The Fury was a fun mystery set on a Greek island. I liked the setting and the mirroring of Greek tragedy. It kept me guessing!

At no point did I know where this book was going and how or when it was going to end, in the best way possible. I listened to this audiobook in one sitting because I just had to know where this story was going.
Michaelideas has a way of letting readers think they know everything and nothing at the same time. His twists and turns never disappoint.
The narrative style in this novel is not like anything I have read before. The narrator is the narrator, a character, and omniscient all at the same time, which I found to be a fascinating read.
Michaelides has proved himself to have a specific writing style and he's sticking to it because it works so well for him. Definitely a must read for thriller fans.
Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Holy unreliable narrator. So good! Going to probably piss a lot o lot readers off. But I’m a good way if that makes sense haha. Audiobook was well done and narration was perfect.

One word… MESSY! And I loved every second!

Just like other Alex Michaelides books, this one had so many twists and turns. This book felt like I was sitting down with another person listening to them spill the tea on something that happened.

I literally couldn't stop listening to the audiobook. I devoured it in less than 3 days (and this was while reading two other books). Although I connected the dots when it came to some things, I definitely didn’t see a lot of the end twists coming.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Publication Date: 1/16/24

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest review!

THE FURY is another spin on the classic locked room mystery with a twist of Greek tragedy. Actor Elliot Chase narrates the events that led to the death of his dear friend, ex-movie star Lana Farrar, on a private Greek island. While there is a mystery to solve, this story is undoubtedly a slow-burn character study rather than a typical thriller.

Elliot breaks the 4th wall and speaks directly to readers as he conveys the tragic events from his perspective. Throughout his monologue, our snarky narrator makes remarks about the traditional conventions of the classic mystery genre and weaves in Agatha Christie references.

The audiobook narration by Alex Jennings was fantastic. He captured the devious nature of the characters well and kept me engaged in this slow-burn story.

READ THIS IF YOU:
-Are not expecting a psychological thriller like Michaelides’ The Silent Patient
-Enjoy being in one character’s mind throughout the story
-Appreciate characters who believe revenge is a dish best served cold

RATING: 4/5
PUB DATE: January 16, 2024

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

I was eager to read The Fury by Alex Michaelides. It is getting lots of buzz on Instagram, and I thoroughly enjoyed his previous book, The Silent Patient. I was a little unsure going into this one, because his other past novel, The Maidens, was not a good fit for me. The Fury surprised me with a unique storytelling style and lots of nods to characters and events from his past books. That said, you can read this as a standalone that would only minorly spoil those earlier titles.

Told by an unreliable narrator, this is a story about close friends with secrets on an isolated Greek island. I loved the setting and Michaelides' descriptions of it. The characters are relatively intriguing, if a bit one note. We have two famous actresses (one more self-centered than the other), spouses, a maid, an island caretaker, and the side kick friend that is our narrator. As the story progresses, there are narrative shifts that give some insight into other characters thoughts and motivations. This one moves at a good clip, so I don't want to say much about the plot other than that there is a murder and the police won't be able to arrive for quiet some time due to weather.

This book landed solidly between The Silent Patient and The Maidens for me. I had fun and I recommend it for a quick, fun read that moves at a good clip. Just don't think too hard about it or you'll end up with some potentially angsty questions about a few dubious plot decisions. I was fortunate to have both the ARC and ALC of this one and I preferred the e-book. Many folks are enjoying this narrator, but his voice wasn't my cup of tea.

I won't remember much about this one as time goes on, but I will remember the unique way that Michaelides divided up the story, turned traditional thriller plot narrative style around, and that I didn't want to stop reading!

Thank you to NetGalley, Celadon Books, and MacMillan Audio for the audiobook ARC of The Fury. This was my first book by Alex Michaelides, and I think I'll go on to read more. I enjoyed this one and am glad I experienced it as an audiobook; I also enjoyed the narrator (Alex Jennings). As far as audiobooks go, this was a short one (8 hours) and has a slower pace (especially the first half), but I do think it went by faster via audio than if I had read the physical book. I don't know that I'd consider this one a thriller, more a modern character study on the cast and a "who-done-it." Overall, I'm thankful I got to experience it, and I'll be thinking about it for a while. I also think this could make a good book club book, as there is much to discuss once you get to the end!

I wanted to enjoy this a lot more than I did, but for most of the book it reminded me too much of other things. Unlike in Michalides other works, I found this ending to be more predictable. I like how the narrator used the story as a device (that will make more sense once you've read it). Overall, a good read, but not the most jawdropping of his books.

A twisty locked door thriller by one of the masters of the genre. A famous actress invites her friends to join her on a private Greek Island for Easter, included in this friend group is the narrator of the tale, Elliot Chase. From page one it is evident that this book isn't going to be like other books with Elliott's spin on the weekend catastrophe. As the story goes on the twists and turns of misdirection leave the reader feeling a little whiplashed but still entertained. The narrator does a good job of pulling off the frequent misdirections. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of the audiobook for an honest review.

I will start by saying that I did not finish this book. I did not enjoy the audio narrator, nor did I like the story’s narrator. I have a problem with the story’s narrator admitting to be unreliable, making it fruitless to believe a word he says! Also, he is annoying and disrupts the storyline. Perhaps it gets better, but I read enough to know that structurally, I did not like this book. I do appreciate the opportunity to receive an advanced audio galley in exchange for my honest review. I do plan to read the ebook when I can to see if it gets any better.

I will admit that I was nervous about this one. I really didn’t like The Maidens so I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a similar experience. I’m happy to say I liked it! It took a minute to get used to the way the book was being narrated, but in the end, I really liked how Elliot relayed the story to the reader. The narrator was perfect for this audiobook! There were lots of twists and turns to keep me guessing since I didn’t know whether Elliot was a reliable narrator or not. I think readers who like thrillers about friends behaving badly behind one another’s backs will definitely enjoy this one!

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an ARC of this audiobook!

"This is a tale of murder. Or maybe that’s not quite true. At its heart, it’s a love story, isn’t it?"

A story about a group of friends on an island alone and one is murdered. Sounds like a story we've all read a million times but this one is completely different. The story telling is quirky and fun for a whodunnit and the narrator is fantastic. I loved the vibes from this one. Unrealistic, but it really worked well here.

This book was so difficult to rate! The first part was fairly slow and a bit of a let down. However, once I was about one third of the way through the book, I was HOOKED. The Fury got so good. There were so many great, unpredictable twists. This book has an unreliable narrator who is somewhat quirky--but his quirks really come together by the end. If you read this one and struggle at the beginning, just know--IT GETS BETTER, and the rambling at the beginning is actually important later on. It all ties together in the best way!!

The narrator was fine--I could have done without his accent.

This was so so good! Michaelides has done it again with another amazing story. I loved the narrator, despite his unreliability. The story was great. The author is great at giving you just enough to keep you reading for more. I really enjoyed this one as much as The Silent Patient. I also liked the little tie-in to his first novel. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I think my biggest issue with this book was the narration style. I wasn't a fan of how second person point of view was used to tell this story. Our narrator Elliot Chase is telling us the reader a story as if we are in the room with him. I appreciate what Michaelides tried to do with this stylistic choice but it wasn't for me. There was also a lot of exposition that felt like it dragged on and on. This made it hard for me to care about what was happening to these characters and their relationships with one another. Speaking of relationships, I did not care in the slightest about Elliot's feelings for Lana or the dynamics between any of their friends and family. I found all the characters to be a bit flat and lifeless. Lana is supposed to be this almost otherworldly retired actress and yet I couldn't care less about her. Other than the characters I wasn't interested in the setting. There weren't many descriptions of it and what we do get doesn't make it sound very special at all.
I think I would have liked this a lot more if it was written in third or first person and without the pauses where the narrator goes off on tangents.
I rated this book 1.5/5

This is a really compelling novel. It's a pretty slow burn, and the framing device didn't totally work for me, a bit over the top. But overall, it was a fun read. An interesting, enigmatic MC.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for the arc copy in exchange for an honest review.*

If you are a fan of the unreliable narrator, then this is a great book for you. However, I think that is what I did not like about this book.

For me, the narrator almost seemed too unreliable. I didn't like that the narrator kept backtracking and telling me "Well, that's not true, is it?" It felt overdone to get to the point of a twisty ending.

The author did succeed with a twisty ending because I almost never understood what was happening. When I finally thought I was catching on to what was going on, the narrator would switch it up again.

However, I did really like the idea of the thriller being told through a play. I've never read a thriller like that and it was a fun and different way to be told a story.

The characters in this book aren't very likable, but I don't think they were supposed to be. They were flawed and realistic, and if that was the author's goal, he succeeded in creating very real characters that readers will love to hate.

If you are reading this because you are a fan of The Silent Patient, you might be disappointed because this book is completely different and I am thankful it wasn't a carbon copy of the author's viral book.

Alex Michaelides fans will probably eat this up. It is entertaining enough, but I think it would be better to listen to the audiobook than physically read it. The audiobook narrator did a great job.

I was super hyped to get this early copy of the what I'm sure will be a best seller!

The narrator, Elliot isn't someone you will find yourself rooting for, thus it was pretty slow getting through the first part of the book. You, the reader, are continually promised the unfolding of a murder mystery with unexpected events being dangled like a carrot constantly. The book does pick up about 1/3 of the way through, although I never felt connected to any of the characters, much less cared for them. In the end, I thought they were all lousy humans, except poor Leo who just happened to be born into this world of theater divas.

I haven't read The Silent Patient (gasp and shock, I know) but the epilogue of the story contains a spoiler for that book. I wish I'd known that before I listened to the epilogue.

Speaking of listening, I should mention that NetGalley so generously granted me the audiobook version of this book so I feel it's worth noting a separate mention of the narration. In the beginning, I despised the narrator's voice, so much so that if I had used an audible credit to purchase I would have stopped listening, returned the book, and read the book on my Kindle instead. HOWEVER, since Netgalley generously shared the audio version I trudged on. I soon realized the narrator wasn't most of the issue, it was the first third of the book was simply not holding my attention. For this reason, I would give the narration a rating of 4 since it did work in the end but took some getting used to.

Overall, a solid read. Is it going to be my favorite book of the year? No but it is worth a read, but I suspect fans of The Silent Patient will be a bit disappointed.

Honestly, I would have enjoyed this so much more if the first half of the book did not exist. It took a very long time for the story to capture my attention, I found the slow burn and promise of excitement to detract from the good parts of the book. By the time something actually happened in the book, I had wasted far too much of my time guessing what would have happened. The character development is there and the drama is wonderful, it just took way too long to get there, in my opinion. I wish that there was more to capture my attention in the beginning, so that I could enjoy the end better. The second half of the book goes by much quicker than the first half, so definitely stick it out if you can.
Thank you Netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

I received this ARC audiobook from Netgalley. Talk about an unreliable narrator! It's hard to make any predictions about who-done-it when you never find out what's done and who's dead. The narrator doesn't help by straight up saying he's a liar and not to trust him. It was a wild ride.