
Member Reviews

Michaelides is the master of the unreliable narrator. While I didn’t trust the narrator one bit, I liked the format of the book told through one characters’ lens and with cheeky commentary to the audience. Like peeling the layers of an onion, the plot of this story gets more complicated and intricate as more details are revealed. Every time you think you’ve figured it out, something else is revealed to make you question everything. While slow in some parts, this book is an intriguing glimpse into the raw, messy side of humanity and the underlying need in all of us to be loved. Bonus: I enjoyed the scattered easter eggs from Michaelides’ first two books.
Thank you Alex Michaelides, Celadon Books, and NetGalley for the gifted ARC.

The first 40% of this book was slow and I had trouble continuing to pick it up because nothing was happening, but I ended up liking it.
I really loved the writing style, and how the narrator jumped back and forth in time. Overall, enjoyed this book, just not enough to give it 5 stars

I liked the unique narration style utilized in The Fury and felt like the book flew by with the short chapters. While there were a lot of twists and turns, I also felt like there was a bit of anticipation fatigue as the narrator kept reminding us that big things were coming in every chapter. The ending is also a bit chaotic and requires you to suspend a bit of disbelief - but overall this is a fast paced and enjoyable thriller.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author for the ARC copy of this book.
I am honestly not 100% sure how I feel about this book. The way it was written, the doubling back, the ending… were definitely all choices, but it kept me reading and wanting to find out what happened. I also loved the setting! I think I’ll need to read spoilers for the book when it actually comes out to fully grasp.

I had a hard time getting through this. It was super long winded and I just wasn’t jiving with the writing style.

Wow! This book was so fun! I felt like I pulled up to a bar to listen to the narrator tell me a story of love, a beautiful island and murder. The writing style of this book was probably my favourite thing about it.
Alex Michaelides always has many woah wait what? moments and this book was not short of them. There was a few times I was stopped in my tracks because of the twist that happened.
Alex Michaelides is an auto read author 100%

I have to be honest, this book was not for me. I think I’ve come to learn that I actually don’t really enjoy when the fourth wall is broken, and I found the main character to be insufferable. After being a huge fan of The Silent Patient and then not really loving The Maidens, this also didn’t work for me.
This is like a Greek Agatha Christie retelling and even though it had some perks (like the ending and epilogue was actually shocking and brought everything together), the content itself wasn’t for me. I didn’t enjoy every chapter alluding to someone being sketchy or that something bad is going to happen soon. If it happens a few times, great, but it was all over the place.
This also absolutely spoils The Silent Patient for people, which I really don’t think is a good move seeing as that’s this author’s best work so far…
I just couldn’t vibe with the narration or the writing style. Thank you NetGalley, MacMillan audio, and Celadon for the advanced copies!

This is the third book by Alex Michaelides. I thoroughly enjoyed The Silent Patient and The Maidens, so I had high hopes for this story too.
It started very slow. I was a little intrigued by the mystery narrator, but his identity is revealed early on. The narrator is highly unreliable…constantly going off on tangents and revising the stories he shares. He uses a lot of foreshadowing, making promises that the reader will not believe what happens in the end.
The story did pick up, and I was intrigued to see if there would be a twist I didn’t see coming, but I found the plot to be fairly predictable. I didn’t feel a strong connection with the characters or really care much about what happened. In all, I just think this was a run-of-the-mill thriller, nothing special. I was mildly entertained, especially at the end, but found myself rushing through just to be done with it. If you haven’t read any of Michaelides’ work, I would skip this one and go with either of his other two.

First I want to say, definitely read The Silent Patient before reading this novel! Second, I wish I liked this book more. I did not feel connected to the characters, and wish I could have trusted the narrator more. Overall it was an okay book, but I prefer his other novels.

I tend to not enjoy the mystery thriller genre, but I read The Silent Patient and The Maidens and enjoyed both, so I wanted to give this a go. The premise sounded interesting, but ultimately this reading experience was far too slow building for me.
I would also like to mention this book has major spoilers for The Silent Patient, so read that one first!
A big reason I don't enjoy most mystery thrillers is that I find the characters are not well developed. I unfortunately found that to be the case here. I found them also quite unlikeable and therefore hard to care about.
3 stars

I was excited to read the latest by Alex Michaelides as I enjoyed his previous book, The Silent Patient. I thought that the structure of the novel was creative dividing it into five acts as in a play. I did not like or trust the narrator at all throughout reading the book, which made it less twisty/surprising than I was expecting. The device of breaking the fourth wall got a little tiresome as well. Overall, it was a fine read.

I’ll admit, I was kinda disappointed at first that this story line felt like a storyline I’ve heard a million times. Rich friends go on vacation together to an island, one of them ends up murdered, a whodunnit sort of book. I don’t know if my disappointment set my mood for the rest of the book but ugh, meh.
I wasn’t a fan of the writing style of this. I did not like how the narrator spoke to the reader (I’m not really sure why I didn’t like, it felt kinda cheesy). Were there twists? Yes. Was it a shocking twist? Super! However, I was so over the book already, I couldn’t appreciate it. Sooooo overall this book just did not do it for me. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me.

Our unreliable narrator, Elliot, weaves a story about a mysterious murder involving his equally unreliable actor friends. At times confusing, I also felt urged to keep reading to see who was murdered, and why, on the private Greek island vacation. Told like a play in five acts, this story left me trying to figure out what exactly was going on, and who was telling the truth. Overall, it was a quick read that I enjoyed, but it was not as enjoyable as the author’s previous thrillers.

Thank you NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Digital Copy of The Fury by Alex Michaelides in return for an honest review.
The Fury is a 5 act Greek Tragedy and lord it’s tragic I stuck it out to the end! This book felt equivalent to a slow death! I didn’t care for the plot and the book itself was insufferably slow personally if I had picked this book up on my own and it was not an ARC I would have DNFd as I was bored to death. I didn’t feel “thrilled” at any point during this book.
I will not be recommending this read unfortunately.

Thank you to Cleadon Publisher and Net galley for the book The Fury by Alex Michaelides, I was happy to get a book by this author I have read two other books and I have liked his writing style. This book has a different writing style since the narrator is talking to us, however this writing style took me a little time to get used to in the beginning. This book has quick short twisty chapters which made it easier to read and kept you reading. I loved how the author mentioned the title is the book.

Not what I expected. This was just ok for me. It was good but I wasnt completely invested in what was going on in the story.

The Fury is the epitome of a thriller with an unreliable narrator. We meet him in the first of five acts, and it’s all dramatics from there. The chapters are short and I found myself flying through them in the first two acts, but then things slow down considerably for act three. I started to lose some interest here with the character background building and could have done with less of it without harming the overall story.
The Fury is a wild ride where until the very end, you can’t be sure what happened.

Lana Farrar is a beautiful retired actress and one of the most famous women in the world. Her first husband died and had a son, Leo, with him. She’s currently married to Jason. Kate , a theater actress, is a friend of Lana’s. Elliot Chase, a play writer, is a close friend of Lana’s. Nikos is the caretaker of the Greek island Lana owns and Agathi is Lana’s housekeeper. Lana decides to invite all of them to the island which is known for its wind, better known as the fury.
Three shots ring out in the night that makes everyone look to see what happened. They find a body lying on the ground covered in blood.
The story involves friendships, tensions, unrequited feelings, lies, resentments, secrets, drama, obsession, backstabbing, vengeance. The Fury reads like an Agatha Christie novel. I enjoyed the descriptive setting, the plot and the twists. All the characters had something to hide. There were many twists and turns.
Thank you #NetGalley and #Celadon publishing

A mystery thriller told as a narration from one of the involved parties. I found the beginning of this book a bit slow, but it really picked up and was a fun read. I can't say I was surprised by the ending, but the journey to get there was great.

Summary: Lana Farrar is a reclusive ex-movie star and is one of the most famous women in the world. Every year, she invites her closest friends to her idyllic private Greek island. I tell you this because you may think you know this story. You probably read about it at the time ― it caused a real stir in the tabloids, if you remember. It had all the necessary ingredients for a press sensation: a celebrity; a private island cut off by the wind…and a murder. We found ourselves trapped there overnight. Our old friendships concealed hatred and a desire for revenge. What followed was a game of cat and mouse ― a battle of wits, full of twists and turns, building to an unforgettable climax. The night ended in violence and death, as one of us was found murdered. But who am I? My name is Elliot Chase, and I’m going to tell you a story unlike any you’ve ever heard.
Genre: Thriller, Mystery
Rating: ★★★
My Thoughts:
This is Alex Michaelides's third novel and his third psychological thriller. I went into this novel excited to read it because I loved his first two books. They were both five-star reads for me. And just like the first two books, just when I felt like I knew what would happen ~ I didn't.
The omniscient narrator of this story speaks directly to the readers as he retells the story from his perspective. His narration gives us a bit of a snarky narrator vibe that breaks the conventional tone that most mystery novels give. I am still undecided if I liked this approach, which partially plays into my rating of three stars.
The Greek Isles provide a beautiful backdrop for the story, with some Greek mythology woven throughout. The story is centered on Elliot's group of friends and, of course, Lana Farrar. Elliot starts out by telling us he is an unreliable narrator in the first chapter, so when the twists and turns start to take shape throughout this novel, I was constantly questioning what is real or not.
As I got further and further into the story, I realized I wasn't ever truly pulled into the story. The main characters didn't grab my attention like Alex's first book did. This new book felt like it had one too many plot twist.
It's worth the read if you loved The Silent Patient or The Maidens... however, it ranks lower/doesn't quite hit the mark for me like his other two book for me. It is a quick read with short chapters that you can finish in a few days.
Thanks NetGalley and Celadon publishing for the ARC in exchange for my review! Pub Date: 1/16/2024