This was a great, quick, fun read. The "gotcha" kind of got me, but even though I might have had a little inkling of the twist to come, I still enjoyed getting there. The plot was good and the settings well-rendered. I would recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the ARC of <i>The Fury</i>.

I credit Alex Michaelides' first thriller <i>The Silent Patient</i> for getting me back into reading, however I have been massively disappointed by two subsequent thrillers he has written, first <i>The Maidens</i> and now <i>The Fury</i>.

A postive aspect of this book is Michaelides' ability to world build. The settings of both London and the private Greek island were vivid and definitely placed me in the world of the novel.

The biggest aspect of this book and a pattern Michaelides has in all of his thrillers is the female character(s) are truly obsessed with the men in their lives when the men are actively causing harm to these women and the people around them. That may be a point of these books, but I feel it would be more interesting and compelling as the reader to understand the women's <i>why</i> for loving them more than just <spoiler>"they provide me attention and affection" and/or "they have daddy issues."</spoiler> What are the men's good moments, if there are any? If there aren't, let's get to the root of the woman's <i>why</i> a bit more. I struggled to understand any of the female character's motivations for their actions and reactions when it came to the love interest of his novel, which made me fail to understand a large portion of the plot.

The pacing of this novel left a lot to be desired. It's a short novel, and I found myself speed reading to find the point. The story would progress and then you'd find out in the next chapter that none of the events that happened in the previous chapter actually happened. It just left me, the reader, feeling like "okay then why did you put me through this?" I like a book with an unreliable narrator, but I think this could have been executed in different and more effective ways. See Hanya Yanagihara's <i>The People in the Trees</i> with the usage of an additional character being the "editor" of the main character's compilation of diary entries and providing footnotes with additional context or differing "facts." Something similar could have been done by <spoiler>having Mariana, Elliot's therapist and main character of Michaelides' previous novel <i>The Maidens,</i> provide additional context or be a conduit for Elliot's story. This would also make Mariana's addition in the book and the linking of all the novel's worlds more intentional and less cheeky.</spoiler>

It was also, sadly, a bit predictable. <spoiler>There's a reason the book was written in Elliot's perspective, so obviously he would be the one to kill Lana. Also, there was too much left in the book when she "died" initially so I saw the red herring death coming</spoiler>. Because of the predictability, I was made less interested in the novel as a whole.

While I loved <i>The Silent Patient</i>, I think that Alex Michaelides may not be for me as a whole. If this is your first Michaelides book, you may find <i>The Fury</i> more enjoyable than I did. However, I personally would not recommend this book to any thriller lover.

Seven people.
One Island.
One Murder - maybe.

Alex Michaelides is an automatic read for me since I first picked up "The Silent Patient". THE FURY is no exception. Set on a small private island in Greece, this is a thriller with an unreliable narrator. And Alex Michaelides's Elliot Chase is the perfect unreliable narrator. Don't go into this thinking it's just another "locked room" thriller set on an unescapable island (or an Agatha Christie type of plot) because it's SO MUCH MORE than that.

I really liked how the narrator “talked” to the readers as he went on with telling his story. I thought that was unique and well done. This last 25% of the book was so good and suspenseful, I had to keep going to find out what was going to happen. The epilogue my head was spinning. And I thought the ending was so clever. My mouth literally fell open!

It's so hard to write a review without spoiling the book! If you like "The Silent Patient" and/or "The Maidens" - you will love this!

Thank you, Celadon Books, Alex Michaelides, and NetGalley for this eARC! I felt very honored to read and review this one from one of my (new) favorite authors.

Expectations are not my friend and I expected another blockbuster aka “ The Silent Patient” from Alex Michaelides. Instead I found “The Fury” to be a disappointing hodgepodge of suspense, a narrator who annoyed me, endless waiting for something important to actually happen, and characters who simply did not win my heart or my attention. In fact, I didn’t much care what happened to any of them.
Lara, a stunningly glamorous world renowned actress invites her inner circle to her private Greek island for a week of rest, fun and unexpected mayhem. We know at the start, through an anonymous narrator, speaking in the first person, that a murder will be committed and the motive will be revealed. Sounded good. Sounded worth reading. Off to a fine start, the book felt draggy to me as the plot wandered around and I waited for the murder or the motive to be foreshadowed and then blossom. Instead, the narrator concentrated on telling a long drawn out history of each character on the island. Of course anyone could be the victim or the killer. With all of the contenders sequestered together a la Agatha Christie, I hoped for an eerie quality that never materialized. There were motives and yet none of them stood out enough to capture my imagination. After pages and pages of chatter about Lara’s poor judgment in selecting her near and dear , I didn’t care a whit about any of them.
After reading many other reviews, I accept the fact that I am an outlier in my opinions. “ The Fury” will be published on January 16,2024, and you might want to see if you feel differently than I do. As always, I thank NetGalley and the publisher Celadon books for providing me with an advance copy in return for an honest review.

Enjoyed this book with all the different characters . Lots of twist and turns.

Thanks netGalley for advance copy.

“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 tale is told by the narrator, Elliot Chase, who tells a “story unlike any you’ve ever heard.” It begins with the individual deemed most important: Lana Farrar, a reclusive, famous ex-movie star, who decides to host her annual private island party with her closest friends….

It’s a pretty well-paced thriller that pulled me in right away. When I finished, I longed for more with the characters, more personality and buy-in. Besides that, I enjoyed the style and well-crafted story this novel tells.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

WOW! As with all of Michaelides’ books, if you think you know what’s going on - you’re wrong.
The writing style of The Fury in comparison to his others felt distinct and unique and I’ll admit that the change had me questioning what I was in for in the upcoming pages. HOWEVER, this shift in storytelling technique ultimately served to fuel my intrigue further and boy was I right! The commitment to the individuality of this book, down to the structure of the Table of Contents, was exceptional. It is a gripping story full of - as one would expect - twists and turns, leaving the reader to wonder what is true and real to the very last page. If you’re a fan of Michaelides work, buckle in for his newest tale! Let the storytelling carry you and enjoy the ride.

Thank you Alex Michaelides, Celadon Books, NetGalley, and all involved for the opportunity to review this book. What a great way to kick off my 2024 reads!

I read The Silent Patient and absolutely loved it. I read The Maidens and had some issues with it. I read The Fury and have even more issues with it. (I feel like I need to go back and read The Silent Patient to see if it was actually as good as I remember it...)

It was like The Fury was written by a completely different author. I did not care for the writing style (first person narrative felt like it was jumping all over the place). The storyline was strange. I love retellings of mythology, but it felt like this was an attempt at Helen of Troy and just happened to take place in Greece.

I'm not necessarily mad that I finished it (which is why it didn't get 2 stars), but it feels like a real miss for Michaelides.

This one is definitely a wild ride. It’s narrator is very tongue in cheek, has a very distinct, albeit unlikeable, voice. I felt like it jumped around alot and didn’t flow very smoothly. I definitely could not skim or lapse in attention. That being said, I flew thru it, so Michaelides did something right.

It begins very “And Then There Were None”, but self aware. Then we get some deep inner monologue in the middle, and then ends with a twisty murder mystery. I’ll say the pacing and the organization of this book had me super confused and unsure how to feel. I wish we had gotten more of Elliot’s story at the beginning of the book instead of him being very cheeky and telling us not to worry about him or his past.

In the end, I did love the final act, and all the twists. I think the Elliot voice was a bit heavy handed in the beginning as he tells us time and again not to trust him or that he doesn’t know everything that happened, and then goes on to narrate things he has no business knowing.

Of course, the best part is the tie in to the universe that Michaelides is building.

I loved "The Silent Patient", "The Maidens" less so, but still was thrilled to receive an ARC of #TheFury from NetGalley. However, I was disappointed in the quality of the writing. The characters were smug and their internal and external dialogues were just over the top. At some point, I stopped caring about them, and what happened even less.

P.S. Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC.

NetGalley Review — my rating ⭐️⭐️/5

“The Fury” by Alex Michaelides is described as a masterfully-paced thriller about a reclusive ex-movie star and her famous friends whose trip to her private Greek island ends in murder.

I found this one lacking in almost every way.

I didn’t find any of the characters to be redeeming or memorable. I cannot stand an unreliable narrator who you cannot root for.

Truly, the only thing it had going for it was the short chapters 🤭🙃

Sad to be disappointed by one of his books because I loved “The Silent Patient” and “The Maidens”…surprised at my reaction to this one.

“The Fury” by Alex Michaelides is out January 16, 2024. Give it a shot and let me know if your reaction is diff than mine!

#netgalley #thefury

Book Review ✨

•Lana invites a group of her close friends to her Greek island for a relaxing getaway. Things get messy when a body is found and the intense wind referred to as ‘the fury’ stops them from being able to escape the island. Who can you trust?

This book was good…hear me out- it wasn’t for me. I enjoyed it but not until I got to about 40% finished. The way Michaelides writes is one of my favorites. I loved how this book was written. Unreliable narrators, twists and turns, who done it. The wow factor was there, the suspense was there but I think the story line was hard to follow for me. Although very quick and easy to read, it felt like a lot of characters were thrown at me at once and the story moved so fast paced that I didn’t understand until a lot of important parts passed. Also loved the short chapters! I can see a lot of readers LOVING this!

As expected with Alex Michaelides, there are twists and turns throughout that keep readers engaged. However, the first twist was a tad expected. The narrator is self-admittedly bias, which makes him unreliable but also makes for an interesting point of view and keeps readers questioning what's actually happening. I didn't feel particularly connected with any of the characters per se and maybe this was because of the narrator's opinion of them.

Overall, I enjoyed The Fury and I think fans of Alex Michaelides will, too. Thank you to Celadon and NetGalley for the ARC!

Alex Michaelides always writes an excellent thriller. This one was no exception. I finished this in two days and couldn’t put it down! I was a little disappointed by the ending, but definitely expected it to happen.

The pacing of the novel is one of its strengths, maintaining a relentless momentum that propels the story forward. The setting of the private Greek island serves as a perfect backdrop, heightening the isolation and intensifying the psychological suspense. Michaelides skillfully explores the intricacies of human relationships and the dark underbelly of fame, making "The Fury" not just a murder mystery but a compelling exploration of the complexities of love and revenge.

This was a really pleasant surprise! I haven't loved Alex Michaelides other books as much as everyone else did, and was kind of ready to accept that he just wasn't for me, but when I got a physical arc of this one I had to give him one more try, and I'm really glad I did! This felt completely unique and different from his other books- I loved that it was written out like a play and that it felt like the narrator was just sitting down to tell us the story. It was weird and quirky and a little out there, but I think it worked really well for this. It left me guessing a lot and made me read it really quickly which I loved.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Fury is a quick fun thriller that was so uniquely written. It's very dramatic and theatrical, making this the perfect book to turn into a movie. The story is broken into 5 parts flipping back and forth throughout the timeline making it a little confusing at times, but the reveal at the end brings it all together.

This is a must read and will leave you guessing!

The title of this book describes the strong whirlwinds on a private Greek Island. It also describes the reader’s brain when they try to decipher the plot. True to Michaelides’ form, the narrator is extremely unreliable, and the plot twists are too many to count. This fast-moving story of back-stabbing, narcissism, and murder got tiresome, but fans will want to keep watch for a familiar past character.

After reading his first book, I became a fan. His second was good, so I eagerly requested The Fury via NetGalley last month. I was granted the book and slotted in my reading queue while flying to/from family over the holiday break. I'm a fan of Greek tragedies, so this seemed like a strong winner. For how the story is told, it's fantastic. I love when the narrator breaks the invisible line and talks to his/her readers. Michaelides does this in spades, and in so many great ways. On the flip side, he goes to such great lengths to confuse readers with the hidden subtext that it made for a very messy ending. I don't want to give away the surprises, but I will say... when you get to know characters, flaws and all, you either root for them or wish them some sort of evil. Here... it wavered so much, I felt toyed with and in the end, almost as if it didn't matter who died or who was the killer, it was just a sense of revenge, a la Greek tragedies. But I'm not sure it works in the present time period as people tend to expect more concrete foundations of a puzzle that's mostly resolved. It may be purely this reader's preferences, which I get and respect. It's a 4-star book but given the vagueness and time period/POV changes on what was happening, I got jarred out of the text too much to rethink what was going on... and for me, that pushed it down to a 3 to 3.5 star book, hence my lower rating. But I liked the writing, the plot in general, and the ode to so many stories I enjoyed from Greek literature.

This book made me angry in all the right ways. Talk about an unreliable narrator. Holy smokes! Examine everything Elliott tells you in this story. I love how he was introduced very openly as an unreliable narrator. It was like talking to a friend you know exaggerates everything to their benefit. It made me want to read between the lines for the truth. But it can make for a frustrating read when they are this unreliable.

I liked Elliott's voice at the beginning. But by the halfway point, i found him obnoxious and cocky. If you are like me, just keep reading. I promise it make more sense in the end.

The biggest downfall in the book is that it feels like every single chapter ends by dangles a carrot of what's to come and hints at certain doom. At first its fun, but it's way over used. We get it, it's a mystery.

Thanks to Netgalley and celadon books for an advance.copy for review. I would recommend this twisty book to anyone.