OH, MY Sweet Baby James! This book, The Maidens, is Unbelievable. I wanted to write in all caps, and, yes, this would have deserved every single capital letter! The Silent Patient, the author’s debut novel, was absolutely amazing, and I could not recommend it to enough people. Everyone I know who read it were like me and thought it was the best book they read that year, and still read it based on my recommendation and love it. Including the friend who is taking it to the beach next week. This book will be no different, and I cannot wait to spread the word any way that I know how. This may sound bizarre, but I finished the book on Monday, but it took me til now to find the right words to say about a book which leaves me speechless.

When it comes to The Maidens, I am simply floored. For a follow-up novel after the author’s debut, it not only lives up the hype, it exceeds it and deserves even more I, for one, cannot wait to help put it out there. The hits keep on coming! I love the story woven by Alex Michaelides and learned a lot about Greek mythology, the UK college institutions, and various aspects of university life. From the moment the book begins you are hooked. There may have been a couple of times when it felt a little slow, but I am glad I kept going. After you get into the rhythm, you cannot put it down. (I may have sneaked a peek and read a little here and there when I was supposed to be doing something else.)

Mariana gets a call from her niece, Zoe,, who is at college in London, upset because her closest friend has been murdered. Mariana who practically raised Zoe as her own when tragedy struck Zoe's family, drops everything to be with her niece. Mariana is also dealing with her own loss after losing her husband she loved for many years, and is struggling with overwhelming grief. Mariana is now a therapist who conducts group therapy with a few interesting characters.

Zoe feels uncomfortable with a particular professor who she feels is linked to the crime. So begins the trip down the rabbit hole where Mariana believes the professor may be involved as the killer. Soon, other girls begin dying as well, and Mariana's obsession with the professor, who is popular with a certain group of young women called The Maidens, grows more and more. The Maidens is a term tied to Greek Mythology and only adds suspicions as the professor teaches the Greek Tragedies. The story behind the name does not do him any favors in Mariana's eyes, and as each girl is found with postcards in their possession with a Greek quote written on the back just prior to their death, Mariana begins spiraling. Finding out who is the killer comes to a peak when Mariana receives her own postcard.

Alex Michaelides is my kind of author! I felt like I knew what was happening, but at the same time I Literally told myself, Autumn, you know you are not right or not completely because he is better than that. And he was. And he totally got me! This is another reason he is a master... He found ways to tie back to The Silent Patient that made me audibly gasp at the doctor's office with his first intro of a reference to the debut novel. Then there were little things along the way that made me have to go back and reread the first book again! If you read this one first, you will still be surprised when you go back to the first book. I cannot wait for another book! Please, do not make us have to wait as long, but if it takes that long to deliver another work of perfection, I will gladly wait.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the great honor and privilege of previewing The Maidens in exchange for an honest review.

Lots of twists and turns in this one. My initial thoughts confirmed but with an additional twist. Loved the nod the the Silent Patient.

I read the Silent Patient, the debut by this author, and while I thought it was good I was not sure if it deserved all the fanfare it was given. I had higher hopes for this second book, but I was disappointed again.

Mariana, a psychiatrist with her own set of baggage issues, comes to the rescue of her niece, Zoe, who is currently attending Cambridge, after one of Zoe's friends is murdered in a rather brutal fashion. The seeds are planted that Edward Fosca, a professor with a gaggle of beautiful student followers, "The Maidens", is the murderer. Mariana is obsessed with proving this to be true. She decides to investigate everything herself and protect Zoe from all the horrors that follow.

I have to say, I read a lot of cozy mysteries and this is basically a badly written cozy mystery with more gore and a horribly boring supporting cast. Mariana is one of the most unlikeable protagonists I have ever come across. She is shallow and naïve and thinks she wants to save the world but pushes everyone away. Zoe waffles between pathetic and terrifying and will do anything for getting sympathy. Fosca is to be frank, a total poser. He sounds like a brilliant professor but the rest of him is just plain icky.

I imagine I am rather alone in thinking this book was overall pretty terrible. I did like the play on Greek tragedy and some of the clues in the book but for the most part it was a snooze fest and Mariana's investigation tactics make even the most amateur cozy sleuth look like Hercule Poirot.

Oh my gosh, I really loved this book! It has all the aspects I seek when reading, including lots of mystery, intrigue & originality. I also loved The Silent Patient, so I can’t wait to see what Michaelides comes up with next,
As I read, I kept coming up with possible answers, thinking maybe I’d figured some things out. But I’m glad to say I was way off & very surprised with how the story came together and ultimately wrapped up. It is full of twists and makes you think, keeping you guessing throughout.
The Maidens is set up in a unique way in that there are six parts, each with their own chapters starting at one. I enjoyed discovering the way each part lended more detail to the overall story. I also liked how the different quotes presented at the start of the parts tied in to the narrative.
The main character, therapist Mariana, is convinced that professor Fosca is guilty of the murders of members of his group of Maidens (star, privileged students who are part of his elite study group) at the college he works at, and that Mariana herself once attended. We meet many interesting characters, including people close to Mariana now and those from her past. These characters add to the mystery of the book, and I liked working to uncover the significance each would have.

Well. That was. Hmm. Not what I expected.

Ever read a book that just took so long to get into that you probably should have DNF'd it but kept going and then the last 20% or so sorta made it worth finishing? Yeah. That's The Maidens for me.

And I'm so bummed about it. I loved The Silent Patient.

I will say, if I had started it purely on ebook and not audio, I might have enjoyed it more. The audio was just too slow and hard to get into. (And that was with me listening to it at 1.75 speed.)

It also has a strong mythology aspect to the storyline which has never been my thing, so take my opinions of this one with a grain of salt.

I will say, I did not see the ending coming so that's a big plus for it if you enjoy slow build thrillers.

THE MAIDENS by Alex Michaelides is an amazing thriller!! I read most of this book in one sitting! It’s about a psychologist investigating a murder at Cambridge. I loved the fast pace with the inclusion of letters to get into the murderer’s mind. I loved all the red herrings thrown in to keep you guessing until the end. There was such great suspense built up as the plot escalated. I really enjoyed The Silent Patient and this is the perfect follow up novel. I’m eagerly awaiting his next book!
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Thank you to Celadon Books via NetGalley for my advance review copy!

A psychological thriller that starts out intriguing and compelling but ends up having such a ridiculous conclusion that I wanted to through the book across the room for wasting my time..

The Maidens was another good, interesting read from Alex Michaelides. Maintaining the level of praise from The Silent Patient will be a challenge but I still felt this book had some good aspects of mystery, suspense, and twists. I enjoyed the subtle connection to The Silent Patient and I hope his next book does the same with The Maidens. This author’s characters really tell the story of his books and I look forward to his next one.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity in exchange for an honest review.

There is nothing I enjoy better than being completely blindsided by a book. After reading The Maidens, I felt like I had been slapped. I was shocked, disgusted and in awe as to how one author could make me gasp with two different books. Mariana is a therapist specialized in group sessions, but she can’t find her feet after the devastating loss of her husband. When her one and only relative, her niece Zoey asks for help when her best friend is murdered in Cambridge, she drops everything to help. Seeing the whole group interactions on campus, including her niece’s, Mariana is certain that the killer is Edward Fosca, an attractive Classics professor with a creepy cult of young women known as “the maidens.” As is the case with these books, nobody believes her. There are plenty of characters popping up, some of them seem too shady and others too good to be true but, could Mariana possibly be mistaken? The plot is engrossing, addictive, well-crafted and… just perfect!
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Celadon Books!

Recently widowed Mariana is a psychotherapist whose niece Zoe goes to St. Christopher’s College in Cambridge - the same college she and her beloved deceased husband Sebastian attended. When Zoe’s friend Tara, who is part of charismatic professor Edward Fosca’s mysterious exclusive study group The Maidens is found murdered, Mariana returns there, determined to protect Zoe, expose the person she’s convinced is the murderer, and hopefully deal with the ghosts of her own past along the way.

So what did I think of it? It’s good, solid writing, and I liked it. It’s an interesting plot and the Greek mythology angle was clever. I enjoyed the classical feel of the Cambridge setting, which felt like a glimpse into history. I also love that he kept this story in the same universe as The Silent Patient, with the characters Theo and Alicia making appearances in this one. I could be wrong, but it definitely feels like a future book will do the same and revisit characters and places we’ve seen before, which is something I’ll look forward to if it happens.

Here’s where it lost a star: I absolutely LOVED its predecessor The Silent Patient, and no matter how hard I tried to see this one on its own merits, I kept wishing for just a little bit more from it.
As thrillers go, I found the pace to be pretty slow, at times feeling like a whole lot of nothing was going on. It was never boring, but it could’ve been more suspenseful and compelling. Mariana wasn’t a terribly likable main character, nor was anyone else, with the possible exception of Fred, so it was more important for the story to carry the weight that the characters weren’t.

Am I disappointed with it? Not really. I enjoyed the story and once I adjusted to the slower pace, it was fun to try to work out the whodunnit aspect. Part of the final reveal didn’t surprise me all that much, but the other part of it I didn’t see coming at all, so it was a mixed bag on the ending.

All said, Alex Michaelides is a fantastic author, and I’ll read everything he ever writes with a smile on my face. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next!

★★★★

All I can say is that I didn't see it coming!! I loved this book and can't wait to discuss the ending. This is a twisted, psychological thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat and flipping those pages. I loved all the mythology references in the book also. This is one not to miss!

Wow. It's almost all I can think to say about The Maidens. It was intense and had me questioning so many of the characters.

Mariana is a psychotherapist who specializes in group therapy. She grew up in Athens, Greece and moved to England when she began studies at the University of Cambridge. It was in school that she met and fell in love with Sebastian. When tragedy hits during a vacation on a remote island in Greece, Mariana is devastated, but carries on. She is dedicated to her patients and to her niece, Zoe, who is also now studying at Cambridge.

When a horrific murder occurs at Cambridge and a close friend of Zoe' is the victim, Mariana goes to her niece to provide comfort and support. Mariana only planned to stay for one night, but she becomes fixated on the murder and falls deeply into suspicion that the perpetrator is one of her niece’s professors. Seeing connections (or simply coincidence) at every turn, Mariana becomes paranoid and delves deeper into the case.

Michaelides weaves stories from Greek mythology into the story as motivation and perhaps curse for what is happening at Cambridge. With a neck breaking twist, this book had me guessing the whole way and formulating reasons the killer could be any one of the characters we meet.

Thank you to Net Galley and Celadon books for access to an advanced reader eBook.

Huge fan of The Silent Patient! I will say that it is unfair to compare this novel to his first book, as they are not related obviously and I think one should go in with fresh eyes. I really enjoyed this novel as a Dan Brown fan as well.

Remember how we all absolutely lost our minds when we read “The Silent Patient?” It was pretty much the best thing, reading-wise, that happened to us during the pandemic.

So earlier this year, I was thrilled to find out that Alex Michaelides’s next psychological thriller comes out on my birthday, June 1. As soon as the advanced reader copy of “The Maidens” was available, I put in my request to the publisher.

But, alas, my hopes were dashed. This is a Greek tragedy that I just couldn’t get behind. This murder mystery started off really slow and finally picked up until about two-thirds in. For me, there were way too many references to the underworld, the rites of Persephone, and yes, the maidens. It just wasn’t my thing. And, while the ending left me surprised, I felt let down instead of shocked (as I had last year).

Special thanks to Celadon for the advanced reader copy via the NetGalley app. This is my honest review.

Wowowowowowowowoowowowow


So I’ve heard extremely mixed things about The Silent Patient so I never tried it out. When I had the opportunity to trade this for another ARC I figured I would give it a shot.

There are so many different storylines running through this plot (one perhaps with Henry that I think could be left out without any impact on the story) yet they build character and intertwine in ways the readers doesn’t understand until the very end.

Mariana is an unreliable narrator, struggling with the sudden death of her husband, brother in law, sister and parents (yikes lol). When her niece calls from boarding school telling her about the brutal killing of her closest friend, Mariana returns to the campus she once lived in and tries to uncover a string of murders.

The hint of dark academia set the stage for an incredibly atmospheric and twisted setting. Intertwining Greek tragedy, which I’ll be honest, a few references went right over my head. The campus setting, the creepy characters, drug use and tethered relationships made this an incredible 5 star read.

Even if you don’t like dark academia or Greek tragedy, I would recommend this for domestic thriller lovers as well as it has the same dark narrator trope and complicated relationships that underly both genres.

The ending was defiantly shocking and wrapped up well. I’m wondering if either, the author is lining up more companion novels in the series or this novel is flipped on its head and circles in to connect with the Silent Patient (as a sort of prequel). I’m very interested to see what’s next for this author and will definitely pick up the Silent Patient after this!!

The Story: The Maidens is a secret society of female students at Cambridge University, and they are Professor Edward Fosca's favourite students. When one of the members, Tara, who was a friend of Mariana Andros's niece Zoe, is found murdered, Mariana is convinced that Fosca is the killer. She returns to the university hoping to find answers behind Tara's murder. But things spiral out of control when another member of The Maidens is found murdered later on.

My thoughts: Let me start by saying that there were a few things I liked about this book and also a few that weren't my favourites.

I liked the university setting and the beautiful descriptions of the place by the author. I think it was pretty well done. The mystery kept me engaged throughout the book. I really enjoyed the Greek mythology element and how it played out in the plot. That was interesting for sure and the ending was an unexpected one!

However, I wasn't invested in the characters and feel that they needed more depth. The pace slowed down quite a bit midway and although there wasn't much going on, it was interesting enough for me to keep reading. I had to know what really happened!

In the end, this book left me feeling ambivalent. I didn't love it nor hate it either. It has an intriguing premise but I personally think it is lacking some wowza moments in the story.


Pub. Date: June 15th, 2021

***Thank you Celadon Books, author Alex Michaelides and NetGalley for gifted review copy to read & review. ***

Well, this one kept me entertained the whole way through. I loved the easter eggs I caught from The Silent Patient and the tie in as well.
Mariana is a group therapist who lost her husband the year before and is unable to get over his death. She floats through her days in sadness and grief, holding onto the love she had. Her "niece" Zoe calls her one night because her best friend has gone missing and she fears that the body they just found could be her. The next morning, Mariana sets off to be with Zoe and try to find out the truth of what is happening there. As soon as she arrives, Zoe tells her about a professor that teaches Greek Philosophy that everyone loves, but she suspects there is more to him than meets the eye. She said her friend was scared of him before her death and suspects he has something to do with it. As Mariana learns more about Edward Fosca and the secret group of girls he tutored, the more she is convinced he is the murderer, but can she prove it?
As more and more bodies pile up and he continues to evade blame and is smug about it, Mariana becomes increasingly frustrated and no one believes her.
You can tell something is off with pretty much everyone in this book from the beginning, but it also kept me guessing because literally everyone was a suspect in my mind. There was a huge twist I wasn't aware of, but I should have caught on honestly and I am upset with myself for not. Other small twists I did see coming, but I did enjoy this book. Thank you to Celadon Books, Netgalley and the author for an early copy of this book.

A master at the ending twist, Michaelides weaves together a story around Greek Tragedy and Cambridge. A riveting psychological suspense that has the reader thinking they know exactly what’s happening all the way through ... until they don’t! Well done!

I love a story that includes real life and mythology. This novel does a fascinating job of creating those two worlds together. This is set mostly at the University of Cambridge. I've never been, but the writing created a sense of being there- illuminating pieces of an historic campus with details about the landscape, the weather and of course, the buildings. All good thrillers have red herrings, but this novel did a great job of keeping the guessing game going. While the ending isn't as mind-bending as The Silent Patient, I was so fascinated with this book, I blew through it. I'm sure there will be a third, and I can't wait to read it.

Alex Michaelides’ “The Maidens” is a hard book to review, because while there were so many things that drove me crazy while I was reading it, I was still sucked in and ended up speeding through it in one weekend—most of it in one day. Almost all of Mariana’s choices were frustrating. I still have no idea why she decided that solving this mystery was her job, and the amount of lying she did in order to get people to talk to her was stressful. I also didn’t get enough of her backstory with her niece or really any information about her character outside of cursory descriptions of her relationships with her father and her late husband. If I understood who she was more clearly, I might have better understood her need to get involved with the investigation.

There were also random plot points thrown in that didn’t end up contributing to the overall story. One of these subplots, in particular, was resolved so quickly and easily I was convinced that couldn’t be the end of that particular story. (It was.) This was a problem for the overall story as well—the mystery wrapped up ridiculously quickly, especially since readers weren’t given nearly enough information after the plot twist to make sense of it or of the characters’ motivations. I wanted much more than one very brief epilogue. Despite all of these issues, however, this book was compulsively readable. The Cambridge setting is depicted perfectly and the glimpse into academia was interesting. Good for Alex Michaelides for being able to transcend often ridiculous plotting and characterizations to produce a gripping mystery/psychological thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for providing me with an ARC of this title in return for my honest review.