The Maidens

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And, he has an alibi-6 students who claim to have been revising with him until 10 PM-6 beautiful, favored women, referred to as "The Maidens". So many thanks to Macmillan Reading Insiders club for providing me this readers’ advance copy in exchange my honest opinions. In Part III, the pathologist confirms that Veronica was killed by the same person as Tara. They were both found with their throats cut and stabbed post-mortem. A pinecone was also found on each of their bodies. And Mariana finds postcards with quotations from Euripides about death and sacrifices, handwritten written in Ancient Greek, in their possession. I want to thank the publisher, Macmillan for the ARC of The Maidens by Alex Michaelides in exchange for an honest review. Storyline: when I read the blurb which informs us this is claustrophobic, enigmatic, mythology, dark murder mystery about young women students who were brutally killed as a part of a ritual, I was so excited about this interesting premise.

The story is also interspersed with journal-entry-like chapters written by an unnamed person, who describes his childhood growing up with an abusive father on a farm. He talks about how one part of him is sane and calm and the other part of him is a bloodthirsty killer. Mariana understood this. She knew she should relinquish Sebastian, but she couldn’t—because she was still in love with him. She was in love even though he was gone forever, gone behind the veil—“behind the veil, behind the veil”—where was that from? Tennyson, probably.Michaelides’ stage-setting skills are as masterful here, as they were in The Silent Patient (2019); another tense, cleverly twisted winner."

Mariana decides to console her niece, spending more time at the place by conducting her own investigation. Her number one suspect is professor Edward Fonseca who might be the lover of the victim and he’s also finder of mysterious Maidens group. Tara was also the member of this group and unfortunately she was not the only one brutally killed! Somebody is after the maidens and he/ she is adamant to finish what he/she started! And the academic part of this book was probably the best part. Ever present but never overwhelming. The quotes. The Fosca’s lecture. The small discussions about Greek myths, or literature, or psychology. In her sessions, she always kept out of the group’s way as much as possible. She only intervened when communication broke down, or when it might be helpful to make an interpretation, or when something went wrong. Zoe tells us that Sebastian killed Mariana’s father after he caught the two of them fooling around in the olive grove. We also know something has just happened when Sebastian starts writing the letter because it starts off very frantic. In the second part, he talks about feeling split in two, the yellow light, and vaguely remembering feeling this way once before. As the letter continues, he describes digging into his memories and recognizing the other time he felt this way was when he was 12, involving his mother.and ____ (proper noun) didn't recognize ANYTHING from ____'s (proper noun) life in that ___ (noun)? presumably, before ____ (proper noun) went all ______ (disparaging slang), they'd ______ (verb, past tense) about their _____ (noun, plural)?? no? It was a good-sized room. It had been given over to the use of therapy soon after Mariana and Sebastian moved into the yellow house. My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review. As well as the group therapy element Mariana was supposedly heavily involved in. The come-about of the Maidens. Mariana’s relationship with Zoe. The trauma she’s suffered from her husbands death.

Oh, boy. Well – this could have been better. I was weirdly torn between being annoyed and being quite entertained by this book. But in the end, the annoyance won. By quite a bit. A book which screams ‘make me into a TV series’… his writing, especially his characterisation, possesses a unique sparkle and more promise than most other writers.’ DAILY MAIL But to enjoy this story, it's important to go in with the right expectations, namely that it's no The Silent Patient. How could it be, right? What are the chances you would write a book—your first book—and have it be hailed by many as the greatest thriller ever, then write another book and have it be the greatest again? Pretty much none (no offense to Alex Michaelides). This doesn't have the compulsive readability of his first book nor the jaw-dropping reveal, but I still found it to be an entertaining thriller in its own right. in fact, a lot of this book feels like the author is shoehorning in details from his own personal cache of 'stuff he knows about,' without regard for their narrative utility: psychotherapy, the beauty of the greek islands, greek mythology, the greek language. these recurring motifs take up a lot of real estate at the expense of other story elements, like character development, and they don't do much to enhance the larger story. That’s how it felt. Since Sebastian died, Mariana no longer saw the world in color. Life was muted and gray and far away, behind a veil—behind a mist of sadness.

Zoe's phone call after the Monday Evening Group was how it all started. That is how the nightmare began. Zoe was her niece and Mariana is a group therapist.

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy. Which, granted, probably – maybe – possibly had been done deliberately and that was the whole point of the story. Except that – even if that was the point, I don’t think I really liked it and I didn’t find it particularly interesting. For the blatant disrespectful handling of psychology, mental health, pedophilia, rape, and grooming, this is not a book I would feel comfortable recommending. Then near the end, Mariana spills da beans in an interview of sorts with the whole Scooby gang there. Yep, Detective Dummy, Fosca, Julian, and even the dean, all gathered round to hear Scooby's theory and watch her confront the main suspect.

this is one of my most anticipated releases for the year and im so relieved it didnt let me down. i honestly inhaled this. AM is the master of short chapters. he truly understands how to get readers to say, ‘just one more and then i will go to bed.’ and then all of the sudden the story is over in the blink of an eye - thats how much the content and pacing hooked me. i loved the greek mythology and poetry, i loved the old-fashioned cambridge vibes, and i loved how those created the most compelling of mysteries. Those troubling aspects aside, from a fundamental development level, the plot never felt fully fleshed out and the characters felt like caricatures. The characters were monstrously overworked yet somehow super forgettable. I had trouble remembering each male character and often forget about them until Mariana ran into them and they gave her creepy serial killer vibes all over again. Seemingly every man introduced seemed to scream I AM A CREEP, SUSPECT ME. They all make her uncomfortable, they're all trying too hard to be close to her, several actually STALK her (which we never discuss???), and yet somehow we're to believe Mariana has got this all handled and has no concerns over all the suspicious men circling her. Honestly, the ploy to make them all red herrings was so obvious it was cringey. Zoe never really felt like her own character, rather it felt like her purpose was just to be a convenient person for Mariana to walk around campus with and sometimes talk to instead of trying to 'solve' the crime through her own rambling internal monologues. But, where the ending of "The Silent Patient" was extremely satisfying for me, this one, though surprising, took a turn I did not care for at all. the only thing that really bothered me about this book, though, are the interactions between the MC and men. honestly, there are four separate male characters who throw themselves at her. but of course, she ‘doesnt know how beautiful she is (this is mentioned more than once - major eye roll),’ so she declines their advances and they either A) get very angry and offended by it, or B) they wont take no for an answer and consistently pester her. not to mention all of these interactions could be removed from the book with no consequence - i have no idea what purpose they serve. one time i could overlook, but multiple occurrences is just very poor characterisation and bad writing.