Alex Michaelides, what is this? This is such a departure from the author's previous novels that I barely finished it. While the point of view is...interesting, it absolutely did not work for me. Maybe I'd feel different if I listened to the audiobook.

There is nothing Alex Michaelides writes that I don’t like. His writing is so captivating! Couldn’t put this down.

I was a little let down by this book after loving "The Silent Patient" and enjoying "The Maidens." I liked the premise, but the writing was not up to par with Alex Michaelides' other books. I especially disliked how the last sentence of each chapter was especially ominous even when the rest of the chapter did not have the same tone.

I really, really, genuinely wanted to love this book. When I found myself not doing so, I put it down, read something else, and came back to it to try again. I know many people have really enjoyed this book, including my coworkers, but sadly, it just wasn't for me. I didn't love the narration style and couldn't get into it for the life of me. Because of that, I won't be reviewing this anywhere else but here.

This is the third book I've read by Michaelides and I would say sadly it's my third favorite. I do really enjoy the short chapters and found it very readable. I didn't really connect with many of the characters and found out a little unexciting.

The Fury is one of the most intriguing and creative books I have ever read! Divided into five different "acts", and read by a narrator/character in the story, it reads like a play, except the speaking parts are not listed individually. Instead, it is as if you are sitting there watching the play itself in a theater, with the narrator talking directly to you as the audience, or sitting at a bar with him as he tells the story. The "play" obviously involves a murder, but it is not your typical whodunnit kind of story. The narrator takes you through many different scenes and scenarios which will leave you questioning who you can and cant trust, which you will quickly learn is NOBODY!!! There is some backstory involved in the middle, but as the narrator explains, it is necessary to know as the story unfolds. And of course, just as you think you may have it figured out who committed the murder, the plot takes a complete 180 and more possible suspects and "scenes" come up. This is crazy to think when there are supposively only SIX people on this island, and one of them is "ďead".....or are they??
This book was a WILD ride and satisfying to say the least. It has pieces I never thought it would include and the twists are an insane roller coaster. I read most of it in one sitting and still am so baffled at how it all turned out!! I will absolutely be checking out more books by this amazing author!!

“I feel duty bound to inform you that this is not a whodunit… If anything, it’s a whydunit— a character study, an examination of who we are; and why we do the things we do.”

“This is a tale of murder. Or maybe that’s not quite true. At its heart, it’s a love story, isn’t it? The saddest kind of love story— about the end of love; the death of love. So I guess I was right the first time.”

When I started this and read about Greece, Leo, a movie star, and a murder, I had to do a double take, but no, this was not me accidentally re-reading Moonflower Murders.

The Fury is pretty in line with Michaelides’ other two books- The Silent Patient and The Maidens. Both of those had some polarizing reviews and this one did as well. I think it must just be Michaelides’ way of writing and story concepts that has people frustrated for some reason.

I mean I wouldn’t call all of his books five star, must-reads, but I feel like I enjoy them when I read them. It’s only after I see other people’s comments that it taints my view a little bit. So since it’s been like that for all three books, I think it’s just a matter of- is this the author for you or not? And so I’ve decided I enjoy his books even though others might find them slow, or messy, or unrealistic. I don’t necessarily feel those things.

This book is a little different than the other two in that we are being told this story by a narrator— Elliot— who is also one of the characters in the story. He addresses us, readers, directly as he gives us his account, divided into a five-act-play. We are essentially at the mercy of what he decides to tell us, how he tells it to us, and when. We are not given all the information all the time.

He tells us at the beginning: “We are all the unreliable narrators of our own lives.”

And so, we are already on guard, wondering where Elliot is going in his storytelling and what we are to make of it.

The main plot of the book is that this group of friends is on an isolated Greek island when one of them turns up dead.

The narration is not strictly chronological. Elliot takes liberties to backtrack to days or years prior to give us more background and context. He also takes some artistic liberties in some parts because he doesn’t know exactly how it happens. In other cases we are left to assume he was told information from other characters in the story.

In short, I would describe this story as theatrical and layered.

Cast of Characters

Lana- recently retired movie actress

“Lana and I weren’t just friends— we were soulmates.”

Leo- Lana’s son

“A gentle soul, like his mother.”

Nikos- island caretaker

“Nikos lived a solitary existence on Aura… He spent too much time alone. Sometimes he wondered if he was going mad.”

Jason- Lana’s husband

“Jason wasn’t a man. he was just a kid, playing make-believe. And kids shouldn’t play with guns.”

Kate- Lana’s best friend, also an actress

“There’s something you should know about Kate—she had quite a temper.”

Agathi- Lana’s personal assistant/housekeeper

“She didn’t care where she went, as long as she was with Lana. She was so completely under Lana’s spell, in those days.”

Elliot- our narrator; friend to Lana; victim of abuse in his childhood

“I believed I had to change everything about me: my name, my appearance, how I carried myself, how I spoke, what I talked about, thought about. To be part of this brave new world, I needed to become a different person— a better one. And eventually, one day, I succeeded.”

Just like Michaelides’ other books, this isn’t really one you read because the characters are lovable— they’re not. And Elliot does get to be annoying at times. But you read it for the plot because you you have to know who dies, who killed them, and why.

I think I had a good chunk of it figured out by chapter six, but I still enjoyed reading it and there were a few things at the end that were unexpected which was nice!

There is a fun cameo of Marianna from The Maidens— she is Elliot’s therapist. There is also a cameo of Theo from The Silent Patient but I won’t tell you in what capacity because of spoilers.

If you do this book for a book club, I thought a good discussion question would be centered around some of Elliot’s comments about his inner child and his Wizard of Oz theory:

“I have a pet theory that everyone in life corresponds to one of the characters in The Wizard of Oz. There’s Dorothy Gale, a lost child, looking for a place to belong; an insecure, neurotic Scarecrow, seeking intellectual validation; and a bullying Lion, really a coward, more afraid than everyone else. And the Tin Man, minus a heart.”

If you had to put yourself into one of these categories, which would you choose and why?

Do you agree with his assessment?

Sometimes I think we over psychoanalyze ourselves and our childhood trauma, or go looking for some where there isn’t any. Obviously there is a lot of real trauma for a lot of people, but if we ruminate on it and always look for ways to connect it to our lives and our relationships, I wonder if we can ever really heal from it or if we’re allowing it too much power in our lives. At some point, we have to move beyond our trauma. What that exactly looks like will be different for every person, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about recently, especially after reading Bad Therapy.

Recommendation

If you were not a fan of Alex Michaelides’ other books, I can’t imagine this will be that much different for you.

If you liked his other books, I think you should give this one a shot.

If you haven’t read any of his books yet, I would read them in order because the cameos could give away a spoiler or two.

I do find his books worth a read even if other reviewers do not. At least at this point I still do. I’ll never say never.

[Content Advisory: 41 f- words, 8 s-words; mention of an affair but no sexual content]

This was one of my favorites thrillers. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading and never figured out what was really going on. I love that about all of his books. The twists throughout and how he connects other books blows my mind!

This felt very similar to And Then There Were None. But this one didn't really have any aspect that kept me guessing/wanting more. I didn't see any of the "twists" coming, but also wasn't shocked when they happened and didn't feel one way or the other. Overall this one just felt meh for me.

I love a good unreliable narrator story and THE FURY fits the bill. However, there were things about the book that didn't connect with me.

We didn't get enough of a sense of our main character's personality. We sort of do at the end, but I needed something more to relate to.

It felt like the author was forcing a variety of twists and gotchas that was just that ... forced. Things didn't flow and were too predictable.

Nonetheless, the story kept my interest and I certainly appreciate that. It's got to be difficult to follow the perfection of The Silent Patient and I think THE FURY was a good attempt.

Thank you NetGalley and Celadon Books for an e-copy of THE FURY to review.

I rate THE FURY four out of five stars.

I enjoyed this as much as Michaelides' other novels - I thought it had all the fun things I look for in a thriller. It wasn't the greatest thing I've ever read, but it was entertaining, quick-paced, and had some fun twists. I have been in a major reading slump lately and this one hit the spot for a fun read! Thanks NetGalley and Celadon Books for the ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley for the book.

I think we are all used to the unreliable narrator by now, we know we shouldn’t trust the person telling us the story, but yet we still do. In Michaelides’ newest book, our guide to a murder on a Greek island is Elliott, a British playwright and the best friend of the retired film star, Lana Farrar. But as we pull up a bar stool to take in his story, should we be wary of his motives in sharing this tale with us? All the action happens on a remote Greek island, where Elliott, Lana, Lana’s husband, best friend, caretaker, and son are all part of a murder. But who is dead and who is the killer? And what is their motive?

This was the first book I’d read by Michaelides, though he seems best known for the Silent Patient which has garnered a number of awards and a pretty high Goodreads rating. I enjoyed this book, especially when I listened to the audiobook narrated by Alex Jennings, but it felt a bit formulaic. The twist wasn’t much of a surprise and things got a bit convoluted, which in a thriller can be a problem. I will definitely be putting his other books on my list because I found his writing compelling and his characters are well developed. The audiobook for this one also moved along at a great clip and Jennings really held my attention.

This was a pretty good thriller, though it felt a bit more like a mystery to me, not quite as suspenseful as I would have liked. Very atmospheric though and I enjoyed the setting. I really loved 'The Silent Patient' so I do compare the author's later books to that and the ending wasn't as stunning but overall I enjoyed!

This was a fun mystery that kept me guessing to the very end. It's a bit of a slow burn as the narrator, Elliott, spins his web purposefully, taking the reader along for the ride.

I didn't feel connected to the narrator, I didn't enjoy the plot, and I had a hard time following. There were a lot of staircases to nowhere without any payoff whatsoever. For such a strong first novel like The Silent Patient, I feel Michaelides keeps losing his audience.

I absolutely adored this book! The atmosphere was perfect and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I loved it!

2.5 ⭐️ I just keep trying to like this author because I loved the tie to Greek mythology and his knack for writings endings that actually do surprise me. However, I’m just not loving this writing enough. This may be the last one for me.

While I love an untreliable narrator, which this this author writes well in a thriller format, I just find that the characters are unrelated or unlikeable each time. This read felt particularly slow to me compared to some of his others. Often I find that the ending of his books surprised me so much that I end up increasing the rating for the overall book just for that, but in this case, the ending didn’t save the middle for me. It certainly wasn’t a terrible book, I just want more intrigue and faster pace and for it to be more memorable when I finish.

Overall I think this author is a good writer and I can see how his books are popular with others. While there are things that I wish were different in the pacing and level of thrill, the structure and style of writing is well done. I simply just don’t think they are exactly what I am looking for for myself.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

As I wasn't the biggest fan of The Maiden's, it just wasn't my sort of thriller/mystery, there is something to be said for the way Michaelides weaves Greek culture through0ut his writings. I love a good whodunnit and this one was a staggering hit, with characters to love and loathe, witty and quick paced twists and turns. As I haven't read The Silent Patient, I can't really say how this book ties in or if it is better or worse. I can say that it was better than expected. I like when a murder mystery/thriller doesn't follow the same old patterns and uses the same battered, hard ass detective types with a devil may care attitude. The Fury brings fresh meat to the table of thrills and it's much appreciated.

A night of games, chases and drama but someone ends up dead. But wtf happened?! I went into this blind and wanted more Silent Patient. More Maidens. What I got was tabloid, KUWTK style characters and drama and that’s just not my cup of tea. Still a Michaelides fan but not so much a fan of this one.

I thoroughly enjoy alex's books but this one i'm on the fence about i think the ending fell a bit flat for me but i truly did love the way in which he wrote this book. using the reader as the person the narrator is talking to. i found that very engaging