I was, unfortunately, the wrong reader for this book. I suspect fans of Alex Michaelides will enjoy it immensely.

Mariana just knew that Edward Fosca was a murderer. Edward Tosca was guilty but she just couldn't prove it and she might never be able to prove it. She thought he was a monster and she didn't want him to walk free. He thinks he got away with it, she thought. He thought he had won but Mariana was determined to outsmart him and she will catch him.

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.

Edward Fosca is a charismatic Greek Tragedy professor at Cambridge University. All the staff and students love him, especially a group of female students called The Maidens. When Mariana receives Zoe's phone call she finds out that one of the maidens, who is Zoe's friend, was murdered in Cambridge. Mariana is determined to stop the murderer even if it costs her everything including her own life.

It took me awhile to get into the story but once I got into it I felt like I was captivated. The book is filled with red herrings and some Greek mythology. I thought it was atmospheric and written very well. I loved the short chapters. There are a lot of unlikable characters. I loved most of the book and the ending surprised me but it didn't work very well for me. I loved the author's book, The Silent Patient and I loved this one too. This one was a five star book for me until I reached the ending.
I want to thank the publisher, Macmillan for the ARC of The Maidens by Alex Michaelides in exchange for an honest review.

Review posted on blog: https://books-are-a-girls-best-friend.com/

Dark Academia at its Best or its Worst?

Mariana is a Group Therapist, who is desperately trying to help others while dealing with her depression over the loss of her husband. Upon receiving a frantic phone call from her niece Zoe, who is at Cambridge, that a friend and classmate of hers has been murdered, Mariana goes to help.

Upon Mariana’s arrival at Uni, it is immediately apparent that something sinister is going on, and Mariana plans to figure out what it is. Edward Fosca is a Professor, whom Zoe believes murdered her best friend. He has a presence that draws others to him, including that of “The Maidens” a group of extremely popular female students. While he appears guilty, he has an alibi for Tara’s murder. He was with the Maidens, of course.

When another murder occurs, tensions run high.

Clues are left behind. Somehow, only Mariana discovers them.

Soon, it’s not just the students that are running scared.

A somewhat compelling psychological suspense that gripped me until I got closer to the end when the storyline became somewhat far-fetched. Having guessed the culprit immediately, I hung in there, wondering why none of the characters in the novel caught on!

A tie in to “The Silent Patient” occurs which I would have found intriguing had the timelines matched, however “The Silent Patient” and that entire storyline occurred before this book, not after. What I appreciated about this book however was the ominous feeling I got while reading it, part of which stemmed from the idea of a secret society, the atmosphere (I adore the setting of Cambridge), and everything that surrounded the character of Mariana - including her past and present and her work as a therapist.

While I preferred this author’s prior book “The Silent Patient” - I enjoyed “The Maidens” and will be on the lookout for Alex Michaelides’ next book.

This was another buddy read with Kaceey!

Thank you to Macmillan / Celadon Books and NetGalley for the arc by Alex Michaelides in exchange for an honest review.

Published on Goodreads, Twitter, and Instagram.

<b>Notes:</b> I received a free ARC of The Maidens from Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.

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.

While I did get enthralled by the overall plot, I found getting there to be a bit tedious. I did not really understand any of the male characters, their interactions with Mariana were stilted or overly forward in my opinion. They did not come off as sincere reading. I found the twists to be fascinating and enjoyable, however, I did realize before the ending what was going to happen.

I was a fan of The Silent Patient, so I was interested in what Michaelides’ sophomore effort would be. The Maidens gives us Mariana, a group therapist and recent widow, having lost her husband in a freak accident. She travels north to her alma mater, Cambridge University, when her niece, a current student, calls to report her best friend missing. The woman is later found dead.
I got a kick that Michaelides, as a male author, writes about a female protagonist continually facing male arrogance. Usually, I have no problems with a man writing about a woman MC or vice versa. But Mariana never came across as real. She’s described in the book’s summary as a brilliant but troubled therapist. Yet, she never struck me as brilliant. If anything, she seemed incredible obtuse about her own issues given that she was a therapist.
Mariana is convinced a professor is behind the murder but no one else believes her. The professor has a group of beautiful student admirers, a secret society, known as The Maidens. The group is linked to the story of Persephone, the Greek goddess of the underworld and also spring growth. Her story is linked to beliefs in rebirth.
The book starts off slow, but starts speeding up at about the 20% mark. But throughout the story, I found small plot points to be unbelievable. For a supposedly intelligent woman, Mariana removes clues from scenes and then doesn’t share her findings with anyone associated with the actual crime investigations. And I just couldn’t understand why she pursued her investigation to begin with.
Michaelides gives us plenty of suspects to choose from. As others have said, this book has red herrings galore. When the ending is revealed, I found it particularly unsatisfying.
In a small quirk, I had gone online to see pictures of St. Christopher’s College, only to discover it’s not real. For some reason, this really irritated me. With all the Cambridge colleges to choose from, why didn’t Michaelides pick a real one?
My thanks to NetGalley and Celadon Books for an advance copy of this book.

Somehow I ended up with 2 copies of this book on NetGalley. I tried to contact someone about it but never got a response.

Disclaimer: I received an digital ARC via Macmillian in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is a good plot whose execution and build up takes a tad bit too long in the build. A good portion of the beginning of the book is being told ad nauseum about the heroine. It really does read like an info dump. It is almost designed to get you to pity Mariana, but it really doesn’t quite work. Mostly because she and Zoe are so, well, uninteresting really. Certain plot points don’t make that much sense, and quite frankly, a tragic backstory does not a character make.
The actual mystery is good and ties into not just Greek myth as well as the more dangerous ideas of academic cults. In this the development of the mystery and setting excel. It’s the getting there that slows the book down.

If you’ve read The Silent Patient you know you’re in for a big twist and the Whodunnit could literally be anyone! I loved the anticipation throughout the whole book. A slow burn of being kept on your toes waiting for danger to strike at any moment with shadows creeping in the corners. The whole book had an eerie vibe binding mythology to the present time with sacrifices and prayers to goddesses. If you enjoyed The Silent Patient I high recommend this twister of a ride.

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

Holy mackerel with a huge pile of red herrings!  The Maidens is set in the same world as The Silent Patient, even allowing us to see a couple of The Silent Patient's characters. Whereas the big twist in The Silent Patient got me, which is very hard to do, The Maidens throws so many suspicious people our way that I suspected everyone of being a murderer. Still, this was an enjoyable story, even as I rolled my eyes throughout the book, as the main character made one irrational decision after another. 

Mariana Andros is a group therapist, still grieving over the death of her husband. She seems to have trouble setting boundaries for herself and her patients. One patient harrasses and stalks her and she quickly meets several men at her old university that scare her yet she puts herself in close proximity to them, even allowing them to pour her drinks that take her past her tipsy limit. She is back at Cambridge University because her niece's good friend has been murdered and she wants to give her niece the support she needs to get through this sad time. 

But once on campus, things are even more dire than the murder of one university student. A popular professor, Edward Fosca, seems to be up to no good, with his followers made up of a secret society of female students. Mariana's niece seems to know a lot more than she will admit to Mariana and soon is Mariana dangerously poking her nose in places that will get her in trouble. She claims she is being careful, when in reality, she is anything but careful or subtle. The story has such a dreamlike, misty quality to it and Mariana is still so damaged by the death of her husband, that her lack of clear thinking seems to fit in with the atmosphere of the story. 

There was no way I could guess who the murderer was because every man seems to have something that might point to him. Everyone speaks in circles and there is a sense of foreboding, as if more is going to happen (and it does). I suspect that there will be more of this world, where The Silent Patient and The Maidens intersect in a third book and I look forward to reading that story. 

Thank you to Macmillan Publishers/Celadon Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

The Midas Touch

Mariana is convinced that Edward Fosca is murdering his students. His flock of Maidens hanging on his every action and word are dwindling. But, how does she prove it?

Fosca's lectures are the most popular on campus so Mariana decides to attend one. Described as “dazzling”, he's a handsome showman if not suspect.

I was immediately immersed in a psychological Hat Trick. The writing, characters, and plot were all ripe with theory and a heap of academia. I wouldn’t think therapy sessions would mix with excerpts from the poems of Lord Alfred Tennyson in the same story. However, they did and it worked.

I loved the intellectual feel of this book. Greek Tragedy is heavily rotated throughout with quotations - written in Greek!

And there’s even more. While describing this, it sounds like a lot, but I was “dazzled” and maybe that was the point.

I love a book like this. A story inviting reflection and a desire to fit everything together even after I know the outcome. I re-read several passages searching for missed clues and located only a few. They were subtle compared to the stark revelation. Misdirection? Check!

A note of interest included two cameo appearances by Silent Patient characters Ruth and Theo. After refreshing my memory with my bookshelf copy, it appears this novel is a prequel with an overlapping timeline by a narrow margin.

A few minor plot lines remained open at the finish. Maybe by design for the next book? I hope so!

My only negative comment is for two descriptions of animal abuse. Any other book, I would have lowered my rating - by quite a bit - but this was superior in other ways that I enjoy, I had to rate it highly.

Thank you to Macmillan Publishing, the author, and NetGalley for my Advance Reviewer’s Copy.