Member Reviews
This fast-paced thriller takes us to Greece and a lavish annual getaway with friends. Told from the point of view of one of the guests, Elliot. In many ways a traditional whodunnit, but the format of this novel shakes things up a bit and leaves the reader spinning as you try to figure out who is this narrator really, and who among the guests is responsible for the murder that occurs. One thing is clear, people aren't always as they seem, and be careful who you trust. Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan for the ARC. This is my honest review.
I love The Silent Patient and was highly anticipating this new one. This book just wasn’t for me. The characters were unlikeable and the ending didn’t make sense.
I actually really liked the unreliable narrator in this story. I knew that he was a lying narcissist but i enjoyed his telling of the story as he would confess periodically that what he just said was actually not entirely true.
I think the pacing in this one was a little off. The book moves along rather slowly to the climax that we already know about from the beginning (but is it the truth?) and then once it hits the climax, the pacing moves along too quickly. I think there could have been a little more excitement in the first half.
This book was such a disappointment. I know that anytime I read a book like this I will have to expect some level of ridiculousness but this was so unbelievable, it ended up turning into a comedy for me instead of a thriller. I do not think that I will pick up anything else from this author in the future.
I loved The Silent Patient and was excited to read this book! The setting was really cool to read about, I kind of wish there was some more description of the island, because it really sounded cool. The story was exciting and it moved well, I just wasn't that invested in anything that happened. The characters were all messy, which I loved, and I think the format of the story was different than a lot of thrillers, which I enjoyed. It just seemed to be missing.... something. I'd recommend this to people who like lighter thrillers or have an interest in Greece, but I don't know if this book is for all readers of thrillers. Thank you to Celadon Books and NetGalley for this ARC!
I had higher expectations for this book. I listened to it on audio and I had a hard time getting into it. It may be because it was written as a play. However, I would probably still read other books by this author. This just wasn’t my favorite.
Unpopular opinion- I enjoyed The Fury even more than The Silent Patient!
With a cast of unreliable, unlikeable characters, The Fury ropes you into a friend group filled with secrets and betrayal that leave you not knowing who or what to believe.
This is a novel you want to read in one sitting and it's fast- paced nature easily allows you to consume it all in one sitting.
While I enjoyed the ride, nothing about the plot or characters stuck with me after reading. I recommend adding this to your vacation or summer TBR, as a wild ride in a exotic locale.
3.5/5
I loved the premise of this book and it started out well but started to drag and the plot felt forced in some areas. It did keep me guessing but the structure felt a little off. Overall, it was still an interesting story.
Many thanks to Celadon and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.
I LOVED The Silent Patient so I was expecting a lot, and did not like this book. It felt like there was so much commentary, and the narrator talking at me, and much less of an actual story being told, with an absurd amount of flashbacks and flash forwards to try and create suspense.
I saw another review mention the “proverbial dangling of the carrot” and I feel like this book was just ~300 pages of that. The narrator is teasing a huge twist and then it doesn’t come until the end when you get thrill whiplash, and it’s hard to even tell what’s going on, and what’s real and not real, not the mention the twist didn’t surprise me at all.
I also can’t figure out why an author would spoil his most popular book in the last 5 pages of his 3rd book. Is he assuming everyone’s read his other books or did he think people would just go crazy over an Easter egg? I was so excited by the setting and character explanations but this book did not do it for me at all. I’m hoping to enjoy Michaelides’ next one more!
★ ★ ★ ¾
i found myself wanting to keep reading & figure out where the story was going and how it will all end (loveddddd a nod to some earlier work at the end!!!) but once it actually ended i was like “huh okay…” and didn’t feel super strongly one way or another!! while the narrator was so incredibly annoying i find myself enjoying my time with the book!
I really enjoyed Silent patient from Alex! It was a five star read an one of the first books to get my love for reading re sparked but the maidens an now the Fury from him just haven’t hit the mark, with that being said I did enjoy a completely different perspective and style of writing then what I am used to in the mystery thriller genre, I really don’t know why I didn’t love this book…I just couldn’t stop myself from not wanting to pick it up.
I have really enjoyed Alex Michaelides’ writing in the past with The Silent Patient and The Maidens. That is part of the reason I wanted to read The Fury, the other reason is that I thought the premise seemed interesting.
I found the characters to be insufferable and because of that I did not connect with our narrator. I typically like an unreliable narrator but Elliot almost seemed too unreliable. Both, insufferable characters and unreliable narrators are things I can look past and have even enjoyed in my previous reading but what I could not get over was the pacing. I found the first half slow and the second half extremely fast which caused the ending to feel a bit rushed.
With all that being said, overall this was an average read for me. If this is your typical genre or you have read and enjoyed this authors work I would recommend picking it up.
Unfortunately this one was a miss for me. It probably didn’t help that I read it right after The Silent Patient and it wasn’t even remotely comparable.
I listened to this one, and while the actual narration was good, the character narrator was awful. He was a very unlikeable character, and while sometimes unlikeable characters have their time and place, nothing about this character was redeemable. I liked that it was set in Greece, although I would have liked more about the setting. There was a lot of back stabbing in this book. I was not expecting the ending.
Thank you NetGalley, Celadon for my ARC of this book.
The Fury brings you a cast of character you pretty much loathe but can't stop reading about anyway. Former Hollywood it girl Lana calls all her friends to her private Greek island to get away from dreary London, but is there a more menacing reason for this vacation?
Elliot, an old friend of Lana's, is introduced to you, the reader, as the narrator. He talks directly to you and takes you on a wild ride revealing what he thinks you need to know when you need to know it. I enjoyed the unique style with the narrator talking to me and going on his own personal tangents it was a fun way to read a story that wasn't all thaaaat twisty in the end. I did however enjoy the ride.
Where can I buy my own private greek island?!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
The Fury
By Alex Michaelides
This was my first read by this author and I read it through NetGalley and listened to the audio through Macmillan Audio. The narration was okay for me, the book wasn’t bad, I just couldn’t stay focused. I thought it was a little boring. I had high hopes for this book. I saw it a lot on book too and people hyped this book up so much. For me, it didn’t really deliver. It was just okay. The narrator gives a lot of details on the characters and the setting. It’s basically has to do with a murder that took place. I have this book a 3 stars.
I thought this was really well written and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future. I think it will find readers at our library, so we will definitely be purchasing for the collection.
This book was not for me. After reading his first two books, I found this book disappointing. It was boring and slow paced. I found the characters to be unlikeable and I didn't care what happened to any of them. Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for a chance to read this book and submit my feedback.
Eh. I wasn't a huge fan of Michaelide's first novel, and didn't love the sheer amount of psychoanalysis in this one. Reading this felt like an overzealous Comp 101 student doing a psychoanalytic analysis of a closed-door mystery. The setting, a remote Greek island, was absolutely the best part of the novel. The twist was twisty, though completely unbelievable. There's a lot of much better thrillers out there.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
I really enjoyed this authors first book The Silent Patient. I feel a bit disappointed by The Maidens and now The Fury. The ways some of the characters are written comes across as single dimension and also requires you to suspend disbelief. The plot felt rushed and a little stale.
The Fury was a fun locked room mystery full of characters that were insufferable but I couldn't look away. Much like reality TV, sometimes we just crave that kind of trashy voyeurism. The unreliable narrator always makes for a fun story.