📣UNPOPULAR OPINION ALERT📣
Oh hey, it's just me with another unpopular opinion on a majorly overhyped book. I'm going to be honest, and start this by saying I also didn't enjoy, The Silent Patient. I didn't really have any intention of reading this one but @killclubreads picked it as our monthly book so here we are🤣
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I don't really want to say too much because as I said this is an unpopular opinion but I also didn't want to say nothing. Does that make sense? Personally for me, I was just bored throughout this entire book, it wasn't until around 70% that I started to get alittle interested in the book. I felt the exact same way with The Silent Patient, I was bored the entire time and then once the big twist came, it just didn't surprise me. I will say that one thing shocked me, but at that point I just wanted to finish the book and didn't really get to fully appreciate the shock value of it. ★★.5
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I hate writing reviews like this because I know the author put a lot of time into their work. However, this is my opinion and my opinion alone. I am not telling anyone not to read this book, because yeah it didn't work for me, but soo many others absolutely loved it. I just want to keep my page real and show the good, the bad, and the ugly of my reading journey. I am still super excited for everyone to read this and if you're planning to read it, I truly hope you enjoy it🖤

Alex Michaelides is a great writer. I loved his Silent Patient and he has managed to write another equally compelling book in The Maidens. I was fascinated with this story that seamlessly incorporates Greek tragedies with current day deaths at Cambridge. Michaelides, a Cambridge graduate himself, weaves his knowledge into an unputdownable story that kept me guessing, especially the character of the mysterious and charismatic professor Edward Fosca, a narcissist who has handpicked a a number of female students to join his elite study group called the Maidens. When two of those girls are murdered, he is the first to be suspected. But he isn’t the only one. Additional characters who have been introduced are well planted, blurring the lines between good and evil and I found myself often questioning motives. A creative and original story.

In his sophomore novel, Alex Michaelides gives readers another psychology thriller. This time there are multiple deaths, a somewhat twisted professor, and an overanalyzing therapist. While readers will naturally want to compare this to the author's smash debut, The Silent Patient, this is an entirely different book. For me, the development of the main character Mariana fell flat. I enjoyed the inter-play between Mariana and Edward and wish that Edward had been the narrator. Zoe as a whole doesn't seem fully developed and that left some of the book without substance. Overall the book was ok.

Alex Michaelides writes seriously broken, battered, and fascinating characters! I read The Silent Patient when it came out and really enjoyed the mixture of psychology, trauma, and mystery. The Maidens brings together all those elements in a new, yet somehow familiar-feeling, way, and makes for a marvelous reading experience. While a hearty suspension of disbelief is required in both books, I still found the story relatable and exceptionally engaging. The characters are a mess, honestly, but in a way that makes for brilliant revelations and breathless page-flipping. I really enjoyed the way the book referenced a few characters and events from TSP also. It was fascinating to see a second book hint at events in a first, when the first hasn't happened yet chronologically - and it made me want to reread TSP as a result!

I will read anything this author writes! "The Maidens" was another great hit! Alex Michaelides has a way of drawing you in and keeping you guessing until the very end. The Maidens was very intriguing and I loved the back story of the Greek mythological gods.

This was a suspenseful and twisty thriller that I really enjoyed and highly recommend, I cannot wait to see what this author comes up with next!

A big thank you to Celadon Books and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book!

Michaelides really puts the PSYCHOLOGICAL in psychological suspense! Strong themes of trauma and therapy, tricky red herrings, and a dark academia setting make for a satisfying summer thriller.

This book was frustrating. I think the sparse, spartan prose style was a problem, as were the short chapters, because neither allowed for much compelling conversation, engrossing narration, or thematic depth. If this was written to be a commercial thriller, that would be fine, but it seems to have literary aspirations that are fundamentally at odds with its execution. The entire plot is essentially a giant red herring, and the eventual reveal was both unsatisfying and aggravating. Mariana is never particularly likable or worth rooting for, as a passive wet blanket of a protagonist, but her total inability to find empathy and compassion for her niece after discovering she was raped and abused by Mariana's own husband made her actively hateable... and the way that reveal was dropped at the very end, without ever being fully reckoned with by the narrative and without allowing Zoe any kind of agency or voice in her own story, was kind of infuriating. I love a good dark academia novel with a campus mystery and mythological motifs. This one was not very good.

THE THRILLS. THE CHILLS. This was so, so good.

I didn't think that Alex could give us as great of a thriller as The Silent Patient but I was WRONG.

This was super engaging and, as always, the writing was superb.

Thank you for the e-arc!

Thank you so much for this ARC! I was so astonished by The Silent Patient and was thrilled to be approved to read The Maidens.

This review may go against the majority, my expectations may have been a bit too high. I loved to setting, the premise and the storyline, however, the ending fell so flat for me and too be honest I just did not see the point! I also found it a bit far fetched how involved with the case Mariana was, very unbelievable.

I did enjoy the small tie in to The Silent Patient.

I will definitely continue to be excited for each new book by Michaelides!

Mariana, a group therapist, comes to Cambridge University because one of her niece's Zoe friends is found murdered. Determined to figure out who the culprit is, she comes back to the university where she once attended to help.
Mariana is very suspicious about a group of students called The Maidens. Although she is also very certain that the professor in charge of that group, Edward Fosca is the murderer. However the professor seems untouchable and always a step ahead of her and as more girls are found murdered her suspicion only grows even more! While things are spiralling out of control Mariana is determined more than ever to stop this killer even if she becomes one of his victims!
I loved how the author included his first book in this one, he included Theo and I was really surprised but delighted that these books were connected. Although I think I was kept on my toes a bit more on The Silent Patient this book was still amazing and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves thrillers/mysteries that are more in depth than what they seem to be like.
Now, I read the book then I listened to the audiobook. The narrator of the audiobook was amazing and I really enjoyed the cast as they changed back and forth that really added to the suspense of the book! I also enjoy hearing the story so, if you love enge of the seat thrillers then this one would definitely be one for you.
Thank you Netgally and Celadon Books as well as Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to read and review this one! Keep your eyes out for this one it comes out June 15, 2021 and you don't want to miss it!

3.5 stars.

This follow up to The Silent Patient was a decent read, but it was also a bit disappointing for me as I loved The Silent Patient so much. I wanted to equally love this one, but it didn't fully work for me.

This story takes place at Cambridge University and begins with a female student found murdered. Mariana, a group therapist and former Cambridge student, rushes to campus after her niece Zoe calls to relay the news of the murder of her friend and fellow Maidens society member. The Maidens is a secret society of female students who study Greek mythology and are led by Professor Edward Fosca. Mariana suspects that Fosca may be to blame for the murder, and her suspicions only continue to grow as more students are found dead.

There were some interesting ideas here and Michaelides writes with a style that is easy to read and easy to read quickly. I definitely wanted to keep reading to find out what would happen next. But I still found a couple of things lacking. For a book called The Maidens, it took a long time for the Maidens to fully be introduced, and I wish we would have had more time to get to know more of them. This book spent a lot of time in Mariana's head, but I thought there might be more interesting characters out there to discover. Mariana was a bit boring and one dimensional.

And after the much talked about ending of The Silent Patient, there was a lot of pressure for the ending of this book to live up to its predecessor. I can't even imagine how hard it is to write one book let alone two books with mind-blowing endings! I did not predict the ending in this one, so that is a good thing. But I also thought it was a bit far-fetched and hard to swallow based on the info we were given throughout the story. I couldn't buy into the murderer's motive.

There are a few points of connection that show this story takes place in the same world/timeline as The Silent Patient, and I thought that overlap was very interesting. I'm not sure what Michaelides plans to write next, but the way that The Maidens end leaves open the slight possibility that we could maybe see more from the merger of these two stories in the future? Some kind of crossover book? I would not be opposed to that!

Thanks to Netgalley and Celadon books for sending me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review one of the most anticipated books of this year. I will admit I was hesitant that I would like this one as the ending of MIchaelides' debut 'The SIlent Patient' was mediocre for me and let me down. That being said, I always give an author another chance and I am so glad I did! WIth the Greek themes throughout and the very twisty ending that I definitely did not see coming, this will definitely be a bestseller. He also left the very ending as hanging so there may be a sequel coming.

A young woman is brutally murdered in a college town, and a psychotherapist goes to be with her niece in the aftermath. I truly enjoyed the setup and thought the narration was great. I was IN it- there were a ton of people to suspect and I had fun breaking things down. I thought there were some memorable characters and I enjoyed the very fun tie in to The Silent Patient. I liked but didn’t love the ending, but still would recommend it. A true psychological thriller.

While most contemporary mysteries do provide plenty of shocks and twists, The Maidens is on another cosmic level, filled with jaw-droppers, gasps, and goosebumps. I was delightfully terrified for Mariana, a group therapist grieving the sudden loss of her husband, who heads to Cambridge when her niece’s roommate is brutally murdered. From the get-go, Mariana is firm in her belief that the university’s Greek mythology professor, Edward Fosca, is behind the crime, but as she becomes more and more obsessed with pinning him, Mariana’s world--and mind--unravels horribly. Ominous story-telling, each new chapter makes you fearfully wait for the other shoe to drop. And when it does, you’ll be absolutely floored.

The premise of the book is that a clinical group therapist with a loose association to Cambridge University comes to be there for her niece and ward after the girl's roommate is found murdered. From the beginning, I felt that the author was really attempting to create an allure of mystery and suspense. This never really made it there at all for me. Marianne's character ends up feeling damaged by the recent loss of her great love, however I felt that there was such a disconnect between what she is feeling and how she ultimately becomes invested as her story ties into the one at Cambridge. This ends up feeling forced to me and keeps me from really becoming invested in any type of resolution in the end. I did like the tie in to Greek mythology though and did find the concept of the maiden to be quite intriguing. It was just not done well. Thanks for the ARC, BookishFirst.

This book was absolutely awesome and I honestly didn’t want to put it down. The story and characters were excellent and I highly recommend this book.

I’m probably going to be in the minority for this one, but I was a bit disappointed. The story definitely kept me guessing but it also just kind of fell flat for me. I wanted more from several of the characters and felt we just got a glimpse and not anything in depth from them.
I’m sure many will really like this, I just wanted a little more. I thought the narration was great. I throughly enjoyed the listening experience.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Celadon Books for the opportunity to listen and read this book for an honest review.

Of course I am going to compare this to The Silent Patient and frankly for me it just was not as good. Although, this novel was fast paced and enjoyable. I found the plot entirely implausible. Very unlikely that random bystander would allowed to be this embroiled in a police investigation without anyone stopping them. Also, I like when thrillers dupe me. Unfortunately, I saw the plot twist from a mile away on this one. Despite these two critiques this book was worth a read and kept me entertained.

Thank you to Celadon Books and Netgalley for allowing me to review this arc in exchange of an honest review.

The Maidens is going to be the book that is most talked about in 2021. I cannot even begin to describe how much I loved this book. The author has such exceptional writing that makes you want to devour the book in one sitting. I couldn’t get enough, the plot twists had me shaken, and the characters were so fleshed out and well written.

This follows Mariana, a psychologist, who goes to comfort her niece at college after one of her friends gets brutally murdered. While there she meets Edward Fosca, who is a professor at Cambridge, she gets a bad feeling from him right away and as she learns more about him she starts suspecting he is the one murdering students. The same students who happen to be in his special group called The Maidens. Mariana will stop at nothing to make sure Edward goes away for his crimes because she is sure he is the murderer.

“It makes me wonder, Professor,” she said, with a slight frown, “what on earth it is that you’re so desperate to hide?”
Fosca smiled. “I’m not trying to hide anything. Let’s just say I wish to be there, to protect my students.”
“Protect them? From what?”
“From you, Mariana,” he said. “From you.”

What a book, like really, I can’t stop thinking about this very creepy thriller. I love how so many aspects were weaved together so effortlessly. We have so many creepy characters who I suspected each and every one of them at one point as the murderer, the Greek tragedies that the author puts throughout the story, and the main character Mariana and her grief that she is trying to overcome. I was thoroughly engaged and when the explosive ending arrived and I read the mind-blowing twist, I knew this was going to be a highly talked about book. It wasn’t an unbelievable twist that had me frustrated, it was a perfect twist that looking back I should have seen who the killer was. It was a very disturbing plot twist, but one I won’t stop thinking about for a while.

I can’t wait to see what Michaelides writes next because I loved The Silent Patient, but I think The Maidens tops that book. It was unputdownable and was full of everything you want in a thriller.

Not bad liked the link/connection to the first book can’t wait for another. Parts I liked parts I didn’t love. Don’t know if killer is believable don’t understand how girls that didn’t like the killer in the first place would go somewhere alone with them. Like the twists though.