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.

I would like to start of by saying this was one of my most anticipated books of 2024… I was really looking forward to this one. However, I really didn’t love it and struggled through it.

I’m personally not a fan of the narrated memoir type of writing and had I known that this is what this was gonna be I probably wouldn’t have requested it. The writing style was very similar to that of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which I also struggled to enjoy.

There were also times I was listening to this book and it seemed like I blanked out a bunch of information so I’d rewind it and then realize that nope it’s just written a bit wonky. I had to actually make a note in my notes app that highlighted characters, plot points, and possible foreshadowing. Which really kind of took away from the relaxing enjoyment of reading for me.

Disappointed that this book fell short for me.

Ugh I thought this book was such a letdown! The Silent Patient was amazing so I was expecting great things from this book, but I think that was part of the problem. The book also weirdly kept saying over and over what an incredible story you were about to hear. Then no incredible or twisty story ever came.
It started out as a murder mystery, there were lots of characters to keep track of and it was hard to get invested in any of them. Some people seemed interesting but then we moved onto the next and didn't delve too deeply into any of their stories.
The book picks up a little in the middle and then the first twist is that the story isn't what it seems. Suddenly we find out some more information that wasn't disclosed and suddenly it's a different story. It wasn't that big of a revelation or twist. The final section of the book did pickup speed and became a bit more interesting but by that point I just didn't really care too much. I couldn't connect with any of the characters and didnt know whose side I was supposed to be on. It was hard to get a read on who was good, who was bad, who was tricking whom.
As others have said there was also a huge spoiler for The Silent Patient in the Epilogue so this book is not advisable to read unless you have already read that one. Though, if you have read The Silent Patient I think The Fury will be a bit of a letdown.

Thanks to NetGalley and Celadon books for an advanced copy of this novel to read and review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio ARC and Celadon for the physical ARC! This was incredibly interesting and the narrator made it especially engaging even with all of the asides in the story. What I liked about this was the tone and style of the story being told, the narrator and the fourth wall breaks. However, I think this fell short near the end and I found myself disappointed in the last 20% of the novel. I’m not sure what exactly I wanted from the story, but this didn’t feel resolved or satisfying.

Really enjoyed this, especially on audio! The narrator really added to the drama and emotion of the story. It was definitely more of a slow burn where the twists came more at the end, but they for sure were twisty! Especially as we come to realize the narrator is completely unreliable and slightly unhinged. Definitely worth the read!

Let me start by saying that i was really excited for this release….SO EXCITED!!! But now I’m super sad to say this but this book and possibly this author is just not for me. I unlike the majority of readers really didn’t love The Silent Patient by this author but really loved the dark academia feel of The Maidens so this was kind of the decider to see if I would continue reading this author and unfortunately I think this is the end of the road (sorry for the dramatics)!

While reading the ARC book on my kindle this book definitely had me confused the entire time. I felt like I was missing huge chunks of information or that I had zoned out while reading a section, but once I was approved for the audio I realized that that was just the writing style.

I think the vibe was a thriller version of The 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo with the memoir type retelling of a characters life…but it really lost the plot for me in the end.

Other than all those grievances, I really enjoyed the playfulness of the narrator he really kept me entertained even when I was pretty over this book and the only reason I didn’t DNF

2.0⭐️

Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.