The Fury by Alex Michaelides is a thriller set on an isolated Greek island.

If you haven't read The Silent Patient yet (I haven't) there's a significant spoiler in the epilogue of this book.

The book is told through a non-linear, first-person metafiction perspective via our unreliable narrator, Elliot. Elliot is a close friend of a reclusive ex-movie star who invited a group of friends to her private Greek island to escape the London weather.

The audiobook narrator, Alex Jennings, does a phenomenal job. His performance was great, but I found the overall package a little lackluster.

The structure is written like a five-act play, which I found interesting. But the first two acts are the longest of the bunch and I found the plot a bit meandering.

I did have one literal jaw-drop moment during my read, so there are plenty of twists and turns to keep the interest of most people. Act V, the final act, is the strongest part of the whole book.

The book is written "For Uma" and Michaelides thanks Uma Thurman in the Acknowledgements, so I'm curious if he wrote this for her to play eventually.

CW: emotional abuse, physical abuse (implied), bullying, assault, firearms, death, toxic relationships, infidelity, gaslighting, blood, suicidal ideation, sexual violence

A book like this does not, in my opinion, deserve a spoiler warning. Because there is no universe where one of the major “twists” is that the seemingly platonic friendship between a man and a woman was actually the man’s one-sided love for her for the entire time. The Fury so desperately tries to convince you that it is not like those other thrillers of the same genre - a group of individuals trapped on an island, a mysterious death. The author basically tells you this outright, on the page. But in doing so it creates a plot and character dynamic that is so patently uninteresting it felt like Alex Michaelides took the outline of every character in those types of books and left them there, unfinished.

Everything about this story feels very lazy, not poorly written exactly, but just like the most basic character archetypes were chosen and thrown together. A beautiful, enigmatic woman with far reaching celebrity (even more one the nose, named Lana as well). The husband is cheating on his wife with her best friend dynamic. And perhaps most egregious, Elliot’s role as the narrator and his friendship with Lana.

Nothing about this book made me want to DNF, but that was mostly the inherent draw to come back to it with the question - ​​”That can’t be it, right?” And when it was, it was disappointing. But I had also finished the book, so it could be a win in that way.

Thank you to the publisher Macmillan Audio for providing an audiobook ARC via NetGalley for an honest review.

This audio version of The Fury was narrated by Alex Jennings. Alex Michaelides books are suspenseful and exciting, and Alex Jennings narration made it all the more so. He did a great job with the accents of various characters and I had no trouble deciphering who was speaking. With British, American and Greek characters, I found Alex Jennings' accents to be believable as well.
I love a thriller set on an exotic island, and The Fury did not disappoint. The story was full of twists and turns, and truly I didn't know how it would end. While it didn't have the shock at the end like Silent Patient, it was a well-written thriller. The characters were well-definite and backstories helped to related to their actions.

A few quick notes: unlikeable characters, a nonlinear timeline, and a narrator who’s over-the-top pretentious (which I think is the point of Elliot Chase).

I think this book would be great for people who enjoy twisty plots. However, I was able to predict the ending and wasn't surprised by it. I tried both the audiobook and physical book, and I preferred the physical version. Although Alex Jennings did an excellent job of portraying Elliot Chase, I found Elliot's character to be too pretentious when listening to the audiobook. Overall, The Fury is a quick read, which is a plus because I found parts a little dull. If it had been longer, I probably would have DNF’d it.

I listened to the audiobook version of The Fury and did not love the narrator, so maybe I would have liked this book better if I read it instead of listening.

The Fury started off so slow. It took me a couple of false starts to get into it, and I didn’t get invested until about a third of the way into the book.

The characters were all supposed to be obsessed with Lana Farrar, who is a reclusive ex–movie star, but I didn’t find her character very interesting. The narrator told us over and over how amazing she was but never showed us anything deep about her. Most of the characters were very surface-level. My favorite character was “The Fury,” or the wind on the island. The Fury was given the most poetic descriptions and was the most interesting of the bunch.

The narrator often broke the fourth wall by talking directly to the reader, which was interesting. The format of this book, in general, was very unique. As someone who likes a more traditional storyline format, that wasn’t my favorite.

I kept reading because the author dangled the prospect of an incredible twist at the end, but it meandered so long to get there that by the time it came, it wasn’t very surprising or worthwhile. My favorite part of the book was the ending, where everything was tied up well. It was interesting but not very shocking. I’m glad I read it because everyone on Instagram was talking about it, and I had FOMO, but definitely not my favorite book of the year so far.

I have read and completely enjoyed a few books from Alex Michaelides. This was not one of them. I usually get along with books with unreliable narrators, but after awhile this one frustrated me. I enjoyed about the first 50% of the book, but after that were so many twists that were not really twists that I eventually just felt confused and wanted the book to be done. At the end I wondered what the whole point was. Three stars because this is probably a book for a lot of readers, but it just wasn’t for me.

3/5 Stars

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an audio ARC of this book.

The Fury by Alex Michaelides was not what I expected. I really liked the authors two prior books, so I was excited to read this one. I was also thrilled to get the audiobook when I saw who was narrating. Alex Jennings was an excellent narrator.

All that said, I didn’t love the book. I don’t know if I over hyped it, or if it just wasn’t as much of a thriller as his previous works. There were some great twists at the end. However, the first half-plus was just so slow and felt rather repetitive. I think the structure of the story was part of why I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This voice actor is incredible. It was almost a dreamy story because of the narrator LOL.

Overall I did find some lulls during this performance but that was because of the details being drawn out in the story but overall I loved it!

This was a wonderful mystery with several twists. Everything I thought I knew exactly what was going on I was thrown completely off.
I really enjoyed it.

"My name is Elliot Chase, and I'm going to tell you a story unlike any you've ever heard."
Playwright Elliot Chase, an unlikeable and uninteresting character, narrates the story and addresses the reader quite often.
He tells the story of seven people stranded on a Greek island and one of them is murdered. Told in five acts, similar to a play.
More of a cozy mystery than a thriller to me with a group of unlikeable characters being horrible to each other. Nothing is as it seems and once the twists and turns begin I had to finish listening to see how it all ends.
This story involves drama, murder, the theater and unrequited love.
I really wanted to enjoy this more than I did.
Alex Jennings is a superb narrator.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I will start off on the positive that the multiple twists at the end were not predictable and definitely had me guessing up until the end. However, the first 60% of the book went on rather monotonously and without much character or world-building. I tend to like books with unlikeable / unreliable narrators, but there wasn't enough character building for me to care if they lived or died. For a novel set on a beautiful private Greek island, I didn't feel like there was much time spent on building that world either- it could have benefitted from going more in depth and edging towards more gothic horror territory imo. I felt a bit similarly about "The Maidens" but it seems "The Silent Patient" is the fan favorite so I will still give that one a shot!

I am a huge fan of Alex Michaelides. The silent patient is one of my favourite thrillers ever. However this book fell flat for me.

This story is set in a remote island where an ex movie star, Lana invites her closest friends to it every year. But this year, this vacation ends up in a murder.

The narrator is Elliot Chase and he narrates it like he is writing a play.

For me, the story felt repetitive as the same events were being told again and again from different perspectives and with additional details. And all the characters were unlikeable. Also, the plot twist did not really blow my mind at all.

Though I'll admit this book was so fast paced and highly engaging that I finished reading it in a day. But overall, an average thriller. I feel disappointed with this one.

“We are all the unreliable narrators of our own lives.”

Did I enjoy the book? Yes.

I love an unreliable narrator, I think they’re fun. I wish this narrator was a tad more unreliable.
Very well paced once you get past the first few chapters.
It claims it is not a whodunnit but an examination on why people do what they do- a whydunnit. But it is very much a whodunnit.

I listened to the audiobook and Alex Jennings performance was stellar! I would listen to another book read by him!

Ahh i just realized i didn't review this, though i read it about a month ago. I've read all of Alex Michaelides books, and this was DEFINITELY my favorite. I absolutely loved the writing style. We know from the very beginning that the narrator is unreliable because he's telling his version of the story. So basically the entire time we spend trying to figure out who's really good, who can we trust and who we can't. He constantly breaks the fourth wall, which made for a fun time.

And the twists! Holy cow...i kept thinking the book was over, but nope! Twist after twist kept me not wanting to turn the audiobook off. Also props to the narrator. Gosh he did a FANTASTIC job.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy. I wish there was a way to rate the first and second half of this book separately, three and five stars. I did receive this book in audio, where Elliot narrates truly like he is speaking to you as a friend. Because of this, and perhaps because it was on audio and not print, it felt as if he talked himself in circles and belabored the point he was making multiple times, often getting lost in the backstory. I truly loved "The Silent Patient" and do not feel this had happened there. Throughout the second half, I thoroughly enjoyed digging deeper into the truths of the story (even until the end) with unforeseen twists and turns. Possibly the beginning of the book confirms what we find out in the end and I missed It?

I DNF'ed this book. I appreciate that the direct addressing of the audience was an intentional, stylistic choice, but It distracted me enough that I struggled to follow the audiobook easily. I will likely try this title again in print as I think the direct addresses will be less distracting that way.

This might just be my favorite of Michaelides books so far!

I don't typically like contemporary thrillers/drama that's a bunch of white people in he city, but this one is a very dramatic drama that nods to Shakespeare and Agatha Christie in a wonderful way.

This is one of those thrillers that in hindsight, I think I could have put together sooner. Like, it's super, super twisty, but the author did a good job being consistent with hints and messaging without those totally left field distractions.

I loved the Shakespeare vibes! It was truly something like The Tempest mashed with And Then There Were None and Glass Onion.

I listened to the audiobook via NetGalley and MacMillan Audio. I was wondering how the audio was so polished and perfect and wonderful sounding: it's narrated by Alex Jennings!!!!!! So good! Definitely recommend listening to the audio.

I DNF this audiobook. I got through over a third of it-and I re-listened to several parts. I found the story herky-jerky as it jumped through the characters. I kept feeling that if I stuck with it it would pay off, but I found this book so unenjoyable, I had to stop listening.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked up this book, especially since I heard mixed things about the author's last book. But I am so glad I picked it up. The writing was captivating and I was so invested in the story and especially the narrator. I can see why other people may not like it because it's slow paced and the way it's told can feel disjointed, but I enjoyed that aspect of the book. Nothing was surprising about any of the twists, but I was there to be in the narrator's head. This book is, essentially, a character study with murder.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the audiobook for my honest review.

Twisty and turny throughout. This book proves that you do not always know your best friends like you think you do. What would one man do to be with the woman he loves?