Although I enjoyed The Silent Patient more, I still enjoyed this slow-paced thriller as well. The twist doesn't come until a while into the story but I enjoy Michaelides' writing style. It's easy to read and engaging.

I’ve been reminded of why I avoid books by straight white men. Women are boiled down to their relationships with other, are constantly stereotyped and objectified. White is seen as the default and there is blatant heteronormativity and ableism. No, thank you.

Mariana is a group therapist trying to figure out her life. She lost her beloved husband Sebastian in an accident and is overcome with grief. A phone call from her niece has her moving with purpose for the first time in quite a while. Zoe is a student at St. Christopher's College in Cambridge, the same institution where Mariana and Sebastian fell in love. Tara, a student and a friend of Zoe's has been murdered and Mariana rushes to Zoe's side.
What she finds is a group of beautiful female students called The Maidens and their charismatic professor Edward Fosca. She is convinced that he is the killer and no airtight alibi in the world will make her change her mind.
They say the truth will set you free, but Mariana is going to need a whole lot of therapy to deal with her discoveries. I figured out the identity of the killer early on, but couldn't wrap my head around the why. To say I was surprised when the motive was revealed would be an understatement. That was actually my only 'what' moment, but it packed a punch and I never saw it coming. What stopped this from being a page flipper for me? I've thought about that a lot. There were short chapters that I usually love, but I think it was the fact that I didn't ever really warm up to Mariana or any of the other characters. I loved The Silent Patient and liked The Maidens. I can't wait to see what the author writes next.3.5 stars.

I read this after hearing everyone rave about The Silent Patient (which I have not read).

This book was good, but wasn’t the best thing I have read. I am not a fan of Greek mythology, so I found myself tuning out a bit when it was discussed, which was difficult because it did have a bit to do with the plot.

The ending did surprise me and I do plan on reading the other title because my coworkers have assured me it is better than this one.

I won't go on about The Silent Patient lol. This book was not as engrossing as TSP, but it did have it's moments. There were things I would've liked to have been expanded on. I feel like there was too much time wrapped around one person which I guess was intended to be a "red herring", however still enjoyable. As with TSP it took me until the latter half of the book to be more into it. It definitely had some holes and didn't feel as well rounded as the other book, like his style nonetheless.

Mariana, a group therapist, receives a frantic call from her niece. Her best friend has been murdered and she needs her to come to the college she attends. Mariana cancels her therapy sessions and travels to Cambridge to help with the investigation. Who is responsible for the brutal murder of such a beautiful young girl? As Mariana conducts her own investigation into the murder, two more girls are murdered. Is a serial killer on the loose?

What I liked about this book:
It is a super fast-paced read with short chapters, that will have you furiously turning the pages to find out who is the murderer.
It takes place in the same universe as The Silent Patient and includes a cleverly placed reference to the characters from that book.
Bring on the Greek Mythology! I love these references to the Gods and Goddesses!

What didn’t quite work for me:
The biggest problem I had with this book is that I didn’t really care for Mariana as the main character. I found her to be unprofessional, gullible, and unqualified as an amateur sleuth. Too many liberties are taken to allow Mariana to investigate the murders herself and this would never happen! She withholds evidence from the police that they missed in their investigation and I don’t believe the professionals would miss such obvious clues. The red herrings were obvious to me and I easily predicted most of the ending. Overall, the ending seemed rather rushed.

Is this sophomore thriller as good as the first? No, while the writing easily lures you into the plot, it is not as original as The Silent Patient. However, it is a solid thriller that will keep you guessing until the end.

3.5/5 stars rounded up to 4

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the ARC of The Maidens by Alex Michaelides in exchange for an honest review.

Overall I liked this book and I felt it was unique in providing nods to Greek mythology throughout. I appreciated learning more about it as my experience is a bit limited there.

Felt this was a slow build, but I liked the character development and the suspense aspect. I was only slightly surprised by the ending I had the first twist figured out and the second wasn’t a huge surprise for me. This doesn’t make it a bad read I think maybe unfairly I expected a little more because it was so highly anticipated after the Silent Patient but the hype is not the authors fault. I try to level my expectations but sometimes that is hard to do when there’s a lot of buzz around a book.

I loved the Silent Patient, so as soon as I heard Alex Michaelides was coming out with another book I was sold. Sadly I think I wanted to like this one a little more than I did like it. Mariana returns to her old college to visit her niece after a student is found dead. Mariana immediately finds herself determined to figure out the mystery when she decides the police are just jumping to the first and most obvious suspect.

I’ll start with the positives, because of course they were there! I LOVED that this story took place in the same universe as the Silent Patient and it was done so subtly I did not see that coming, that tie between them. I liked how mythology tied into this one (although at time the explaining edged into over explaining). It was a nice parallel and unique piece. There were good red herrings although I had a strong suspicion it would end as it did.

The things I didn’t like revolved largely around the characters. Mariana, is a group therapist and some of the things she did or didn’t do as a professional bothered me greatly. Maybe it’s just because my background is also as a therapist, but her inaction to a client who is obsessed and stalking her was appalling. I also was greatly concerned about how she misrepresented her role as a psychotherapist (instead of what she was really doing which was investigating) to speak with grieving students. I had a hard time liking or connecting to any of the characters in this story.

The premise of the story seems rather simple, but do not be fooled. Finding out who killed these university women and why is what we are trying to discover. Beware though, the road to that realization will mock you every step of the way. Michaelides did a brilliant job misleading me on every page. He not only directed me down many deceiving paths, but peppered in some back stories and even a few side characters that muddied up the water and kept things beguiling. Here is the thing. Dark and moody campus novels with a few dead bodies are 100% my jam. Bring on the academic vibes, distorted passion and exclusive secret societies…I am in! I loved Michaelides intricate details on Greek mythology and the psychology element he infuses into his tale. He has mastered having a therapist in his story once again. If you have read The Silent Patient, then you will appreciate the subtle nod he gives to it in this story. Always fun in my opinion.

Here is the scoop, Michaelides set the bar as high as it can go for his future novels with his 5 star debut, The Silent Patient. I truly believe his sophomore novel reached that bar and will be loved this summer by all the book lovers looking for a solid, high quality read. Remember though, comparison is the thief of joy so LET IT BE! Just enjoy!

The build up was slow which made the end feel rushed, however the ways the author tied everything together ( connected to The Silent Patient) was great. It was an easy read, although it was slow, it kept me hooked.
The plot was well developed, the vivid imagery was great. The character development was also good. I would have liked some of the side characters to be developed more than just Mariana. Over all, I really enjoyed it.

There was a lot of potential here: secret societies, murder, Greek mythology, dark academia... But instead what we got was a woman who was equal parts self-pitying (to the point of distraction from the plot) and self-important (in which she trusts absolutely no one, not even supposed experts but is then fooled by everyone who talks to her?). The narrative was scattered, littered with flashbacks to Mariana's dead husband constantly baring into the middle of the very serious murder mystery plot. And there wasn't enough time spent setting the scene; there were very few passages dedicated to visual description which, in my mind, is often what separates a good mystery from a cheap thriller. It left the prose without a sense of rhythm and balance - particularly when the driving force of the story is Mariana's annoying internal monologue or dialogue with people we know she's reading wrong from the get-go.

I wasn't a huge fan of The Silent Patient but I'm still disappointed in this one.

This was just meh for me, which was very disappointing, seeing as I LOVED Michaelides debut, The Silent Patient. Unfortunately, The Maidens was just too predictable and silly, and the ending left me feeling empty and let down. I'd definitely still try another book by this author, though.

'The Maidens' is a psychological thriller that readers will descend into, twisting and turning their way around an Eleusinian mystery that will trick, deceive, and analyze the delicate web of tragedy and love.

The story follows Mariana Andros a group therapist grieving the loss of her husband who is pulled back into the throws of Cambridge University when her niece desperately seeks her help in dealing with the murder of her best friend Zoe. The past and present collide in a seductively dangerous way when a Greek cult is revived on campus amidst a series of grisly murders. Love and loss, rage and euphoria intersect in beguiling ways tempting the threshold of life and death. Mariana becomes implicated in the disturbing killings the more she tries to heal her grief while suspect number one Professor Fosca- the charming classics professor, ensnares Mariana in a psychological mind game whose stakes are much higher and deadlier than believed.

'The Maidens' is dark academia at its finest featuring Greek mythology, gothic university architecture, love triangles, murder mysteries, dark poetry, and smoky rooms. I enjoyed the fast pacing and could not put it down. The red herrings and twists kept me interested, but the story ended with too many unanswered questions and plot holes. The ending was a bit of a let down considering the attention on the secret society was only a convenience for the antagonist and not a main player in the end. The Persephone Demeter story needed a louder voice in order to tie all of the loose ends together, because the Orphic elements of the plot may be lost to some readers.

Overall 'The Maidens' was a creepy tale about psychoanalytical death and rebirth and the secret rites and mysteries that haunt those with pain, grief, tragedy, and unrequited love.

4/5 Stars

There is so much hype around The Maidens  right now,  and I'll confess it was one of my most anticipated reads after loving the silent patient. However it definitely didn't love up to my expectations. I did enjoy this novel but not quite as much as others. I thought the plot didn’t have enough cohesiveness to pull off another shocking surprise twist at the end. The atmosphere was creepy and fear of the unknown was prevalent but it wasn’t enough to hold the story together. Overall, this book was average and a bit predictable and not up to the silent patient standards.

In the story we follow, Mariana Andros a therapist who is still grieving the tragic loss of her husband. Mariana gets a frantic call from her niece, Zoe, over the disappearance of her college roommate.

Mariana travels to the university to offer support to  Zoe. Mariana becomes immediately suspicious of a popular professor, Edward Fosca and his group of female students deemed ‘The Maidens’.

Another student is murdered and Mariana steps up the pressure on the Professor. Her actions begin to border on obsession, making her appear more and more unhinged…

✨ The Title/Cover Draw:
I adored The Silent Patient so this was on my must list. Thank you to @netgalley , @librofm and Celadon Books for letting me read this in advance of publication. Today is publication day!
💜 What I liked:
That ending though! So many twists I didn’t see coming! I suspected everyone except the truth. Also there are some nice Silent Patient crossovers.
😱 What I didn’t like:
This is a slower paced thriller, and when it was about 60% in, I felt like there wasn’t a lot that had happened (actionwise). It all comes together though, so don’t let that deter you!
💁‍♀️ The Characters:
Reeling from the death of her husband, Sebastian, Mariana receives a call from her niece Zoe, whose roommate is also found dead. Mariana travels to help, and starts to suspect professor Edward Fosca is behind it all.
🚦 My face at the end: 🙀 +☠️
💬 The Narrator:
Kobna Holdbrook-Smith provides a sultry narration for one of the male characters. Louise Brealey is a strong female narrator with a clear English accent.
💭 5 Reasons to Read:
Alex Michaelides is a master of the misdirect.
That twist at the end!
If you love thrillers - it’s here!
If you like Greek literature - it’s here!
Highly recommend the audiobook.



I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Received from Netgalley and Libro.

This atmospheric dark academia story held a lot of surprises. It's very psychological and internal, so the plotting pace isn't entirely speedy, but there are enough twists throughout that I found it steady enough to keep my interest and keep the pages turning. I get the sense that the pacing isn't working for all readers, so I think knowing that this is more character driven versus shocking twist around every corner plot driven is important. The secret society and Greek tragedy elements woven into the story make for a sinister tone throughout, and the insular Cambridge setting makes for an intriguing environment that had me googling some of the particulars of that school that make it such a rich and singular setting. The ending is absolutely shocking, and I found myself flipping backwards to figure out if there were clues I'd potentially missed. For fans of The Silent Patient, there is a really interesting Easter egg to watch for!

The Maidens is a compelling, atmospheric psychological thriller that kept me guessing long after closing the book for the last time. It is a very clever story with many red herrings that create several possible outcomes, and the immersive descriptions and gothic undertones are perfect for a macabre secret society with its ancient Greek origins and rituals. I loved the references to Tennyson and some Greek plays with which I am familiar, as they add to the overall suspense and are fitting for Cambridge University. The main character is such the “victim” that it becomes increasingly annoying as she makes bad decisions after bad decisions and can’t see reality staring right back at her. Yet, the ending is shocking, and the very last page left me with that unsettled feeling I like most from a psychological thriller. You never know what motivates people, especially after a traumatic experience. However, a few things marred my reading experience, most notably plot gaps and subtleties that confused me and left me unsure that I understood what was going on in the story. This story is a perfect choice for people who enjoy a challenging mystery and want to see if they can figure out the real clues versus the red herrings.

The author of The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides, has a new book set for publication next week--The Maidens. In it, Mariana, a group therapist coping with her own personal tragedies, becomes embroiled in trying to identify and catch a killer at her alma mater, Cambridge University.

Mariana lost her husband a year ago in a holiday accident in her coastal Greek hometown, and she's still reeling. When her beloved niece Zoe calls from her Cambridge dormitory, frantic about her missing friend, Mariana leaves her most problematic client and therapy group and hops on a train to try to help.

The rest of the book seems to hinge on Mariana's intuition and largely drops the therapist aspect except in name; she frequently seems to have a "their emotions aren't my problem" reaction to situations, and her boundaries often don't seem appropriate. One client does make a strange appearance late in the book, which felt jarring and off topic.

Michaelides weaves in Greek mythology, references to ancient ceremony, and superstition into this dark tale, but the particulars of the events and the characters' behaviors in the book often felt absurd and improbable.

Mariana seems to think her reading of people's emotions as a therapist qualifies her to serve as a sort of criminal investigator without training, and there are repeated instances in which she is confident in her suspicion that others are hiding things and feels that her therapist role allows for this certainty. (Her intuition and its accuracy or inaccuracy seems likely to create a crisis for her later in the book, but we don't hear much about the implication of this.)

I found the main protagonist largely off-putting; she seems scattered beyond her understandable lingering grief, and she spends lots of time during this life-and-death crisis and with immediate serial killer danger lurking getting drinks in the early afternoon and going to secluded places with strange men--one of whom is possibly the killer--to fish for clues. All of this seemed odd and made me feel impatient with her.

There's a classic setup of key characters leaving off without finishing their illuminating thoughts in order to keep the mystery going, and not everyone is who they seem (but in the cases of the men, they're often even more dreadful than their initial impressions indicate). Michaelides includes a separate point of view interspersed with Mariana's viewpoint that's from a disturbed, damaged character, identity unknown. It felt like (and was) a red herring pointing to a specific person.

The male characters in this story are obnoxious, condescending, creepy, overly familiar, bossy, demanding, and generally problematic. Some characters behave nonsensically, scene changes and interactions sometimes feel abrupt and unlikely--and, side note, all of the men (including strangers) seem obsessed with and alarmingly aggressive about taking Mariana to dinner or our for drinks. She is mildly annoyed but also seems intrigued. I was puzzled by this whole dynamic, because these men aren't built up to the reader to be worth her attention. (And she has bigger issues to cope with than fending off horribly entitled men, ugh.)

The main suspect felt almost comically sinister, creepily suggestive, and overly familiar--although his manner seems meant to be borderline attractive. He offers outrageously cheesy come-ons that Mariana finds dazzling (with an undercurrent of creep). Her willingness to be alone with him seems silly, why purposely be alone with a potentially dangerous suspect?

There's a bizarre denouement in which basic truths Mariana believes about her life are revealed to be horribly off base. Michaelides also offers a few links to his Silent Patient characters, including an oddly specific reference at the very end.

I received a prepublication digital edition of this book courtesy of Celadon Books and NetGalley.

I finished this book in one sitting and I haven’t done that since THE SILENT PATIENT really. Although enjoyable, I still enjoyed TSP more, but ultimately the storyline in this one still had me hooked.

It didn’t tie-in Greek mythology in a way I was expecting entirely, which if you come to think of it, I’m not sure WHAT I was expecting, but the twists and turns at the end had me enjoying the ride. Overall I’d still recommend this one as a riveting and enjoyable one-day thriller!💫

If you haven’t read THE SILENT PATIENT I’d also highly recommend that one. THE MAIDENS has a fun crossover that fans of Alex’s first will thoroughly get excited about.

I tried not to let my expectations overshadow my thoughts on this book, but oh golly was it difficult

⚠️content warnings: self-harm, death of a loved one, murder and violence, physical/sexual abuse, drug abuse, fertility issues, mental health issues, sexual assault

Oh boy...this pains me. I LOVED "The Silent Patient". It was in my top 10 of the year that year. I was highly anticipating Alex's follow-up novel, and it sounded great! Then I began reading it...

...and the writing was just...not great. At all. The dialogue was clunky, the characters were dull, and I found myself growing bored with it. So I read some reviews, hoping it would get better, but what I was seeing was exactly how I was feeling, and decided to DNF at 30% (about 100 pages), which is a shame to get that far just to give up. I decided to skip to the end to see how it would all shake out, and I fear Alex tried to "one up" himself in the twist department, and unfortunately, failed. I hope this isn't a case of the Shyamlan Effect.

I'll still give the third book a shot...it's hard to follow up a mega smash hit novel without disappointing folks. But I sure hope this is the one "dud" in a hopefully illustrious career.