Sit down, pour a drink, and get ready because Elliot Chase has a tale to tell. Once again, Alex Michaelides drops us back into his universe, this time with a story following the famous Lana Farrar and an Easter visit on her private Greek island.

Overall, I found this to be a bland read with the twists that Michaelides is known for not as well executed or surprising in this story. The unreliable narrator trope wasn't entirely successful and while this is a relatively shorter book, it felt like a long read. While it was fun to return to the AMU (Alex Michaelides Universe) I hope the next time I visit there is more energy and intrigue.

Thank you to NetGally and Celadon Books for this ARC.

I had high hopes for this book after reading The Silent Patient, but I honestly did not enjoy it. It didn’t grab my attention from the beginning, and I didn’t particularly like any of the main characters. I actually hated the narrator, Elliot. I also didn’t love the author’s writing style. It was more of a story telling style, than a traditional novel style. The narrator brought you back and forth through present and past tense over and over again. Overall, I would not recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for sharing this digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

Dnf at 22%. I loved the author’s previous two books but I could not get into this one. Sadly a miss for me but hope to enjoy his books again in the future

I absolutely LOVED this book. I had high expectations, as I've also loved everything by Michaelides so far and I'm a fan of Greek settings in general. It did not disappoint. Could not put it down!

⭐️⭐️⭐️
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📖 I received this digital copy of The Fury by Alex Michaelides from @netgalley and I am conflicted on my feelings for this book. I really liked the concept of this book… but unfortunately found it to be incredibly predictable. I also did NOT love the narrator but did like that he was speaking directly to me. I had high hopes for this story because I loved “The Silent Patient” but unfortunately was let down by the book overall. It wasn’t terrible though so it’s receiving a solid 3 star review from me.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC!

Although, I did not find this novel, "The Fury", as intriguing as Alex Michaelides's debut "The Silent Patient", I stayed with it till the end and overall enjoyed the novel. The cast of colorful sometimes annoying characters, unreliable narration, and always twisting overarching mystery was compelling. It runs a little long for my preferences but it wraps up in a nice clean ending that I can hardly be upset at. I will continue to look out for the authors future work, as this seems to be an improvement from his last novel, and I hope that he continues and surpasses the heights of his debut! 3 Stars!

I was so intrigued by the narrative premise of this book (telling me you're an unreliable narrator really reels me in!), but couldn't get past how poorly written the women characters were. I get it - that the narrator's perspective clouds how the reader views characters, but, this was a painful, DNF for me. I really wanted to enjoy this, however, this is one is a "yes, and" for RA recommendations at my library, especially as the post-publication wait lists slow.

Michaelides’ third novel was very interesting. I had a hard time liking or trusting the narrator. The book jumped around a lot and it was hard to believe the narrator could know the little details about each character.. The book starts slow but picks up about halfway through. This is not a book I would recommend to library patrons. Still, I can see this being made into a movie or mini-series.

I had read the synopsis of this book, and saw it was by Alex Michaelides and was immediately intrigued. The Silent Patient was one of my favourite thrillers. Unfortunately, this book didn’t work for me.
I loved the idea of being set on a remote Greek island and I wanted more description about the island and the surroundings than I got. Instead, we focus in on the characters, of which I found to be very one-dimensional but this could be owing to the fact that it was written in first person narrative (which can be jarring at times).

DNF @ 41%
this was just not it for me. While I loved silent patient and the maidens this book didn't love up to the hype, or suck me in like either of the previous two.
The narrator in this story was honestly obnoxious and too all over the place. I also hated the back and forth timeline in this.
I'm so bummed over this one! I don't know if I'll continue to read him in the future.
Thank you to Net Galley, Celadon Books, and Alex Michaelides for this advance e-arc in exchange for my honest review

This story has all the markings of an Agatha Christie story. It will keep you guessing until the end. Alex Michaelides has one heck of an imagination, or a scary one. It has love, betrayal and of course murder. It's from the POV of Elliot Chase. He has a troubled history. He also loves his best friend. As the story unfolds, you find out that everyone has secrets. Just when you think you've got things figured out, the story will surprise you. If you love murder mystery, then this book is for you.

Thank you to NetGalley, Alex Michaelides and Celadone for the opportunity to read this ARC.

When a group of unlikeable people are invited to a Greek Island murder happens. There is plenty of secrets, backstabbing, and drama. I also enjoyed the mythology that is woven through the story.

ARC provided by Celadon Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I must disclose psychological thrillers are not my favorite genre. Michaelides has mastered the genre by keeping the reader off balance. While reading The Fury, I was not sure who or what to believe. Each chapter, the author delves slightly deeper into the plot twists to debunk what you thought was going to happen. I'll just sum it up as, "that was crazy".

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: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️