My Thanks to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the ARC and the audiobook of this book in exchange for my honest review.

So, "The Fury" is basically a mash-up of all your favorite entertainment references, right? You've got a bit of Shakespeare, some Greek Chorus, a dash of Norma Desmond, and a sprinkle of "Baby Jane and Blanche Hudson", all wrapped up in an Agatha Christie style mystery. It's like Alex Michaelides took all these bits and bobs and whipped up a brand new narrative.

Our narrator is this playwright dude, Elliot Chase. He's got us thinking about how thin the line is between what's real and what's made up. He spins us this story about friendships, love, and, yep, murder. It all kicks off when Lana Farrar, this stunning but kinda elusive actress, invites her pals Kate and Elliot, her kid Leo, hubby Jason (also Leo's stepdad), and her loyal assistant Agathi to her private Greek island, "Aura", for Easter. There's also Nikos, who pretty much lives on this remote island all year round.

So, everyone's getting ready for a long weekend on the island. This place is famous for its storms, or "Furies" - a little nod to Greek mythology. After a night out on a different island, a storm rolls in, cutting them off from the rest of the world. In the middle of all this, they stumble upon a body at the island's ancient theater.

Naturally, everyone's wondering - who did this? And why? The cops take their sweet time getting there. But here's the thing - with a bunch of suspects who earn their bread by acting or spinning stories, can you really trust anyone?

Michaelides does a great job of painting a picture with his words. The characters are pretty well fleshed out, and the story sort of plays like a movie in your head. The chapters are short and sweet, so you find yourself flying through the book. If you're a fan of Agatha Christie, Lucy Foley, or Anthony Horowitz, then this book's got your name written all over it.

I enjoyed this book. I think the unreliable narrator and the delivery was both unique and slightly confusing (as unreliable narrators are). The storyline was something different and I liked the twist at the end!

Alex Michaelides has become a staple in the mystery world of books. What started with The Silent Patient that got every reader talking about it, led to more and him becoming a must read author. I constantly find myself checking to see when he'll come out with his next book. The thing with Alex's books, it grips your attention from the start, making you think you know what to expect from it and leaving you shocked at the end when everything is thrown out the window.

Lana Farrar was once a movie star that everybody loved to watch. When she becomes a recluse and decides to leave the lime light to spend time with her son and husband, it leaves the world wondering what happened to her. Those close to Lana are invited once a year to her Greek island. Elliott Chase who is one of Lana's friends, loves Lana and while he loves Lana, Lana does not love him as anything more than a friend. When Elliott plots to find a way to get Lana to fall in love with him and leave her husband, When his plan goes awry, everything changes for Elliott and what he always wanted is further away from him. Though this story was supposed to be about love, it quickly changed to murder.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free copy of The Fury by Alex Michaelides in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Celadon Books, and NetGalley for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

-WHAT I LIKED-

I had high expectations - and that’s where I went wrong. Let’s start out with the strength of this novel, the writing. Michaelides may have continuously lost me with the caricatures he tries to paint as personalities in this novel, but in the end, I did finish the book because of his writing style. I voluntarily - and happily- picked up this title every day, during my lunch break, and read until it was time to go back to work. One thing I cannot deny is that Michaelides knows how to write in a way that makes me want to keep reading.

I did like the little mentions of the title in the novel, I am a sucker for that. I also appreciated the nod to “The Silent Patient”.

-WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE-

That being said, his writing may be consistent from the first book I read - “The Silent Patient” - but the quality of the story has declined with each of its successors. This third, and most recent novel put out by Michaelides feels rushed and half thought out. I’m starting to believe that a woman did him wrong because all he writes are spurned male characters. Like, come on, get a new perspective! Each of his three books are basically the same, with different people, and worse by the year. He’s getting lazy.

What I think is worse, is that he has the nerve to bring up Agatha Christie in the first chapter talking about ‘this sounds like an Agatha Christie novel, but trust me it isn’t’ (I’m clearly paraphrasing)…. Yea, it’s not like an Agatha Christie novel, it’s a rip off, only it’s the Walmart version of Agatha Christie. On top of that, he has the gall to name a character Agathi, as if that’s a cute nod to the acclaimed Queen of Crime. Please! Get over yourself.

Let’s talk about the narrator, who utilizes the 2nd person voice and asides. From the jump I could tell I didn’t like this person. I didn’t know who they were in the story yet, but omg, it’s clear this is an incessant pest. The narrator is someone whose words cannot be taken at face value, and who rubs everyone the wrong way. We all have a screw loose in one way or another, but this narrator was missing a whole tool box. It’s not just the narrator, however, I don’t think there was one character I liked or could root for. They all lacked depth and were very much one dimensional.

The plot has become predictable for Michaelides at this point. Like I’ve mentioned, his storylines seem repetitive. There were times where the scenes described didn’t add up (e.g. there was a point where Person A stood outside a window, and in the same scene Person B who was inside grabbed Person A and pushed them against a wall). Yes, I read an ARC, so I’ll forgive the few grammatical errors, but I hope someone caught the inconsistency issues.

I think Michaelides has one more spurned male-not such a plot twist- with heavy Greek mythology references novel left before he becomes an author I write off completely. He used to be an auto-read for me, hence why I quickly requested the ARC without actually reading the summary; but now he’s not even that. In fact, if he puts out another mediocre novel, I will be cutting him out of my recommendations and forgetting his books exist. Life is too short, and there are too many talented BIPOC authors for me to be settling for a sub-par White cishet male writer.

-DO I RECOMMEND-

Frankly, I don’t recommend this book.

This was, unfortunately, quite boring. Although I did read it in one day, the urgency was more because of the simplicity of the book & the (ultimately unfulfilled) promise that the half-baked plot, and dull and uninspired characters would build up to some king of rewarding payoff. Unfortunately, this book was mediocre at best, and terribly basic and free from any kind of personality at worst.

Our main character Elliot was genuinely so annoying, uncharismatic an uninteresting. The plot was *almost* compelling, but with EACH twist, I found myself rolling my eyes and getting even more bored. The premise was an interesting one, but the execution was flawed. Lana was this ephemeral figure who everyone was somehow in love with beyond reason, and it was so unbelievable because she had the personality of a room temperature glass of water.

I’m sure some people won’t mind this story. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I think there’s an audience for it, perhaps if you go into the book with lower expectations than I did.

I was so bored throughout the story. It lacked creativity, imagination, and depth so much that I’m almost convinced it was written in by a computer. It’s disappointing, as I’ve heard incredible things about this writer’s work, and now I’m quite wary of picking up either of his previous books.

Thank you Celeldon books & Net Gallery for this advanced copy of The Fury. I really enjoyed reading this book.. I am a big fan of this author.
This is a fast paced mystery thriller about rich people on an island together when a murder occurs.
Lana Farrah is a retired actor who invites her friends and son to a Greek Island for Easter.
The book is narrated by her friend Elliot Chase who draws you in to his story very quickly.
This book has everything- lies, jealousy, hatred, murder, and the twist keep coming!

Lana Farrar was a gorgeous movie stars and the owner of a remote private island in Greece. She decides to invite a group of her friends to the island for a little getaway.

🧿

This group of friends has some history, secrets and agendas of their own for this trip.

The story is written in 5 acts and feels very much like a play unfolding before you. There were so many twist and turns that it kept me interested and was hard to put down! I binged this in a weekend. I definitely recommend! It will be a quick read that will keep you on your toes!

my rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book will have lots of fans because it is creative and well written, but it just wasn’t for me. To say that Elliot is an unreliable narrator is a huge understatement. And each character seems unmoored in life and in this mess of a visit to the Island. No one does anything that is evenly remotely sensible considering the way the characters are presented by Elliot. And while I understand that we need a glimpse into “the kids” background, there was a lot of psycho babble that just droned on. I did enjoy the Silent Patient and think the author is talented but this one was just a little too much for me. I received an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley and appreciate the opportunity to read this book.

While I overall enjoyed this one, I thought it was a bit tough to really get into due to the way it was written. It did pick up towards the middle/end of the book. Definitely grab this one if you’re a fan of slow-paced thrillers with unreliable characters and twists and turns along the way.

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

The way this thriller was written captivated me. Elliott’s unreliable narration of each character was a beautiful mess. The first person perspective also gave it a very real feeling for me. Private Greek island for the setting? Say less. I also loved to dislike all of the characters. The plot twist at the end had me frantically reading to finish the book. I am Alex’s newest fan. You should absolutely read this now!

“That reminds me of something Winnicott said - about the ‘true self’. He said it is only accessed through play.”…”He meant our true self only appears when there is no one to perform to - no audience, no applause. No expectations to be met.”

Thank you to celadonbooks , netgalley , & Alex! I look forward to reading more of your books.

this is so unbelievably british that i actually googled if the author is even from england. it's giving one direction fanfiction written by an american 15 year old with a polyvore account

you cannot have this unbelievably intrusive, annoying narrator and also have the narrator be omnipotent. this is creative writing 101

having a narrator who is a bad writer just means your book is going to be poorly written. and that's fine. but consider the rest of us when deciding page count next time

how could an earring that was in someone’s ear get attached to a suit jacket mid coitus and thus be evidence of an affair? famously the earring isn’t on the outside part. sounds painful

so many nouns used in back to back sentences. you know that thing?

for a book that uses the word island on every page it sure forgets where it is. calling an ambulance isn’t going to help, bucko

the plot has some serious holes in it: i don't believe that characters would do what they end up doing — in spite of spending a lot of this talking about the importance of motive, the book doesn't listen to its own advice.

it also can't decide whether it's about one truly evil person, or a group of bad people, and ends up halfway between — one person punished excessively, the others floating off to a life of joy after their sins and their pettiness to spend their days dancing and doing yoga like a yogurt commercial.

Lana Farrar is a wealthy ex-movie star who invites her closest friends to celebrate Easter weekend on her private island off the coast of Mykonos. Her friend, Elliot Chase is also invited and he walks you through the events of the weekend and the events leading up to the weekend. But when a storm blows in, the island is cut off from the mainland and tensions begin to rise between the island guests. Rivalries bubble up to the surface and real truths are shared, and all the sudden someone is dead.

As a passive fan of thrillers, I was looking forward to reading this one from Michaelides after reading The Silent Patient a few years ago. Unfortunately this one just didn’t live up to the reputation built off his previous thrillers. Elliot Chase was a deeply unlikeable and frankly grating narrator. I understand he was written that way for a reason but it made it so hard to get into the story when Elliot was the one telling it. It soured the story a bit for me. The end of the story gets twisty, of course, but the events of the end of the book unfold so fast I found myself having to re-read as it was easy to miss some details. There was too much build up to that ending for it to wrap up so quickly.

I loved this book so much. The plot was phenomenal and the characters were not only relatable but had so much character development within the book.

I think Alex Michaelides best work is still Silent Patient. I have been consistently disappointed and almost bored since then. The effort is there but the plot gets lost as he tries to bring back the magic of his debut.

I enjoyed the book. I liked the aspect of the author breaking the 4th wall. I also enjoyed how it was told in 4 parts. I would pick another book by this author.

The Fury by Alex Michaelides was a very interesting read. The narrator, Elliot Chase, has a story that he wants to share with us, and it kind of goes back and forth between timelines because Elliot thinks you need to know about certain things before you get to the next part of the story. All of the background information takes a while to be built up. I felt like this was a very slow-paced thriller, however, the twists were good and I did not expect them.

I have read both The Silent Patient and The Maidens by this author, and I would say that The Silent Patient is still my favorite from him, and it’s still one of my favorite thrillers I’ve read. Also, please read The Silent Patient first because there is a spoiler in the epilogue of The Fury.

I was sincerely looking forward to this title after reading The Silent Patient by Michaelides - and while this felt like such a change of pace, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to fall into the wit and psychology of the narrator. The framework of the novel - a play - is such a fantastic choice, especially given the twist - that our main character wasn't truly a playwright himself, despite his infamous work. Beautiful title, beautiful prose, beyond the average thriller.

The allusions to The Silent Patient also made this feel like a connected world a la Black Mirror, and for that, I hope we'll see more that intertwines these characters.

Who is Elliot Chase really? The best friend to the reclusive ex movie star Lana Farrar? Or maybe the beloved husband of the well known author Barbara West? Or just a man in love with the idea of being something he's not? No one really knows for sure.This is his story...

"My name is Elliot Chase, and I'm going to tell you a story unlike any you've ever heard."

STOP IT. STOP IT RIGHT NOW

I am absolutely floored by this uniquely spun story of lies, deceit, betrayal and revenge.

Okay so Michaelides is an absolute mastermind of delivering those twists that will leave you sitting in absolute disbelief of everything you just read. I can't I just can't

He pulls you right in with words swirling in a fury around you. Trying to grasp onto every detail as the words are twisting and twirling. You will be transported to this scenic setting immedietly, experiencing everything right along with these characters

AND THEN adding in the element of direct narration where the main character is speaking directly to you as a reader brought this story even farther into the real world making things unable to decipher, is this happening in real time or is it all just fiction. It's so hard to tell.

With amazing character development that will have you in an utter headspin. Rooting for one person one minute then completely changing trajectory the next.Trying to sleuth your way through.

Guaranteed to leave you on the edge of your seat trying to piece everything together until the very end.


Thank you to alex michaelides and netgalley for the advanced readers copy! I had such a blast in this epically whirlwind of a story 🖤

I really enjoyed Alex Michaelides' book The Silent Patient, so I was hoping for another twisty thriller. The Fury, however, did not deliver. While it was an easy, fast read and I never considered DNFing, the payoff/ending was meh. I know some people enjoyed The Fury, but I just found it a bit too boring for my liking. Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

I really enjoyed Alex Michaelides' first novel, The Silent Patient, but didn't enjoy the second, The Maidens. I was hopeful that this one would trend more toward the first novel, but it simply didn't work for me. I thought the narrator was annoying and nearly insufferably coy. You can't be omnipresent and also unreliable and rambling. I didn't mind the breaking of the fourth wall, which I know is a literary technique many people dislike. This story requires a lot of suspension of belief. The pacing was all off - slow for the first half and very rapid for the second half of this thankfully short book. By the time we finally got to to the wild twists that the narrator kept promising, I wasn't invested enough to be interested. But that was partly because not a single character was interesting enough that I cared about what happened to them. The atmospheric Greek setting was the best part, but it wasn't enough to save it, at least for me.

A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.