This book at first took a bit for me to get into and once I was invested it took me for a ride. All the twists and turns on who was murdered and who was the murderer had me on the edge of my seat. It had an unreliable narrator that broke the wall and addressed the audience as he told you what happened and you are left with not knowing what you should believe.

The structure of “The Fury” sets it apart from other thrillers and it was what I really loved about this audiobook. The story—which focuses on a murder that takes place on a private Greek island—is told multiple times. After the first, rather straightforward telling, the perspective shifts and it is retold with new information added. Each time that we hear about the night of the murder—and all of the events that led up to it—we learn more about the characters and their interactions. I found these characters to be generally unlikeable but quite fascinating. This is not a typical mystery (at one point the narrator even ventures to explain why) and this was one of its most engaging aspects. While I didn’t love all of the things that happened near the end of the book, the twists were fantastic. The narration is good, although I didn’t always like the way that the narrator voiced some of the female characters. Overall, this is a quick and exciting story which will grip many readers. Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this audiobook.

Great character development and connection Greek literature with modern, mysterious twists.

A thoroughly unlikeable narrator, intentionally so, makes this something of a hate read. I felt compelled to read through to see how deep the delusions could go.

Was hoping to get more atmospheric Greek island setting but the plot and its turns carried the book instead.

Felt like being lied to and pulling teeth to get the truth, which was frustrating at times, but also a nice device for underlying the untrustworthiness and messiness of each of the narrator/characters

Thank you to Macmillan and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

'My name is Elliot Chase, and I’m going to tell you a story unlike any you’ve ever heard".

Three-time Olivier Award winner and audiobook narrator Alex Jennings was the voice of Elliot Chase, the book's "in your face" and perplexing protagonist.

Elliot Chase recants the story of a murder that occurs when a reclusive ex-movie star invites her famous friends to a private Greek island.

Although I found the author's "unreliable narrator" portrayals intriguing, I had issues with the book's pacing.

The last portion of the book was much stronger than the book's beginning.

Narrator Alex Jenning gave a 10-star performance and it was this superb performance that made it difficult to remove my headphones.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I will admit to liking the first third of the book the best and that it kind of went a bit downhill for me later on. I liked the narrator and think it's a good audio book. I think readers of Michaelides will be satisfied as it is a clever mystery and overall satisfactory.

This was a solid story; a murder mystery as well as a character study. I was really annoyed by the narrator in the print version; this was actually mitigated by switching to the audio version - I LOVED the audiobook narrator. He was perfect for Elliot's character and pleasant to listen to.

✨ Review ✨ The Fury by Alex Michaelides; Narrated by Alex Jennings

This is the first book I've read by Alex Michaelides and so I went in with high expectations. I found it a fast and engaging read but I didn't love it either. The story's a "whydonit" murder mystery and it's written in layers of first person narrative where the main character (Elliot) walks you through the murder story in an effort to explain why the murder happened (more than solving who did the murder).

The story is set on a Greek Island where famous movie star Lana and her second husband and son, and her friends and two employees come together for Easter Break. The cast of characters was a little hard to tangle with at first but I eventually settled in. In the end, I'm not sure I found any of the characters particularly relatable or enjoyable, and I think that dimmed my experience a bit.

I did listen to about 1/4 of this on audio and found it engaging. I think I would have had a harder time settling into the cast of characters if I started with the audio.

The book is very attuned to cluing in the reader in on the narrative structure (e.g. me paraphrasing here but the narrator regularly makes notes like "I have digressed for too long" or "I wanted to give more context before I told you more about me"), which both added to the story and felt a little tedious after a while. *shrug*

Ultimately, I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either. I imagine readers will fall all across the spectrum on this one!

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: mystery/thriller
Setting: Greece / London
Pub Date: 16 Jan 2024

Read this if you like:
⭕️ stories of the lives of the rich and famous
⭕️ windy Greek private islands
⭕️ first-person narration, talking directly to the reader
⭕️ whydonit style mysteries

Thanks to Celadon, Macmillan Audio, and #netgalley for the gifted advanced copy/ies of this book!

Alex Michaelides latest thriller, The Fury, falls solidly between his outstanding debut and an extremely mediocre sophomore novel. The Fury is a tale of murder, or perhaps a love story, you'll have to read to find out. Told in five parts a la a Greek tragedy, Elliot Chase serves as narrator to tell us what happens over the course of Easter weekend on a beautiful Greek isle. Seven people arrive, but will they all make it out alive? It's best to go in knowing as little else as possible, but prepared for a lot of twist and turns, especially as the story wraps up. A solid thriller to start out 2024!

I’ve read this author’s previous thrillers and I feel like they’ve just gone downhill for me sadly. I was hoping this one would go better, but it just didn’t.

I wasn’t a fan of the narrator, I mean I don’t think he’s supposed to be likeable by any means, but I have to at least be interested in the way the story is delivered. There is a lot of “oh look, I fooled you again” and after multiple times of that happening, it just lessened the effect and I didn’t care about any of the twists or reveals. This is basically a murder mystery that takes place on spontaneous, private island in Greece and I just couldn’t care about the characters.

I received an audio ALC from Macmillan Audio via NetGalley, all thoughts in this review are my own.

“The Fury” is a slow motion thriller and if ever there was a novel that should be an audiobook, this is it. If you want to read Alex Michaelides’ third book, this one as twisty and surprising as “The Silent Patient,” I highly recommend that you listen to this brilliant audio version, amazingly narrated by Alex Jennings of the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre.

The story’s structure is dependent on a single narrator, Elliot Chase, so having Elliot ask you to listen to “a story unlike any you’ve ever heard” is an incredible treat when voiced by the talented Jennings. Elliot was invited to a weekend on a private Greek Island by his friend, retired movie star Lana Farrar, along with her second husband, a fellow actress, her son and her assistant. A famous tabloid murder occurred and now Elliott is finally going to give us the “real backstory” that only he is qualified to tell.

I feel so lucky to have previewed the Macmillan Audio version (I had ordered the hardcover book as my Book of the Month Club selection) — this was so immersive as the layers of the mystery were revealed by the narrator. Invest yourself in Elliot’s unique take on what happened — 5 stars for the story and narration!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for a free advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

The narration of the novel was well done. Main character Elliott is an unreliable narrator (which I love), often letting his personal opinion on other characters influence his account of events.

I felt that the book had such a strong start but really lost its steam about halfway through.
Then there was a lot that happened in just the last few chapters. Also I wasn’t really surprised by the ending because I felt that the main character had been making rash decisions throughout the story.

Overall, I enjoyed The Silent Patient more than this one. But I did appreciate the nod to one of the characters from The Silent Patient in here. It was a nice little easter egg.

I am not the ideal audience for this one. It was too slow. To many pages to get to anything. The narrating style didn't work and though I tried to get into it, it just never gelled. It was just too...boring.

Bummer. I have liked Alex's work in the past.

This is an ARC from Net Galley for a honest review.
This was very good. Not as good as the first one. It had some parts that dragged on for me.
In the beginning I was really feeling sad for Elliott and his life. Then Barbara came along and “saved” him. She introduced him to what his future was going to be. Kate had a lot invested in this whole scheme. Who would have thought at all the plotting and planning to wreak havoc on a person.
I did like that they went to the island so no one could get away. Made it was so much more intense. When we were getting to the meaty parts it was amazing and I was surprised and shocked.

I feel bad that this author's first novel was the Silent Patient, as he's had big shoes to fill since. Sadly, this wasn't on the same level as that one was for me.

Elliott is telling the reader's a story of a murder, who was murdered, you don't know for sure, but you can assume it's one of the other main characters in the story. Elliott tells the story from almost a second person POV, addressing you, as the reader often, and is very much an unreliable narrator, admitting to his biases and his leaving things out. Elliott promises a story with lots of twists, unfortunately, all that fell flat for me.

The format of the novel is a Greek tragedy in 5 acts, Elliott often referencing the theater. I felt like the author tried hard to make the story deeper and mean more than it was.

I very much thank NetGally and the publisher for the opportunity to read this novel early! Overall, it was a pretty basic murder mystery and nothing special. I finished it, hence the 3 stars, but was not blown away.

'The Fury' by Alex Michaelides is a bit of a rollercoaster. The whole narration style is like if Nick from 'The Great Gatsby' decided to tell you a wild story – totally meta and breaking all the rules. It's a fresh way to tell a tale, keeping you on your toes. I felt really intrigued by the way this story was told.

And the plot? A bit like an Agatha Christie mystery with red herrings everywhere. You're in for a guessing game. The Greek Island setting adds to this vibe. But, I will say this one fell a bit flat for me. The characters were just "okay". I didnt find them to be interesting at all.

The ending is what really saved the book, there was a lot of good action there.

In a nutshell, 'The Fury' is a wild thriller. If you like stories told in a quirky way and with an decent mystery in Greek Island backdrop, this might be for you. Just be ready for characters who could use a bit more spice.

Alex Michaelides is back! Here's where we stand: I loved The Silent Patient, and read it right around the time I was getting back into reading. I was a little bored by The Maidens. I'd say The Fury falls in between the two, closer to my enjoyment of The Silent Patient--so I definitely recommend it!

I really enjoyed how the story was told. The narrator, Elliot, tells the story like he's chatting to a friend in a bar. This was especially effective on audio, and it made it such an enjoyable listen. It made me chuckle when Elliot would talk directly to the listener. The audiobook narrator knocked the performance out of the park! I'm so glad I listened to the audio version.

I loved the way the story unfolded. In Act I a scene is presented to the reader, and in each following act more perspective is revealed. The characters are very well thought out with a lot of background, and it's presented in a way that is enjoyable to read.

The book is an extremely quick read or listen, and although I wanted more, I think it was the perfect pace and length to tell the story without too much fluff.

Very well done!

Thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC. I haven’t been as impressed with this author’s work as many others seem to be. In this case, while I appreciated the format and what he was trying to do, I think it fell flat and kind of missed the mark. I appreciate the effort, particularly towards the end, but it was too little too late.

This book reads almost like a fever dream. An ex-movie star, her husband, son, and small group of close friends are vacationing on a remote, isolated privately owned Greek island. The opening pages jump right into action and reveal a murder that has just occurred on a stormy night. However, the reader is unaware of WHO the victim is from the small party of guests or who committed the act.

From there, readers are introduced to each guest through the first person narrator, Elliot; he was on the island when the murder occurred and is a friend of Lana, the ex-movie star. His unique perspective and own internal biases regarding each of the other characters were brilliantly portrayed by the author. Readers are provided glimpses into each guests' lives in the weeks leading up to the vacation. How each character intersects and acts with the others is what truly weaves the story together. By the time the reader is brought back to the island action, I was completely unsure of who might be dead and or might be the perpetrator. While the cast of characters were long-term friends and loved one another, they were each uniquely flawed with their own secrets, lies, darkness, jealousies, and insecurities. As the story progressed I found myself completely immersed in this small microcosm of 'life' and had to see the ending.

Michaelides is the master craftsman of shocking twists and unreliable narrators and he has once again delivered! The last 30% of this book I felt shock after shock and wasn't sure where the story was going to land, even into the epilogue! I think mystery and thriller readers who enjoy complex and flawed characters will love this read.

The narration was performed by Alex Jennings, a renowned actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and his brilliant performance made me feel as if just he and I were sitting by the fire, sipping a cocktail while sharing secrets. His story-telling was intimate, candid, and he embodied Elliot's role perfectly. I strongly recommend listening to the audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for my advanced copies in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an arc!
3.5 stars

I’m a fan of The Silent Patient and Maidens, (they were both 5 star reads for me) so I was really excited to get an arc of The Fury!

Elliot Chase is one of Lana Farrar’s close friends. Lana is a beautiful actress who everyone adores, including Elliot. When Lana invites her group to her private, reclusive Greek island, everyone says yes, having no clue what drama is about to unfold.

As secrets are revealed and people are tested, the members on the island find their lives in danger. Is it a novel about murder? Love? Both? Neither? The reader will have to decide for themselves.

At times, this book did remind me of the Great Gatsby. There were multiple people that had similar traits as Daisy, Tom, Jordan and Myrtle, and a Gatsby wannabe who really is more like Nick. I also felt like there was a theme of “look how awful, selfish and careless rich people can be.” For some reason the characters being stuck on the island reminded me of the scene in Gatsby where tensions are high and everyone is at the hotel to get away from the heat of the city.

In true Alex Michaelides form, the reader really will not know what to expect and won’t be able to guess what’s going to happen. Unfortunately, in this case I felt like I was having whiplash. Instead of being wowed by twists or revelations like I have been with the author’s past two books, with this book I was just always unsure what was actually happening.

I do appreciate how the author makes subtle connections to his other novels, and I thought that Elliot was an interesting and complex character. There were some surprises that I enjoyed and some that I hated.

Even though I didn’t like this book as much as the Silent Patient or Maidens, it was still an interesting read. I had arcs of this book as both e-book and audiobook, and I thought the narrator did a great job as Elliot. It was a little frustrating that the e-book and audiobook weren’t exactly the same. (Minor differences: some sentences would be phrased differently between the two formats, still holding the same meaning but just kind of irritating)

I did enjoy how the book was kind of set up to pretend you’re at a bar listening to Elliot’s story. I could definitely see this becoming a movie.

Overall I gave this book 3.5 stars because it was interesting and a quick read for me, and I still enjoyed the book despite the fact that I didn’t love it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, particularly because it felt so different from Alex Michaelides other books. While I have enjoyed everything of his I have read, this book felt to be written in a different tone which was a nice surprise since you typically think you know what you are getting when reading a known author.
I could see some having a hard time getting into this but for me I fell right in. Smooth story to follow with some good twists and interesting cast of characters. This might be my favorite so far from Alex Michaelides.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in advance of publication.