The Stats
📖 BOOK REVIEW⠀📚
BOOK: The Maidens
AUTHOR: Alex Michaelides @alex.michaelides
Publisher: Celadon Books @celadonbooks
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ + 🐰
Published: June 15, 2021
The Review
✨ The Title/Cover Draw:
- I adored The Silent Patient so this was on my must list. Thank you to @netgalley , @librofm and Celadon Books for letting me read this in advance of publication. Today is publication day!
💜 What I liked:
- That ending though! So many twists I didn’t see coming! I suspected everyone except the truth. Also there are some nice Silent Patient crossovers.
😱 What I didn’t like:
- This is a slower paced thriller, and when it was about 60% in, I felt like there wasn’t a lot that had happened (actionwise). It all comes together though, so don’t let that deter you!
💁♀️ The Characters:
- Reeling from the death of her husband, Sebastian, Mariana receives a call from her niece Zoe, whose roommate is also found dead. Mariana travels to help, and starts to suspect professor Edward Fosca is behind it all.
🚦 My face at the end: 🙀 +☠️
💬 The Narrator:
- Kobna Holdbrook-Smith provides a sultry narration for one of the male characters. Louise Brealey is a strong female narrator with a clear English accent.
💭 5 Reasons to Read:
- Alex Michaelides is a master of the misdirect.
- That twist at the end!
- If you love thrillers – it’s here!
- If you like Greek literature – it’s here!
- Highly recommend the audiobook.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Received from Netgalley and Libro.
📘 Summary:
Edward Fosca is a murderer. Of this Mariana is certain. But Fosca is untouchable. A handsome and charismatic Greek Tragedy professor at Cambridge University, Fosca is adored by staff and students alike—particularly by the members of a secret society of female students known as The Maidens.
Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on The Maidens when one member, a friend of Mariana’s niece Zoe, is found murdered in Cambridge.
Mariana, who was once herself a student at the university, quickly suspects that behind the idyllic beauty of the spires and turrets, and beneath the ancient traditions, lies something sinister. And she becomes convinced that, despite his alibi, Edward Fosca is guilty of the murder. But why would the professor target one of his students? And why does he keep returning to the rites of Persephone, the maiden, and her journey to the underworld?
When another body is found, Mariana’s obsession with proving Fosca’s guilt spirals out of control, threatening to destroy her credibility as well as her closest relationships. But Mariana is determined to stop this killer, even if it costs her everything—including her own life.