Well, file this under another Alex Michaelides win for me! I found this to be such a fun ride. It felt like pulling up a bar stool and having the most random stranger at a bar captivate you with this crazy story. This is by no means a fast paced thriller, it's more a unique and twisty murder mystery, and although it does take a bit to get everything set up and going, once it does it's quite the wild ride. Not one of the characters is likable and Elliot was as unreliable as a narrator gets, but he was charming and enthralling in his story telling. He had me hooked! Thank you to the author, NetGalley, Macmillian Audio and Celadon Books for the gifted ARC and ALC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book did not do it for me. I didn’t really care for the narrator telling the story. Yes, he was unreliable and that’s ok. But how did he know details of some things he described? I couldn’t suspend my belief enough to get past that. I really enjoyed The Silent Patient by Michaelides so much and I’ve just been disappointed in his 2 books since. Thanks to NetGalley for an early copy of the audio to review.

This one was not for me. It was very difficult to get through. Many characters came into this book that were irrelevant. I thought this was going to be a murder mystery, but it was more of a story of how Elliot loved Lana.

This is the third book of Alex Michaelides and I found this to be a great addition. It is loosely connected to the other books which I love. It follows the normal mystery tropes by introducing the location, the characters, and that one person will be murdered. I did find the first 20 percent a bit clunky with them repeating that someone would die. It was distracting. It took me about 20 percent to get into the story but once I was I felt more invested. The characters are unique and Elliot being the narrator was great. The development of the narrator is what hooked me and though I could tell who the murderer was I was more interested in learning about the character and why did what they did than looking for a plot twist. Alex did a great job making the narrator have a believable backstory and motive that was not too over the top.

3.5 stars

✨Book Review✨

The Fury
Alex Michaelides
Release Date: January 16, 2024

I love a good book that keeps me guessing. Alex does an amazing job with this in not only The Silent Patient but in The Fury as well.

I have to say that Act 4 & Act 5 were by far my favorite. By the time I got to that part of the book I couldn’t put it down. I enjoyed each twist and turn and the ending was not something I would have guessed.

Not sure if many people caught it or not but I loved the way the author mentioned Theo from The Silent Patient at the end of the book. I really enjoy when books are connected even if it’s something so simple.

I was also fortunate enough to get the audiobook from @netgalley and I absolutely LOVED the narrator. He helped bring this book to life for me. His accent was just the perfect fit and is partly the reason why I finished this book in just two days!

Thank you @celadonbooks for this advanced readers copy! I was so very excited when I got this in the mail! 😍

Book was good, not as good as The Silent Patient BUT the audiobook was FANTASTIC!!! Alex Jennings was a fantastic choice as narrator. Please get him to narrate more books!

Will def be recommending the audiobook!

I'm a big fan of Alex Michaelides' psychological mysteries, and this was no exception. Great narrative device, great pacing, and great characters- plus, Alex Jennings' narration was spot on.

The Fury by Alex Michaelides led me on a twisty path of surprise. I did not guess the twists, which is rare for me, and the surprises kept building on each other.

Started out a bit slow, but by the middle had picked up pace and I wanted to know what would happen. I was intrigued by the main character. I felt for him, but also hated him.

Definitely pick up if you like slow burn who-done-it thrillers. Narration was fantastic!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, Alex Michaelides, and Alex Jennings for providing this entertaining audio book for my honest review. I am always excited to read locked room mysteries that take place on remote islands. This book was no exception. It’s a slow burn murder mystery but entertaining the entire way through. Alex Jennings, the narrator, is fantastic and brings the theatrical elements to the forefront. While this is a murder mystery the narrator is also funny which helps to lighten the story a bit. I really enjoyed listening to this book and highly recommend it to everyone who enjoys locked mysteries and theater. You won’t regret it! Thank you again for allowing me to review this audiobook.

The Fury is not your average who-done-it. Our narrator even tells us so, as he slowly reveals his identity, and role in the murder…

When American movie actress, Lana, invites her closest friends and family to a brief vacation on her private Greek island, all sounds idyllic, but Lana, and those around her, have much more sinister motives. In the end, one person will be dead, and everyone will know who did it.

In some aspects, The Fury is your classic locked-room mystery. Michaelides plays with the genre though, as his narrator is self-aware enough to deny the label. In classic Michaelides fashion, this one is full of last minute twists that I’ll admit I didn’t see coming.

Having read The Maidens around this time last year, I was thrilled to be gifted the ARC (ebook and audiobook) by @celadonbooks and @netgalley. I opted for the audiobook, which I regret. I was disappointed to find that this one just didn’t live up to the standard I’d set after reading Michaelides’ earlier work. In part, I blame the format. It was the choppy chapters and cadence of The Maidens that originally drew me in and allowed me to speed through it in the best way. I felt that, if it existed in The Fury, it was lost in the audiobook rendition.

The ending also left a little to be desired, as the constant plot twists left them feeling a little cheap and over-done.

All this to be said, Michaelides is still a masterful storyteller, who can weave many threads without dropping any. If you’re a die-hard Michaelides fan, by all means, give this one a go when it’s released January 16! But if you’re looking to dip your toe into the mystery genre, maybe don’t start here.

I had high hopes for this book because of The Silent Patient by this author. While it was a good story, it just didn't quite live up to my expectations. The narrator was incredible.

Retired world-renowned actress Lana Farrar invites a handful of friends and family to join her on the little Greek island her late husband gifted to her. What happened next was a tragedy and Everyone has a motive and a part to play.

Elliot Chase, Lana’s best friend, was there and he wants to tell us all about it. At first, Elliot seems like a famous person’s best friend, a bit of a hanger-on, nobody really seems to like him all that much, except Lana and his devotion to her is second to none. As he tells us what really happened on the island that weekend, he reveals more and more of his backstory and as he does, we are drawn further and further into the story.

The story takes a while to build traction as it is told out of order and with certain asides that at first appear to mean nothing but in true locked room murder fashion, everything comes into play at the end.

What I enjoyed:
* Elliot’s narration is perfect, at times funny and it feels perfectly natural, just a guy telling you what really happened that weekend.
*The slow build is totally worth it in the end.
*The island and the stories that surround it lend a perfect atmosphere to the story.
*That extra little Easter egg at the end.

This audiobook was perfectly narrated. It felt every bit the bedtime story Elliot claims it to be. The tone, inflection and pacing of the narration were spot on.

4 Stars
Thank you to NetGalley and to Celadon for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

The Fury by Alex Michaelides - This book was a different type of book than I typically read but nonetheless, I enjoyed it! The narrator was fantastic, characters/stroylines were easy to keep track of. There were some slow burn parts but they were worth the ending! Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC!

I hate to say this, because I really thought this was going to be my first five star thriller of the year with all the hype, but I didn't like it much at all. At one point during the audio version I thought "how much longer?!" It's not in my nature to DNF a book, so I tumbled onward, and I don't regret it, but the ending hit no where near where I'd hoped.
Alex Michaelides gave this book a Shakespearean feel. The narrator voicing the story was good. The narrator telling the story was annoying. The murder(s) were sloppy and all over the place. The beginning was repetitive and lackadaisical.
This book wasn't my cup of tea. After The Silent Patient I was hoping it would be, but this one fell way short. However, having said that, it may be someone else's. I might not be in the mood for this type of writing.
I'd recommend people to read it for the sheer comparison of writing between the novels Michaelides has given us.
Thank you Netgalley, Alex Michaelides, and Macmillan Audio for the chance to read/listen to this book. My opinion is my own and completely unbiased.

I will have to agree with some of the other reviewers in that I disliked EVERY. SINGLE. CHARACTER. in this. I thought that I would find a redeeming quality in at least one of them, but nope.

I didn't love this one, but didn't hate it- it just was a bit blah towards the end. The beginning I was all about it, and then over the course of the story I just started to lose interest. I didn't enjoy some of the plot elements (I won't disclose as they can be considered a spoiler) and the ending I was a bit confused with.
I feel like the setting has been over-done lately in thrillers and maybe that's part of my attitude towards this one, but can we stop going to 'remote' islands or settings and trying to figure out a murder?

The narrator was excellent and I loved his British accent- I feel he did well with the different characters voices overall.

Thanks to Netgalley, and the publishers for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars rounded up!

I always enjoyed Michaelides story telling. The writing style is always incredibly mesmerizing to me and I find myself absolutely devouring the novel in a matter of hours.

However, this book just kinda fell flat for me? I felt like it was everything you expected while simultaneously being nothing like you expected. Then you’re sitting at the end of the book, scratching your head and wondering what you even read. When I finished this book, the only word I could think of was… huh?

My biggest gripe with this one was… I hated every single character but Elliot was the worst.

Even though this book wasn’t necessarily for me, I can see how many have and will enjoy this one.

Huge thank you Macmillan Audio,, and NetGalley for the audiobook ARC of The Fury in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Celadon, Alex Michaelides and NetGalley for providing me with the UDG/ARC as well as the audio recording of The Fury. I also need to say thanks to my son's travel hockey tournament as I was able to enjoy both the audio while driving to the rinks as well as down time spent actually reading. I was a little apprehensive going into this one because I did see some early reviews which were a mixed bag. Some complaining of the pacing of story, the narration of Elliott who always promised a surprise plot twist or noting what details we, the reader, should be paying attention to. He goes from narrator to a "friend" meandering through the story getting lost in thought and going off on a tangent which just seemed to fit the twisting turns the story takes. I have to say I actually enjoyed that. I usually don't like a dual time line but the way this story flip flops between the past and present, giving you a small tidbit of the past luring you in knowing that something good was going to happen felt just right to me. I enjoyed the pacing and how each chapter seemed to reveal a little more of the truth as it went along. The style of the story had a very Agatha Christie feel, which I am a total fan of.

The audio narration was easy to follow along with. I mostly had it on 1.5X speed. His voice was very clear and concise and worked great with the characters. The problem with audio books is that sometimes the reader can actually make or break the book - I enjoyed listening just as much as I did while personally reading the story. I would give the narrator 5 stars for his story telling.

THE FURY - ALEX MICHAELIDES
4⭐

PLOT
Lana Farrar is a reclusive ex movie star who each year invites her closet friends to a private Greek island to spend Easter weekend but then one of them is found murdered.
This is a tale of murder with a love story at its heart

MY THOUGHTS -
This book should be read or listened for it's narration. The narrator Elliots view point completely changed a simple story all thanks to masterful writing by the author.
There are a lot of story repetition with a basic plot but still I enjoyed the story overall nothing compared to The Silent Patient but still a fats quick read which will keep you guessing.
The narrator was fantastic and i especially enjoyed the audiobook.

3.5

A reclusive former film star and her friends go to a private Greek island for a break from the weather in England. Someone ends up dead. Already sounding like an Agatha Christie Mystery?

I flew through this audiobook, which was well-narrated, and highly recommend the audio.

The Narrator is Elliot Chase and a very good friend of Lana Farrar, the actress. The group of friends and their stories are slowly revealed but the POV's will change and so will the reader's minds as you try to figure out who to believe. As the tensions build between the "friends" so does the storm swirling around them all.

It kept me guessing as things were changing like the fury of the wind!

My thanks to Net Galley and Macmillian Audio for an advanced copy of this audiobook.

2.5 stars rounding up to 3 stars on goodreads.

I think I am in an audiobook slump. Or this book was just not for me. I have heard amazing things about this book by the hype but sadly it didn’t live up to my expectations. I was not invested in the story and didn’t find that the reveals were all that surprising.

While I didn’t overly enjoy the audiobook, the narrator did a good job, I just wish there was more excitement to the story line.

****Many thanks to Macmillan Audio, Celadon Books, and NetGalley for the gifted copies in exchange for an honest review.