3.5🌟
Lana Farrar is one of the most beloved film actresses. She’s invited her closest of friends to join her on a remote Greek Island. This getaway will be chock-full of intrigue…unrequited love, betrayal and possibly even murder.

Though filled with seriously high drama, it was a very slow moving story. But I knew I was in for a great ending…and yes, it does live up to the hype!

After being lulled in by this story for so long, I nearly had to backtrack and re-listen to the ending as it was a complete deviation from the flow of the book to that point. (Sometimes you just need a little extra patience!) An extra half star for the ending alone!🙌

I listened to the audio which came in at just over 8 hours. Narrated by Alex Jennings.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio 🎧

Alex Michaelides excels at spinning Greek history into each book. I love the eerie air of every novel. While not as good as Silent Patient, I liked it a lot more than The Maidens. I wish there was more character background showing the true nature of each character.there are some details but it was more “fade to black” than proven.

Listening to the audio, it’s told in a conversation style. I really enjoyed it! Probably more than a physical read.

In all, it’s a solid 4 stars. More drama than thriller.

Elliott Chase tells us the tale of a murder on a remote Greek island. Lana, a famous ex movie star, goes on a secluded trip with two of her best friends (one of which being our narrator), her husband, and her son. All is well until gunshots fire and a body is found. The biggest question isn’t WHO got shot but as to WHY they were targeted.

I’m convinced that I’ll love anything that Alex Michaelides writes. His writing style is what I love most about his books. You can definitely tell that he wrote this one and The Silent Patient even though they have total different plots. His writing style is so captivating and unique.

This book follows a very non-linear timeline. Elliott takes us in the past quite a bit, right when readers are on the edge of their seats. I feel like this was necessary in order to get the level of character development that it did achieve.

The Fury is a bit slow paced, but this actually didn’t bother me. I was so invested in the characters that it didn’t matter. The short chapters also made this a quick read, despite the pace of the writing.

I would recommend this book to those who enjoy plays, theater, and Nick Caraway from The Great Gatsby. I swear Elliott Chase and Nick Caraway are the same people😂

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wow. A masterpiece. This book was intriguing. It seemed to start off slow for me but then it picked up and all I can say is: Wow!

Elliot Chase is the narrator and he just may be unreliable, hard to say. The story focuses on Elliot and his close friend, reclusive movie star, Lana Farrar. Lana invites Elliot, her husband Jason, her friend Kate, and her son, Leo, to spend a weekend at her Greek island. Elliot has a plan up his sleeve in response to a shocking revelation. When the plan goes wrong, it goes very wrong.

I really, really enjoyed this audiobook. The narrator was terrific. Terrific is an understatement in this case. This work was phenomenal. The characters were hateable in the very best ways and I loved Elliot as the narrator of the story. Getting a glimpse inside his mind and thoughts during the story was so intriguing. Go get a copy and take a listen when it comes out on Tuesday!

3 stars

You can read all of my reviews at Nerd Girl Loves Books.

This is a twisty suspenseful mystery set amongst the rich and famous. Lana Farrar is a reclusive ex–movie star and one of the most famous women in the world. When she discovers one of her inner circle has betrayed her, she invites them to escape the English weather and spend Easter on her idyllic private Greek island. She's hoping to call out the betrayal and let the person squirm before she bans them from her life. While on the island a strong wind storm, called a fury, envelopes the island. The storm is the perfect setting for a mystery - and maybe even an unexpected death.

I listened to the audio of this book and the narrator did a great job. The book is the epitome of an unreliable narrator. He delights in leading the reader down a path to wonder whether it's real or not. The narrator jumps back and forth between multiple timelines. While he always announces it, it still gets a bit confusing, especially while listening to the book. I tried very hard to find a character to like, but was hard pressed to do so. They are all unlikeable in one way or another.

I think it may have been because I listened to the book instead of read it, but I felt like it went on and on and was far too long. I got tired of all of the backstory on the characters and felt certain things could have been omitted and not been missed. I kept waiting for something big to happen and had to wait until the end for a payoff. Overall, this was an entertaining book, however the jumping timelines, confusion, and length were drawbacks to the story.

I was provided a complimentary copy of an audio book by NetGalley and MacMillan Audio. All opinions are my own.

Short synopsis: Elliot Chase recounts the story of a vacation on a Greek island, when someone winds up dead.

My thoughts: The story was told in a unique way, it was if Elliot was telling the story to a friend. Each of the characters were unique and unlikable in some way or another, definitely untrustworthy in nature!

This was such a slow burn for me. Id have liked it to flow a little quicker. But the narration was very well done.

Read if you love:
- Greek settings
- Slow burns
- Unique storytelling
- Past/present time frames

Famous movie star Lana Farrah invites her friends on an impromptu trip to her island in Greece. Among the group is her friend Elliot , the narrator of our story. Immediately Elliot tells us that there is a murder, that he is delivering the truth as best he can but he was not always present to witness all of the conversations and actions of the guests. Regardless he is going to tell us what exactly happened on the island and who is to blame. This leaves the reader wondering if Elliot is reliable and what happened on this island that led to murder?

I really enjoyed the way the story was told. I listened to the audio version so it worked really well as the narrator was directing some of the story to the reader. I wasn’t sure where the story was going just that someone was murdered and we were slowly recounting the events that led to it!! This is a slowly crafted thriller. We are given bits of information—deceptions, secrets, alliances. For me all of the characters were pretty unlikable. I wasn’t really rooting for anyone by the end. I liked the story but felt it fell off of the rails a bit at times, a little repetitive and clunky. That said I still enjoyed it. I love the writing style of this one, just wish it had flowed a little better.

3 ⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you netgalley and Macmillan audio for this audio arc. In 2018, I came across Alex‘s first novel, the silent patient. I was blown away, and absolutely loved his psychological thriller. Then I read his next novel the maidens. It was still pretty good, but not what I was expecting compared to the silent patient. I’ve been seeing the rant and rave with the fury, and I’ve been dying to get my hands on it. I was so excited once I found out, I received the audio version of this book. I finished it in a few days, and I overall enjoyed it, but not as much as the other two. It was a little hard for me to follow along with all the characters. Sometimes it would switch between different characters or narrators , and trying to solve a mystery while also trying to figure out who is speaking was a little difficult overall, I’m glad I listened to it!

Thank you netgalley and McMillan audio for the opportunity to listen to the book.
.
I feel like I fell victim to the hype of this book. I literally didn’t enjoy any part of this book. The characters were unlikable (and not in a good way), the plot was slow and confusing, and I didn’t like how the story was told by the main character.
This was a big miss for me.

Wow wow wow. Saltburn girlies, rise up! I listened to this in one day because I found it so fun. I don’t read a lot of mystery books like this, so maybe my opinion is skewed, but I loved the cheekiness of the unreliable narrator. I was entertained with each layer of the story revealed. And the narrator for the audiobook was great.

All in all, a fun murder mystery with some dark reflections on the human psyche.

I was interested to read this book as I enjoyed The Silent Patient very much.
The Fury is presented as a Greek Tragedy in five acts ripe with allusions to the classics. The beauty of this idea may have been more fully realized if written faithfully as a drama, and I found myself wishing it had been. In this novel, we have Elliot Chase, our incredibly unreliable first person narrator with moments of direct, one-sided conversation with readers, as he tells a story of murder and love. I badly wanted to love this book. I have tickets to see the author promoting The Fury on tour in a few weeks, and I am still very much looking forward to the event. The premise of this novel was so promising. As I read, however, I found the structure, as well as the narrator's unreliability, to be increasingly problematic. Early and often, Chase acknowledges his own faults as narrator, a self-awareness that should make him charming, even forgiveable, but as he questions a reader's opinion of him, I found myself coming to a less favorable judgment. I lost trust in his ability to tell the story accurately from nearly the moment he began, vehemently protesting he would do his very best to tell the story as it happened, but not living up to his own promises. It made it difficult to understand what story was being told. My favorite part was the ending. Though there is a reference to a character in a previous novel, the connection would not be clear without prior knowledge of that book, and I found it to be a satisfying conclusion to the twisted currents within the novel.
I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator for this novel, Alex Jennings, is an exceptionally skilled voice actor. It was an absolute pleasure to listen to his narration.
Many thanks to Net Galley and Macmillan Audio for this advanced copy to review.

A secret island, different people and a murder mystery that keeps you wondering until the end. I loved the way this author made every character come off the page. Until the very end I want sure exactly who was murdered and why. This author can spin a tale like no other. I loved it.

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted audiobook.

The Fury is a story filled with glamour and intrigue within an amazing setting. This audiobook elevates the pages with a narrator who sounds exactly as if they are the main character.

Very well done!

“Character is fate”
I was thrilled to get this copy after devouring The Silent Patient in the past. The narrator is smooth, creepy, frustrating and unreliable. It was like a British Knives Out. It was hard to see where this was going or try to predict who dun it. When the plot twist happened I have to admit I was a little underwhelmed and the end was pure chaos. I didn’t really care for any of the characters no matter what their backstory. They all come across as very dry and self centered. I’m so conflicted between 5 stars for the writing and 4 stars for the story. 4.5 perhaps

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC Audiobook in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion!

I got early access to The Fury through NetGalley! This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024! I’ve been a big fan of Michaelides's previous work The Maidens and The Silent Patient, so I was excited to get into his next novel! The Fury is narrated by Elliot, a friend of ex-movie star Lana Farrar. Every year Lana invites her friends to spend Easter on her private Greek Island. Elliot describes the events on the island and years before that cause jealousy, hatred, and love affairs to take place between the friends and lead up to a murder. Like most of Alex Michaelides's work the story has intricately woven past and present together. One big change in the style of writing is that the narrator is talking at you as the reader a lot more. At one point telling you to get a drink and get comfortable, and admitting that he will deceive you as he describes the events leading up to the murder. In moderation, I’m okay with this, but I think it was a little overdone here. I was pretty easily able to guess the ending, but I still found the book entertaining. In previous works by Michaelides, there have been Greek Dramas intricately woven in. That was still present here but was scaled back a lot, and instead, we got more of the philosophy of dramas, which fit Elliot’s character as a writer, but I missed the strong parallels we got in The Silent Patient and The Maidens. I still recommend The Fury for fans of Alex Michaelides, but The Silent Patient and The Maidens are definitely better representations of his incredible skill as an author.

***Spoilers below***
The thing that really got me was the double fake out death. I'm willing to let it slide once, but twice as a reader is very frustrating, especially when the narrator goes on for a while about how the story was about his own death only to reveal he didn't actually die.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

The Fury 🧿

ARC review - Publication date: January 16, 2024

🌬️

“This is a tale of murder.

Or maybe that’s not quite true. At its heart, it’s a love story, isn’t it?”

Cozy up to the bar, and allow yourself to be immersed into this tragedy, as told by a true dramatist. I feel like he’s an old friend, for better or worse.

So, allow me to introduce you to our narrator, Elliot Chase.

Now to the sordid tale. This drama centers around Elliot’s friend, and goddess-like movie star, Lana Farrar. Or does it?

Seven people joined together on an idyllic private Greek island. Betrayals. Secrets. Revenge. Violence. One howling, ferocious, whipping wind, solidly worthy of its own position as a character. Murder.

This was a masterclass in unreliable narration. It’s a character study, a Shakespearean tragedy, and a disorienting mystery.

This book truly has no comparison.

I found myself captivated and gripped by this thriller. Each time I was led down a particular path through the sordid tale, I was led astray, left only to have the rug ripped out from under me again and again.

I listened to the audio book and I was laughing out-loud, cursing the narrator and crying out in shock. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, but did anyway. The narrator had an uncanny ability to suck me in, just for me to be betrayed again. You don’t know who to trust and cannot even trust your own mind.

This is unlike any thriller you have experienced before. Pull up a barstool, trust me, you’re going to need a drink.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishing house, and the author for the opportunity to listen to a complimentary copy audiobook version of this book in return for review, based upon my honest opinion.

I loved the Silent Patient, and I really had high hopes for this book. By the time this book ended, I realized I had lost a lot of hours I would never get back and I didn’t care who got killed. I seriously hoped it could be all of them. It was a slow moving story, with an unreliable narrator, a bunch of dislikeable people, and it seemed really long. Unfortunately this was not the book for me.

📚Book Review 📖

Alex Michaelides, author of The Maidens and The Silent Patient, is famous for his unreliable narrators and plots that make you think. Well friends, he did it again for me in his newest, The Fury.

Main character, Elliot, tells the events of what happened on his island getaway even though some events were not what they seemed. The plot in this was so twisty. I thought I had the plot twist guessed and then bam my mind got blown and Alex mic dropped. This, to me, was more of a drama than a thriller, but still twisty none the less.

Elliot was a fantastic narrator choice. He was witty, funny, and opinionated, which I loved. He did a lot of telling instead of showing. I understand the stylistic choice behind this but kind of annoying at times. Also loved the comparison to the Silent Patient. If you read that book, then you will be able to tell.

Lana was a great complex character to get into as well. She really tied the theme of the book so well. I felt emotionally for her. Also the choice of title was a smart and a nod to Elliot himself.

Thank you for the early read and friends, pick this one up. You won't be disappointed! Now on to the Maidens!

Writing multiple POVs, or at least perceptions thereof, but still all told through a single POV voice and personality is some damn masterful writing. Confused? It makes sense once you start reading.

Still, it’s not my favorite of A.M.’s books, great once you reach the end, but the journey was occasionally rocky. It’s still addictive, you want to see all the back and forth, revisiting moments from different angles, and how various complexities of thought and plotting are doled out to the reader. But it’s definitely a slower thriller and playing along with and in this particular narcissist’s head could be slightly trying.

What remains strong is A.M.’s particular brand of psychological groundwork. The murder and mystery are always secondary to the character studies. It’s a Greek drama from beginning to end, full of moody atmospheres, but mostly moody people. You’re hard pressed to find anyone to like but you still want to see their stories play out, for better or worse.

And of course there are little “Easter eggs” to be found for The Maidens and The Silent Patient, mostly at the end. They don’t impact the story at all but fans will get a little thrill.

Also, I listened to the audiobook. It was a great way to read this thriller, loved the narrator, he really captured the nuances and tone of Elliot, in that you really didn’t notice it all, just the embodiment of the character. 👏🏼

Loved the narrator for this book and the way the story was told. This book is very character driven and not a lot of plot. I was hoping for more of a thriller vibe and wanted more. This was my first book by this author so maybe this is his typical style. If you love character development with a little mystery thrown in then definitely check this one out. Definitely a recommend the audiobook.