I finished The Maidens a few days ago and I’m still not quite sure how I feel about this one, but tonight is the chat for this on for my bookclub, so it’s time to get my thoughts together on this one!
📚 Book Review 📚
Title: The Maidens
Author: Alex Michaelides
Publisher: Celadon Books
Genre: Thriller
I listened to this one entirely on audio and found it to be throughly entertaining. The narrator was excellent. This book is getting mixed reviews, but it seems those that are listening to it are enjoying it more? Well, at least from what I’ve seen.
I can see why it gets mixed reviews . . . it’s a slow burn, for sure. Keep that in mind if that’s not your cup of tea. Or I should cuppa tea since this one takes place in London at Cambridge University. I liked the dark academia, the greek and latin references and also the references to British poet Alfred Tennyson. This is not your typical thriller. Though, to be honest, other than some cut up bodies . . . this felt much more like a crime mystery than a thriller.
The Maidens opens up by introducing us to main character Mariana’s profession as a group therapist just as she is having a session in her home. We quickly learn one of her patients is particularly troubled and that her husband is also dead. Not much further into the book Mariana is watching the news and learns of a death at the same University that her niece Zoe (that she is a guardian of) attends. Zoes call her hysterical and Mariana rushes to her side.
Mariana goes to Cambridge University to comfort Zoe, but quickly becomes fixated on the murder and believes a certain professor is responsible. When another body is found, she sticks around and her obsession with professor Edward Fosca being guilty spirals out of control!
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75 Like I said I listened to the audio and was entertained. This was probably a solid 4 for me until we got to the ending. I didn’t care for the direction the author went. I felt like after the success and shock of The Silent Patient he felt like he had to do it again. The ending of The Maidens just didn’t feel set up as well, IMO.