the way?

Bonny (28:57.721) because he wanted her to kill him.

He was gonna do it.

He was gonna strangle him and kill him.

But he literally psychologically manipulated her into doing it because, yeah, he did, because he turned around and said, you can save her, like you can only save one of you to Gabriel.

And he didn't say a damn word.

So Alicia knew that he would rather, he's not gonna say anything because he can kill her.

Betty (29:08.654) Do you think you can it?

Betty (29:18.83) Hmm.

Betty (29:27.022) I like what Alex does when he brings in the Greek mythology things.

Like it was in The Maidens when we read that.

That was one of our second episodes if you want to go back and listen to that if you enjoyed Alex's book.

But the whole story with, I don't know how to say this fucking name, Elicitus and Admeto, I can't say them.

There's a name in the book and it's basically a Greek mythological, it's a Greek play, right?

Bonny (29:27.203) Gabriel didn't care.

Bonny (29:33.027) Mm-hmm.

Betty (29:56.111) It's not just the Prosecco, I actually can't speak.

It's a Greek play, which is actually, I think it's quite an unusual one because it happens and it has like a bit of a happier ending rather than like a tragedy.

But in the play, the guy's going to die, but he can sub someone out to die for him.

He's a king.

He asks his parents and the parents are like, nah, not doing it.

And his wife volunteers.

Bonny (30:17.292) Exactly.

Betty (30:25.474) So the wife does die and then he's really sad and then Hercules saves her and brings and fights someone to bring him back from the dead, but she can't speak for three days.

So I'm guessing the whole idea from this book comes from that.

And he's like, I imagine he's very into like Greek tragedies and stuff.

And I quite like the spin that he does and uses that because it actually makes me go and learn something.

I mean, I can't learn the names, but I can learn what happens.

Cause I wasn't into, I've never, looked into Greek things, the Roman things, apart from things you learn in primary school.

So actually it gives me, not homework, that's the wrong word, but it gives me something to go and think about afterwards and I look into the story, which I think is quite cool.

Do you like that, Burz books?

Bonny (31:10.377) I I like the way that he puts his stories together.

I actually quite enjoyed that as well.

It's very poetic.

but the thing, okay.

So for me, the pacing of the book was like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, And then all of a sudden he rushed to the end.

It was like all the excitement happened in the last like part of the book.

And I feel like that if he'd kept the pace and then gave us this big explosion, it would have impacted me more.

I was like, great, whatever.

I'm glad this is over.

Betty (31:18.496) Hmm.

Betty (31:40.366) I really thought Theo was gonna be the one to do it and then what I kind of what not I liked Sounds weird.

What I liked is that she didn't even have like a second thought She just kind of stood up and just shot him five times in the face.

She's quite Bonny (31:40.377) painful.

Bonny (31:54.649) Yeah.

Because he was willing to let her die because he was a dirty fucking cheat.

So not only was he cheating on her with somebody else and treating her really poorly because he was a fucking terrible husband, this guy's like, you can, you can save her life by exchanging places.

And he didn't do it.

Could you imagine as a wife finding out that there's a man in your house because your husband's a fucking whore and that he wouldn't even save your life for the mistake he made?

Fuck that!

I would have shot him 10 times.

Betty (32:22.55) No, absolutely not.

The other thing to add to it is it's really triggering for her because she overheard her dad say when she was younger because her mum died and she overheard her dad say to her aunt, I wish that my kid had died rather than my wife.

That's got to be brutal.

Like what kind of asshole says that?

I was going to go with the C word then, but I'm trying to be good today.

Yeah.

Bonny (32:24.377) I've kicked him in the nuts!

Betty (32:50.154) That's gotta be fucking brutal, innit?

Bonny (32:52.245) horrible.

It's, it's, it's abuse.

Okay, there's no other way around it is, is abuse.

And he's supposed to be the one person she has in the whole entire world that's supposed to love her no matter what.

That's, that's her person.

And to know that your husband's a dirty fucking skank as well.

Like, I'm sorry.

Like if that was if I cheated on Mike, I would never do that.

If I cheat on Mike, and then the woman, or man, the wife, yeah, the wife came in and was like, Hey, you can save your husband after you slept with mine.

Betty (33:03.864) Yeah, Bonny (33:21.849) by letting me kill you, I go, yes, I deserve this.

Why should he die for my mistake?

Betty (33:26.05) You can always put yourself in the firing line over someone that you love that much, which it just kind of proves that didn't love her, which we already knew because he was fucking cheating on her, because if you love someone, don't fucking do that.

Bonny (33:30.039) Yeah.

Exactly.

Bonny (33:36.173) You don't fucking cheat, ever.

You have a conversation that you're not happy and you fucking leave.

Betty (33:39.31) So in the whole, we know now that Alicia pulled the trigger, but who's more to blame in this story?

Is it Theo or is it Alicia?

Because he gave her the gun, he set her up.

Bonny (33:55.277) And he is, he's not, okay, so the way it works in actual crimes is that he is an accessory to the fact, accessory to the crime, because he knew it was gonna happen.

He provided the weapon.

He could still go to jail for that.

He would be liable for that.

Betty (34:09.29) as long as what she would...

Bonny (34:11.395) But if that was me, okay, and someone come into my house and did this on like Mike in the situation, I know I wouldn't pull that trigger.

I'd be like, we are done.

We are over.

Like you don't.

Betty (34:24.15) Yeah, I think the only reason that she done it is she already had all this other built-up trauma.

I don't think anyone else in their right mind.

I think you both just be quite relieved that you're still both alive.

You wouldn't be like, actually, motherfucker, bang.

Like, normal person wouldn't do that.

But that's what I'm saying.

Who's more to blame?

Because he doesn't know she's got this pre-existing, like, mental trauma.

Bonny (34:38.605) Yeah, exactly!

Don't go fucking...

No.

Betty (34:50.924) So they're both to blame, aren't they?

It's not just one, but she's the one that pulled the trigger.

And then just kept her mouth shut for you because of the trauma.

Bonny (34:57.102) now.

Yeah.

But I think had, if you think about the logic here, okay.

So she had been in a courtroom and she remembered there was a person there.

That's why, if you could say, never could explain why there was a sixth shot.

Like if you remember that it was six shots, but only five hit him.

She managed to hit him five times in the face, but one went awry.

Like, no, that was a big clue right there.

Now she had been in her mind to say there was somebody there.

They, he didn't want to save me.

Betty (35:17.548) Yeah.

Bonny (35:30.073) and I snapped and I shot him, she would have got a much lesser sentence because there would have been somebody else comparable for that.

But she still would have gone to jail.

That wouldn't have changed anything.

Now she would have ended up in an asylum, but they would have rehabilitated her enough.

But it didn't look like to me that that asylum was even doing that.

They were drugging them out of their fucking eyeballs and leaving them to it.

Betty (35:39.692) Yeah.

Betty (35:49.346) No.

And it was kind of getting run down, wasn't it?

One of the sort of big things in the book is, so he's left one, like this great job to go to this shit job.

And they're like, we might get shut down soon, which was like another massive red flag.

It's like, you wouldn't jump ship to that.

Like you've got a massive agenda.

But I think that's what the awful was trying to do.

It's like, I'm setting Theo up and I totally fell for it, but it is actually her and you don't believe it's her because she's just silent as if like she's like bearing, but I liked it.

Bonny (36:13.112) Yeah.

Bonny (36:19.607) Yeah, but she also, I know, but if you look at her, like for me, this was one of my big problems with the book too.

So she was more of a concept as far as I was concerned.

She didn't feel like a real character.

There was no real definition.

She was an interesting idea, if you like.

She stopped speaking after she commits this crime.

I really enjoyed that part of it.

But when they start taking her off the meds, she does get really fucking violent.

If you look at what, like she attacks, she sticks.

Betty (36:48.184) It's totally fucked.

Bonny (36:48.953) Come on, she sticks a fucking paintbrush in her eyeball!

Betty (36:53.102) RAAAA- Bonny (36:55.521) tells you right there that she's really unglued.

she's not...

She didn't just suit somebody and that was it.

Like, she's got violent undertones to her whole persona.

Betty (36:59.17) Thank you.

Betty (37:07.34) Yeah, 100%.

yeah, she's totally mental, but I feel like she already had this in her and then what happened awakened it in her.

They've drugged her and it's like, it's not gone.

She's still absolutely fucking batshit crazy.

What did you think about, sorry, I'm gonna change the subject.

What did you think about the neighbor, Barbie?

Bonny (37:21.753) She's bonks.

Bonny (37:28.661) I liked her.

I liked her.

Actually, I lied.

There is somebody I liked.

I really enjoyed her.

Betty (37:38.178) Yeah, but do know what?

Me sat here with a drink.

She's my kind of girl, isn't she?

But her name made me laugh a little bit.

It's probably like Barbara rather than Barbie, just, you know.

Bonny (37:48.951) Yeah.

But it's funny because like, really, I really despised, like I liked what happened to Gabriel at the end because listening to, cause I think, you know why I went from one star to two star, I really enjoyed Alicia's diary.

And I actually, for the most part trusted the things that she was saying.

And when she was talking about like, there's somebody watching, right?

Like there's, somebody there and the only person who believed her was Barbie.

Betty (38:20.108) Yeah, that's true.

Didn't think of it like that.

I just liked her as like the annoying nosy neighbour who just wants to have fun and come round for a drink and she's like, fuck off.

Fuck off, you're a...

I know.

Bonny (38:29.187) would be me, I think.

I think that would be me if I didn't have like really quiet freaks living here besides.

Betty (38:37.318) no, I've got a great neighbor, one side.

Bonny (38:39.021) Yeah.

no, I've got like these two, these two young people moved in next door.

They're so fucking quiet.

They're half the time.

I'm certain they don't live there.

And we have all people this side and all he keeps doing is complaining about the fence.

Betty (38:54.318) They've got not much else to think about as problem.

Bonny (38:57.879) Nah, well he's retired.

The lady actually was the librarian at my kid's school when my older two were at school.

And she was like, that math you always used to return books with stuff in it.

Like, know, a piece of paper or like a dirty tissue.

I'm like, chip wrapper.

Betty (39:11.374) sorry.

I think they never returned any of their books when they left the school.

A couple of years later, they started secondary school.

I having a clear out in their room and I must have found so many books that are all stamped with the school's name and I was like, how has this happened?

That was embarrassing.

That was...

Bonny (39:29.901) We get notices, we get notices.

Thomas, I forgot, but I took it off of him and put it up on the shelf because he'll ruin it.

And the school librarians sent me an email, like, hey, Thomas has not returned this book.

Betty (39:43.754) I wish they did that to me at the time because that's a lot of books that was here.

Bonny (39:49.357) Like they're on you man, they're on ya.

And you have to pay for them if you don't return them.

Betty (39:54.986) no, that doesn't happen here.

Bonny (39:55.769) $40 Betty (39:58.479) It's thirty dollars for one book.

Forty?

Tell them to f*** off!

Bonny (39:59.769) 40!

40!

Yeah!

Because it's what?

It's library-bound books, right?

Like, for kids that have got grubby fingers and spill shit on them.

Anyway, we really digress there.

Betty (40:11.694) We have digress, sorry about that.

I just wanted to mention really quickly, because I quite enjoyed the Maidens.

I would say, I don't know what I rated Maidens, I would say it was probably three to four stars.

This one I enjoyed four stars.

He has got a third book called The Fury.

Have you read it?

I feel like you have.

Bonny (40:27.353) I know I've read it.

did.

I'm part of Celadon.

I'm part of their influencer program and they do reading groups where they buddy up different bookstagrammers and we read it together before it comes out.

Yeah, I did the Furious for that one.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's great.

Betty (40:41.966) nice.

Oh that's a nice thing.

I wanted to check that book because I was like right two because I didn't know how many books he had I think he's just got the three right.

Bonny (40:52.227) I think so, yeah.

Betty (40:54.19) As far as I know, as far as I've only like Amazoned and like Googled a bit.

But I was like, does every book have something to do with Greeks?

Cause I think he's Greek Cypriot.

And the Fury, I didn't read a lot of it, but I will keep an eye on it.

I'm not going to get it just yet because I went to the charity book shops today.

I went to two and I come out with eight books.

So I need to, I need to read them as well as all the Kindle books, as well as all the other ones that I've already bought this year that I haven't read.

Yeah, it's set in Greece, so I do presume that it is that.

So if you like that vibe and you like Alex's books, I would definitely recommend doing that one if you haven't already done The Maidens as well.

would you recommend his books actually?

you liked The Maidens?

Yeah.

Bonny (41:36.471) I liked The Maidens, The Fury was better.

That was his, for me, I'm pretty sure I gave that one 4.5 stars.

I'm not saying that he's not a brilliant author.

I'm not saying that at all.

I just, there was a lot of problems with this book.

It was a debut.

So this was, so The Silent Patient was his debut novel.

I could see the problems.

I think it was mis-genreed and I really fucking hate that.

But the, yeah, The Maidens was great.

The Fury was brilliant.

So yeah, I highly recommend him.

It's the same thing with Gone Girl.

I just didn't like that one book by that one author.

Betty (42:11.182) And this is a perfect case of if you don't like one book by one author, it shouldn't...

author?

Did I say that right?

If you like your woffers, then that's gone even worse.

Try another book because it doesn't always mean that they're...

especially if they're actually like...

and I don't mean this against anyone who's self-published, but sometimes the writing matters.

So if they're properly published as well, probably you might like another one.

Bonny (42:15.341) Yeah.

What?

Alpha?

Alpha!

awkward Bonny (42:26.157) Yes.

Betty (42:38.542) Not saying that against anyone self-published because the same thing might do but if with self-published it might be that you didn't enjoy the writing is was my point rather than not liking people that are self-published.

Wow I nearly got myself in a right little muddle then.

Oh my god I love it.

I know.

I was just fucking sock in my mouth and shut me up.

Bonny (42:51.499) You are digging a hole, mate.

You are digging a fucking hole.

Bonny (43:00.097) I understand what you're trying to say though.

didn't, Alex's writing style is great and so is Gillian Flynn's, but it was just something about those two specific books that really rubbed me the wrong way and I just couldn't get past it.

Betty (43:01.218) Yeah.

Betty (43:13.112) Just for anyone who did listen to Gone Girl, and I don't know if I moaned about this on the pods, the price of the Kindle book, and then the price of the actual book, and I don't know if I told the story, if I did walk from my house to a charity bookshop, I couldn't find the book.

I wanted to go into town and I was like, can't be arsed, it's probably only like four quid on the Kindle, I'll just buy it.

I went to said charity bookshop today, and it doesn't mean it was there, but it was fucking there today and it really rolled me to the point that I sensed the video about the- Bonny (43:19.256) You did.

Bonny (43:38.841) I would have bought it though, but I would have still bought it.

You really enjoyed it.

should have had it up on the shelf.

Betty (43:45.326) No, it aggravated me, it actually annoyed me, but I did buy eight other books, so I'm good.

Bonny (43:52.845) That's good news.

I have like 10 pre-orders.

So I'm already ahead of you.

I've got five books coming from Book of the Month.

I haven't read my last two boxes of books.

They're just gonna sit there rotting.

Betty (44:05.556) I've got so many lined up on my Kindle.

I've also, I keep trying to remind my daughter that if you like, there is an author that she likes that we like the inheritance game series.

She's just been flying through them this week.

She's flown through them and the sixth book is not out yet, but she does another series called The Naturals.

Jennifer Lin something, I think her name is.

And I said to her, we're going to go on holiday in the distant future.

And I was like, you should get them on the Kindle, like it's free.

Bonny (44:15.445) love that.

Betty (44:35.458) And then I think then she was like, so I can just, and I was like, yeah, so I've downloaded some already for her and a couple of others.

It's going to get her into Kindle reading.

But what that would do to me is that would stop me having so many books on download, which is going to fuck me right off.

Not gonna lie.

I like it.

I like it when they read more rather than YouTubing or whatever.

The Roblox I think is something.

Or no, that might be an after thing actually.

Bonny (44:41.625) guys.

Bonny (44:50.891) Yeah, it's not fun.

Bonny (45:02.251) yeah yes Betty (45:05.378) I might be talking absolute shit.

I think like YouTube and just I'd rather they read than was just watching TV sometimes.

So yeah.

Bonny (45:09.635) TikTok.

Although I don't know if you get it where you are, but we just found out here that you can get Audible cheaper.

So I think it's like $8 a month when normally it's like 15, but you can have access to their library.

You can't get the new books, but they have a really big library of audio books that you can listen to.

And I don't know whether it's worth signing up to have a look at the catalog or not, but I'm thinking eight bucks ain't bad for a full reign of like all the stuff that's free.

So there's thousands of audio books in there.

Betty (45:40.224) I if it's that cheap here.

I've done, I don't actually know, but I've done a free...

Bonny (45:45.081) No, just, just, they just did it.

It's a new tier.

It just came out.

It's a brand new tier on Audible where you can just have, so you don't get credits anymore.

You just have access to their main hub library.

I don't know how much it would be for you, but it's only like eight bucks.

Betty (46:00.399) Because Kindle Unlimited, I know not every book's on there but a lot of very popular books are on there right?

When I did Audible I found it hard to find books that I was thinking of at the time I'm not saying that they don't have loads of great books and I struggled with the one credit thing because then all the other ones that you didn't that didn't require a credit and there was like in their back catalogue was like people I didn't really know but I feel really sure that I found Theresa Driscoll on there and I quite enjoyed some of her books I don't know if you've heard of her or read any of hers, but I back to back a couple of her books because I quite enjoyed it.

So I used to just go out walking in the mornings and I did that, but I didn't keep up the audiobooks.

So I think it was more than akin to Unlimited.

And it was like, you get one book that you can pick.

I think I did some Ruth Jones.

I did a Ruth Jones book on there, which was great.

If you're in Canada, are you?

Bonny (46:50.143) Okay.

Yes, it's six, it's six quid for you if you don't get a credit, but honestly, why wouldn't it's six quid for you for just the catalog or 899 with a credit.

So we get so jipped here because it's like 16 with a credit or eight without.

Betty (47:06.642) I just didn't find a lot of authors that I actually knew.

was sort of so excited and that was my problem with it.

there was, especially now, because I do actually audio book a lot just to get in stuff for this pod when we do our mini pods.

If you haven't listened to our mini pods, go and listen to them.

We like to think that we're funny.

We are funny.

We don't try, we just talk absolute bollocks.

Bonny (47:09.913) Bonny (47:18.434) Yeah.

Bonny (47:26.307) We are funny.

Bonny (47:31.661) Yeah, pretty much.

Betty (47:32.227) But yeah, I got a bit put off with Audible, but that sounds really good.

I will definitely be interested to have another look, because I do Audible a lot.

But I also do utilise Libby as well.

Also, I will shout out John Miles.

I know I do this a lot, but John Miles in the UK, when he does a book on Kindle Unlimited, he also gives the Audible version.

And I fucking love that.

I love that.

A few other people do as well.

I'm reading a book at the minute called Unspeakable Things.

We're going really off topic, and you can cut this if you want, but.

Bonny (47:52.173) Yeah, we don't get that hit.

We don't get Betty (48:02.254) Unspeakable Things, I'm quite enjoying that and that is also audible but I'm actually reading it.

This is my bedtime book, which sounds weird for a quite messed up book.

But yeah, I like it when authors basically add the audible to the Kindle Unlimited, please.

Let's do that more and let's do it for our Canadian and USA friends as well if they don't get it.

Oh, it's just the computer.

Bonny (48:19.993) They do do it in the USA.

They actually get pretty much all of it.

It's just Canada, it's zero.

There's none.

None.

We get finger shafted really hard.

Betty (48:29.038) Eww.

Bonny (48:35.425) Yeah.

Fingershafted.

So you don't even get the sensation.

It's like trying to hot dog dinner.

Betty (48:43.21) The ritual that I just got from that, I'm lucky that I didn't take a mouthful of drink because that would have gone everywhere.

Thank you very much.

Bonny (48:48.675) Now know how it feels when you do that to me.

But let's just round up the last of this book, okay?

The ending is where everyone's so-called magic is.

I don't think that it's a plot twist when they literally just withheld all the information.

I don't.

The whole point of a plot twist is that there is little pieces of information that you glean all the way through.

Now I only found out, it's only because of how my brain works, I even realized what had happened for the majority of it, but there was no clues.

Betty (48:55.533) Yes.

Bonny (49:18.883) To have a plot twist, there has to be clues in there.

There has to be.

To have a book that just withholds all the information until the end is not a plot twist.

And that is my biggest problem with this book is that that's not a plot twist if you gave no hint towards it.

It doesn't work like that.

That's not how the trope works.

It isn't.

Like you ask any author, you're supposed to put clues.

Betty (49:41.814) I suppose again, it might depend what kind of reader you are because to me that was a twist.

I was like, my God, I was right.

It was Theo and then bam, he leaves, bam, she does it, bam, plot twist.

That to me was a twist because I was...

Bonny (49:53.561) No, that's not a plot twist.

That's withheld information.

All they did was withhold information from you.

And that's not how plot twists are supposed to work.

Betty (50:02.722) To me, it done the job because I was sure that it was one thing, then I knew it was Theo, and then I knew it wasn't Theo.

So that to me was the twist.

And I was quite happy with it.

I am.

Bonny (50:13.635) It's so easy to please.

It's so easy to please.

But sometimes you're like, yeah, I like that book, Freestyle.

And I'm like, you are such a conundrum because I can never predict what you're going to say.

Do you know that?

I can never predict what you're going to say.

Betty (50:26.51) I don't think I ever really thought about it until we started talking about this more I used to go off of the vibe and how I felt so if I'm glued to a book Certain books I'm absolutely glued to like check out next week's pod as well by the way because there is one on there that we will talk about and it's really good to check that out, but Some of them I'm so glued to that even if if it's not like perfect and it didn't all line up I would I could still five-star that book because I was hooked the whole time and I couldn't stop reading it Bonny (50:55.534) Yeah.

Betty (50:55.564) I'm very much, don't know if you call that vibe region or mood region, I just feel like it's how I felt at the time.

Yeah, is it vibe?

Bonny (51:00.665) You vibin'.

Yeah, you vibin'.

Yeah.

That's how people review now too.

Like this was something I had to get my head around.

I used to, you used to have to break it down into like formats, but now it's like, how did it make you feel?

What did that make you feel?

How did you feel about that?

Now, because apparently that's how people buy books.

Now I do it cover.

I do the cover.

I'm a vibe for covers.

If the covers doesn't vibe with me, I will most likely not buy it.

Betty (51:20.408) What are you?

sorry.

Mmm.

Bonny (51:30.499) Gotta pass the vibe check.

Betty (51:30.67) Yeah, I think you're in a bookshop, you get brought in by the cover first, right?

That's just standard.

But if I knew the author though, if I knew the author and was like, oh, that's the new, I've mentioned John Miles, so I say John Miles.

But I hated the cover, I'd be like, oh, but I like his writing.

So I would pick that.

But if it was someone I didn't know, that I might not pick it up because I don't know.

Yeah, I like a window.

Bonny (51:36.739) Yeah, well look at that, okay?

Bonny (51:52.941) Yeah.

You win this shot.

It's window shopping.

It's interesting.

And it's actually a psychology, which is why when books, I'm not saying that all books do this, but apparently the reason that they started doing a lot of the sprayed edges were for books that weren't selling.

So it's like, Hey, this one's now out with a sprayed edge because people like me and I have done it by it because it's fucking sprayed.

And it's like a mindset.

Betty (52:18.682) Surely people want a sprayed edge though as well or is it just you know what I think it might be these books are maybe not like when they did the Hunger Games so to get people to buy all of the books we'll be like here's the new book but also buy it the newspaper and it's sprayed my friend at work did it and they're very beautiful Bonny (52:22.766) Yes.

Bonny (52:39.735) Yeah, they are.

They're stunning.

But they also did the Twilight ones with the white covers.

I own Twilight.

Why the fuck do I want to name white covers?

It's sitting in my Amazon cart.

And I keep thinking about it.

I'm never going to read Twilight again.

But it's just, I don't know.

It's psychology.

And it works.

It really works.

Betty (52:49.24) Come.

Betty (52:57.486) you have to avoid it, they wouldn't do it on a book that like wasn't even really doing well.

has to be, I'm not saying like big blockbuster books, but it has to be a book that can do well to reach out.

Yeah.

Bonny (53:05.005) Well, not like, that's why they, but that's why they do the sprayed edges.

I'm telling you right now.

And like, Betty (53:11.752) to get more poetry by the same fucking book.

It's clever.

Bonny (53:14.937) or to even encourage people to buy it the first time round.

I've got a book up there called The Hearth King.

It sounds terrible.

I'm not going to fucking read that, but it's sprayed, so it's sitting up there.

Because it was on Book Outlet.

Book Outlet had it on their sale, their $8 sale.

And I'm like, fuck it, I need free shipping.

So I dumped it in.

And it's pretty, it's up there.

But I did like, and this is like, this is classic Stacey.

I have, Betty (53:19.095) OK.

Bonny (53:43.929) fourth wing books so I have what like two regular ones and then the limited edition spray one with the dragons and I've got like them turned in so it says fourth wing dragons iron flame dragons onyx storm and now I'm like well I need an onyx storm to turn the dragons out when book four comes out Mike's like oh my god but that means I've got two copies of each fucking book Betty (54:02.414) it's setting it up.

they're setting it up well.

You need to show me this later.

Bonny (54:09.976) Yeah, well.

was but I still only gave okay so I still only gave it two stars I was hoping Betty (54:17.71) But because of genre misrecognition, not because you didn't like the book.

And I think that's important that people know that.

Bonny (54:23.929) Yes.

Yes.

But I also think it's important for authors and publishers to get the genres correct.

If it had said it's a mystery thriller with psychological blah, blah after, I wouldn't have gone in with a certain mindset.

And once Stacey makes up her Leo brain, Stacey's Leo brain is like, fuck you.

So yeah, I think you're right.

If it had come out as a mystery thriller, I probably would have been more like, because the mystery would have been where it was.

Betty (54:44.142) Yeah.

Bonny (54:53.945) waiting for the twists and the turns and it amps up and then it slows back and it pulls you in and pulls you back out again.

Betty (55:02.402) Yeah, I do understand what you mean because I've definitely had books that do that to me and I don't think this does that to you but there's certainly a lot of intrigue and lot of mystery and a lot of questions.

So yeah, I do agree with you.

I think if you're like me that you're not a reader that goes in like fully like I want this book to be this.

I think anything that's classified a thriller I'm like, I like it, I'm cool.

Bonny (55:13.847) Yeah.

Bonny (55:26.061) Yeah.

That's- Bonny (55:31.649) Yeah.

But you're not, what do you expect from a thriller?

If I said to you, I have a thriller book.

What does your mind conjure when I say the word thriller?

What are you expecting?

Betty (55:32.439) it.

Betty (55:41.806) I'm expecting to wonder what's happening, not know what's happening.

And to wonder what's happening now.

Yeah.

Bonny (55:46.261) Okay.

And that's it.

That's all you expect.

Yeah.

That's all you expect.

Whereas for me, I've built up this expectation in my head, which is one of the reasons why now when I get art copies of books, I look to see what the title is and what genre they've placed it in.

And I take that with a grain of salt because NetGalley right now calls mystery thrillers together.

So I don't even have an anticipation of what I'm reading because I find I get really depressed.

Now the silent patient after reading it and hating it, when I read Because I read The Fury next, that was my second book in his world.

I went in expecting to it not to be a thriller.

So I went in with no expectations and I really fucking enjoyed it.

So I think that's why I have to go in blind because otherwise I preconceived notions and I get really salty.

Betty (56:33.962) I do get that because if someone says to you, my god, this is the best thing you'll ever read, the best, best, best, best, best, and then you read it you're like, what?

And as well, if you tell someone, like if you're recommending a book, I read this, read this, someone read this and they was like, I told her how good all the twists are in this book.

And then that person went in reading going, I'm looking for all these twists.

Be careful when you're recommending books of how much you, I wouldn't say amp it.

Bonny (56:42.125) Yeah.

Bonny (56:55.48) Yeah.

Betty (57:01.43) like how much you like amping it up, but how much you're telling like what might come because then it does kind of ruin the vibe.

And I really do understand what you're saying, but I do still think you're fucking wrong.

It was a good book.

Bonny (57:15.775) in with a different mindset this time and I still couldn't get on board with it.

No, I just, I didn't.

I was glad it was over.

It wasn't like Gongo painful.

Okay.

If I had to put it in a battle with who's going to win Gongo or Silent Patient, Silent Patient, like there is no competition there.

But with Gongo, I could actually see, no, the Gongo, I could see the genius in what?

Betty (57:19.714) Good to know.

Betty (57:33.422) We're gonna ask people what one is.

Betty (57:37.912) I don't know.

It feels better than the silent patient.

Bonny (57:42.361) No, silent patient was better than Gong Girl.

But no, see, we're always going to have fucking fists aduking.

For me, Gong Girl, I could see what the author was trying to do.

Silent patient, I could see that they did it by just withholding information and I didn't appreciate that either.

Gong Girl, at least she dropped the clues.

were hints.

If you had looked, you saw the droplets of her trying to lead you in one direction, but really the truth was there as well.

Betty (58:04.632) Yeah.

Bonny (58:12.035) Whereas this book, he just withheld it from you and I think that's really shitty.

Again, he didn't even tell us there were two timelines.

So I don't agree with that.

You're never going to convince me of that.

But now I know what he gets up to.

Betty (58:21.538) It was.

Yeah.

Bonny (58:25.385) I don't know.

I don't know.

I still Betty (58:27.66) I quite like that we're disagreeing on books because for the first however many episodes we've done, we're actually quite similar in taste.

And the last couple, so like on the fence of like these popular book.

If you haven't worked this out, we've gone through sort of books that we like, and then we've gone to books that we think that people might enjoy listening to more like ones that are a bit more, you know, like Gongo, like a bit iconic, like it was quite a big thing.

The silent patient was a big thing.

We've started kind of do that.

Bonny (58:35.042) Yeah.

Bonny (58:38.392) You know what?

Betty (58:56.352) And for some reason, this is where we differ.

Like if you go back and listen to our episodes of How to Kill Men and Get Away with It, that's a really popular one that we do.

We both love that style of book, don't we?

We both really enjoyed it.

So it's quite funny now, and probably a little bit more interesting for us as well, that we have these different takes, and I'm quite enjoying it.

Bonny (59:14.265) Well, you know what, I can't wait to do Verity because I get the feeling again, like I quite enjoyed Verity.

I have a very specific opinion about that book.

I also know that some people reread it and changed their minds.

So I'm interested to see how I'm going to feel about a book you've never read.

And there's this whole story about like, is it team manuscript or team letter?

And the internet was divided on it.

And it's brilliant because the author never tells you.

She leaves it up to you to decide.

Betty (59:38.818) Bye.

Go go.

So I'm going into this book blind, as in I've only heard what people have said.

And to be honest, around me, I haven't heard good vibes.

So I'm going into this, we're doing this the next one, right?

So like in a couple of weeks, is this our next plan?

Should we make it?

Yeah.

Bonny (59:53.059) No.

Bonny (59:57.273) Yeah, I think it was, wasn't it?

Yeah, I think we did pick Farity by Colin Hoover.

Betty (01:00:04.13) Let's do this the next plan.

I'm going in.

haven't read any Colin Hoover for one.

I don't actually even know what this book is about.

Bonny (01:00:11.991) Okay, so Colin Hoover writes romance books, like toxic romance books.

This is not that.

Betty (01:00:15.598) okay, good, because that's not my vibe.

But yeah, so if you wanna check us out for our next main pod episode, main pod is always where we do like a massive book review like this one.

So we always do that every other week.

And then next week will be our mini pod where we try and pick like four to six different books depending on how much time we've got.

And we talk to you about different books but we don't spoil them once or we try not to anyway.

So make sure you go and listen to all the different variations of stuff that we do.

Bonny (01:00:44.291) We've also Bonny (01:00:49.727) And we're gonna be doing our top three thrillers of the year so far and our bottom three thrillers of the year so far as well, just to give you a little break in what we're getting up to.

Betty (01:00:59.63) This is going to be really hard for me.

Like I've been thinking about this and I'm obviously not going to drop no many books now.

You're going to have to tune in in the next few weeks to find out our top three and low three.

I already know some of my lows and if you've been listening, you'll know as well.

But top three, I'm sort of struggling a little bit.

Bonny (01:01:17.859) Well, you're gonna have to do it.

You're gonna have to do it.

Betty (01:01:21.432) We're gonna do it.

So make sure you tune in.

Also, if you like the vibes, if you're enjoying listening to us, don't forget to like, share, subscribe, comment, do all that bollocks.

You know the one we've told you many times, especially share with your friends, especially book clubs.

Let people know and let us know in the comments what you think.

Bonny (01:01:41.315) Yep, and you should definitely come and get the more unhinged stuff on our Patreon, which is Book Slayers with Betty and Bonnie.

We hope that you guys have the reading week you deserve and we hope that you'll catch us next week.

Take care, readers.

Betty (01:01:51.982) See you soon!

Bonny (01:01:54.553) That's like your

Book Slayers

The Silent Patient Review: Genius or Overhyped? (Deep Dive + Plot Twist Breakdown)

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