The Maidens is the second book by Alex Michaelides who previously wrote The Silent Patient. I read that book and enjoyed it, but didn’t love it like many. The Maidens focuses on a series of brutal college student murders in Cambridge. Marianna becomes convinced that a professor, Edward Fossa is behind the murders after she learns about his cultish secret society called The Maidens.

Three words to describe this book: Gothic. Tragedy. Anagnorisis

Cover: The cover perfectly matches the vibe of the book.

Character Development: The main character, Marianna is not well-developed. We learn that she is grieving the death of her husband, is a therapist, and becomes involved in the deaths of the college students of her niece, Zoe. But aside from that, we know little about her.

World-Building: I felt transformed to the campus of Cambridge and the shores of Greece, the two main locals in this book. I loved this contrast of a rather gothic setting of a college campus and the beautiful islands of Greece.

Plot & Pacing: This was a slow-burn, Gothic thriller with a lot of focus on the mood and atmosphere. I felt the plot was a bit plodding and I felt anxious for the next plot element to develop. The ending twist was a nice surprise and one I had not seen coming.

Narrator: Louise Brealy did an excellent job narrating this book. I did find her a bit slow, but she continued to sound great when sped up to at 1.5x.

Verdict: I enjoyed this book, especially hearing about the Greek tragedies and the settings. I’d recommend it to folks who like to slow-burn Gothic thrillers.

ARC was provided to me by MacMillan Audio, in exchange for an honest review.

I'm pretty sure I'm one of maybe five people who hated The Silent Patient. I found it to be so S-L-O-W, and boring. I forced myself to finish because everyone told me how great it was, but honestly the ending was not worth the 300 pages it took to get there. At any rate, I decided to keep an open mind and give The Maidens a second chance. While this isn't a sequel, and you can read them in any order, it turns out the Maidens is first in the timeline, and there is a bit of character crossover. But again, both are completely stand alone books, so read in whichever order you prefer.

I both read and listened to the story, receiving advanced copies of both. I vastly preferred the audio version, and it did make my afternoon walks interesting. The narrators were easy to listen to, and you were easily able to identify new people speaking.

Now on to the story, Mariana is the aunt of Zoe, and due to a series of tragic luck, Mariana is also the sole guardian of her niece. Zoe calls from college, frantic about her best friend's murder. Mariana rushes to her side, and begins investigating the murder, which of course turns into multiple murders. What business does a therapist have in investigating a murder in another town? Absolutely none. Still people and detectives eventually give her access to a bunch of interviews, crime scenes, and witness interrogations. Absurd. Really the whole lot of it. So while I was entertained for evening walks, it's entirely out of the realm of reality. Still there is a good twist, and I wasn't bored to tears, so this one gets 2.5 stars, rounded to 3. Much better than the 1 I gave Silent Patient! Hopefully book three will be a bit more plausible, while still a good read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

There were many parts of this book I really enjoyed, sign me up for all the dark academia! The only part that I struggle with, is that I feel like if I knew more about mythology some of the pieces would fit together better. I felt this way with the authors first book as well. Overall, I still really enjoyed this read!

Possible spoilers...




I enjoyed the book and the narrator(s). The characters weren't developed a lot, but it worked with the story; you knew enough about them to fit it into the context. There were a BUNCH of red herrings in the story and while I had a pretty good idea about the "villain" the motivation behind the whole thing took me by surprise. Overall it was a good read; one to get lost in and would be a great read for anyone who enjoys thrillers or suspense type stories.

This book was not my favorite. I loved The Silent Patient but had trouble getting into this one. I did not really relate to the main character and I found some of the events to be dull as me unbelievable. I guess this book isn’t for everyone.

First line: Edward Fosca was a murderer.

Summary: Mariana recently lost her husband. She has been struggling to come to terms with his death and helping her patients. But when she receives a call from her niece she finds something to focus her energy on. There has been a murder in Cambridge and the dead girl is her niece’s best friend. It has shocked the town and the college. When Mariana arrives she immediately believes that the murderer is Zoe’s professor, Edward Fosca. As the investigation continues she dives deeper into the secrets of a group called the Maidens. How is Mariana going to protect her niece and find the killer?

My Thoughts: This book was such a mess. There were unnecessary characters that were intentionally there to distract the reader. Some were just thrown in the give her a hint of something which could have happened in other ways. Mariana felt like she was in a cozy mystery. She was trying to include herself into a mystery and solve it. I just do not know how I felt about this as a whole. I hope that his next book can live up to the first one.

FYI: Read The Silent Patient.

I liked The Silent Patient a lot, but this one was disappointing. Twists and turns are great, but some of these just defied logic to me. #bookstagram #bookreview #netgalley

The Silent Patient is one of my favourite thrillers so I was a little dubious going into this one as I wasn’t sure how it would live up. Now granted it was a very different type of book, and I didn’t love it quite the way I did The Silent Patient but I did still really enjoy it!

I’d say for the first 80% this was a 5 star read for me but the twist lost it a star as I’m not sure I fully bought into it, however I was definitely taken aback by it! And I still very much enjoyed this one overall. The writing style had the same easy “readability” that I loved in the authors previous book and I adored the setting! I’ve seen a lot of mixed reviews for this one but personally it gets a definite thumbs up from me!

I really enjoyed the audio and thought it was extremely well done.

Again, truth time. I loved The Silent Patient. I read it as an arc and then passed it around to everyone I knew. I thought it was clever and just blew me away. I was absolutely desperate for a copy of this as soon as I knew it was out and about. I saw all my friends around me reading it and the reviews were not so great. I still decided to go into this with an open mind.

I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this one. I knew just a little about the premise because outside of genre I tend to avoid blurbs that tell me about a book. I love a blind read. I thought the story was different and very atmospheric. I think that added so much to the mystery for me. Up until the very end, I had no idea what was going on. This will stay spoiler free but the ending was a bit out there for me. This is where a star was lost for me. I needed something a bit more. Was this just sophomore slump? I am not quite sure. I did feel as though the book read as very misogynistic almost sexist. This was not the case in the first book, so I am not sure where this angle came from.

I think my expectations were a bit high. I expected greatness. I got ok good, which is fine. It is still a 4 star read for me. Loved the narrator on the audiobook. I am not sure I would have done as well if I didn't listen to the audio.

The Maidens
By Alex Michaeldes

This novel is a summer beach read. Immediately at the beginning of the story, you can realize that the story will have twists and turns and be hokey and not require much concentration to follow along. Listening to the audio version, I feel gave me advantages as I could let my mind wander during the drawn-out and unrealistic parts. Don’t get me wrong, I actually liked the story, was surprised by the ending, maybe I didn’t pay enough attention? I knew from the start that Edward Forsca was not the murder. Not sure why Fred was needed as a character, seemed like a distraction, maybe that was the intent? The character of Mariana annoyed me at times also. However, I love a book that provides a landscape/setting for future reading by instilling history in the midst of a fictional story. The references to Greek Tragedies and Alfred Tennyson provided that landscape for me. I would read another book by Michaeldes.

The Maidens is a slow burn mystery with dark academia vibes and Greek mythology references throughout. Mariana Andros is determined to prove that professor Edward Fosca is a murderer. Although the pacing is slow, I was never bored and was engaged from the beginning. I enjoyed the references to The Silent Patient and the eerie, academic atmosphere that was woven into the series of events that lead to a shocking and satisfying conclusion. I was fortunate enough to receive an advanced digital copy along with the audiobook. The narration was perfectly executed and added an extra layer of intrigue and suspense.
Thank you NetGalley, Celadon Books and Macmillan Audio for my advance copies. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

i got an arc of this in the audiobook format from netgalley and i've learned that i really dislike audiobooks.

the characters weren't likeable, the plot wasn't compelling and just felt very predictable, and i wasn't a fan of the narration.

i wasn't a huge fan of the silent patient but i'm less of a fan of this

Not quite at the level of The Silent Patient, but overall it drew me in with a slower pace and lower tension than perhaps I was expecting.

From Instagram review link below.

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

For those who still pine for their college days, the campus novel—think Sally Rooney’s “Normal People,” John William’s “Stoner,” or Susan Choi’s “My Education”—is a lure. But the literary, campus murder novel is also a thing and harder to pull off. A.S. Byatt’s “Possession” and Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History” are two of my favorites.

“The Maidens,” set in contemporary Cambridge, England, and whose Greek statue cover harkens back to—steal’s from– “The Secret History,” had me throwing garlands until the end; the twisty, melodramatic ending settles the score: it’s more thriller, less literary, if we’re genre hunting. But that’s what we want in a summer read, no?

The tropes are there: college girl murdered, the handsome prof with cult following, girl group alliances, Greek mythology, Tennyson discussions. Michaelides, for the most part, keeps the tropes fresh as Mariana, a group therapist and aunt to one of the campus girls attempts to solve the murder. Michaelides is a competent writer but lacks both the gorgeous passages that Tartt brings, and the intellectual synthesis Byatt possesses.

Having never read any of Alex Michaelides's work before, I went into this book hopeful, intrigued, and not entirely sure what to expect. I had heard many good things about the author, and I was definitely not disappointed.

I was pretty quickly drawn into this book and, though I did find myself bogged down in a little of the descriptions of the past sometimes, it was few and far between. I was mostly swept along in the intrigue and the story. The main character, Mariana is a group therapist, which gave an edge of psychological thriller to this mystery while keeping it from becoming purely psychological with no action. I thought there was a great balance between character building, background story, and action. The characters were well thought out, well defined, and relatable. I listened to the audiobook version of this and I think that this added a wonderful layer to the story. The two narrators were versatile and fit the characters wonderfully. I also greatly appreciated the contrast between the two narrators voices, which gave a wonderful distinction to their respective chapters.

The mystery of this book was perfect. I was guessing the whole time, and loved every minute of it. I came up with many theories, and never actually quite knew what was really going on until the end. I highly recommend this book, particularly the audiobook version, and am looking forward to going back and exploring more of the author's work.

I heard dark academia and that was honestly all I needed to know.

The ending?
Never saw it coming and I'm lowkey shook.

The Silent Patient tie in?
BRB, actually screaming. Loved it.

I think my only real issue with this was that there were waaaay too many red herrings which made certain characters/parts of the story feel underdeveloped. Otherwise this was such an entertaining read that left me stumped all the way until the end because my suspect list was a mile long. My absolute favorite part of this was the motive for the murders, truly never saw it coming and basically solidified that I'll read anything from this author in the future.

3.75 stars
The writing was superb. Loved the way the plot unfolded. Tons of suspense. The audiobook was gripping with stellar performances by the two narrators. Definitely recommend the audio version.

Wasn't sold on the Greek mythology. A bit confused by what its purpose was. Didn't seem to add any depth to the plot.

Unexpected reveal at the end although it was a tad farfetched...but it still hit the note. Looking forward to reading this author's next book!

Thank you to Netgalley and MacMillan Audio for an advanced audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the audio ARC. The Maidens was nearly as superb as Michealides debut novel, The Silent Patient. The narrators were excellent and the suspense in the book was maintained throughout with the inclusion of many sly twists. I particularly enjoyed the Easter Eggs throughout the book and hope that the author continues this with subsequent novels.

I received this audiobook through NetGalley for review purposes. I enjoyed the book, however, not the narrator.

I haven't read The Silent Patient yet, but I definitely want to. I do hope I enjoy it better than The Maidens. For as much hype as this book had, I found it underwhelming and thought this was just ok.