This is the second Michaelides novel I've read, and whilst I was a little more enamoured with it than The Silent Patient - where I was a very obvious minority in my lack of enthusiasm - it still failed to truly grab me. I found most of the characters fairly insipid, particularly Mariana, which is a pity as she is absolutely the main lynch pin character here, the murder mystery underwhelming and the twist annoying. I do need to stop reading books that rely on big twists. They almost always aggravate me.

The characters are absolutely the biggest flaw here. Whilst Michaelides depicts the setting of the Cambridge university well, virtually every character - including the dead ones - are flat and uninspiring. Mariana is a bit of a moron with questionable judgement at best even if it can be partially excused by her recent loss and grief, her niece gets barely any page time for most of the novel, Edward Fosca is a creep with few redeeming features, and the Maidens show zero emotion to their members being brutally murderers. It's... flat, lifeless and uninspiring.

That said, I did enjoy this more than The Silent Patient. It kept me more engaged and whilst the use of shock twists with no lead up annoys the hell out of me, I can absolutely say I didn't see it coming. Admittedly, I didn't think it was well developed either and that's from both the character perspective and from the consequences after perspective. I actively appreciated the depictions of grief and trauma in individual's lives, and how much it can cloud both judgement and make you act in weird ways. The use of a therapist as the main character is one that appeals to me, it's just a pity that Mariana doesn't really live up to this.

All in all, I think I'm coming to the conclusion that Michaelides works are not really for me, even though they sound like it from the blurbs.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my free review copy of this title.

Sadly not as good as The Silent Patient - which admittedly was a lot to live up to!
Unfortunately this one didn't measure up to all the hype and expectation. It just felt like he was trying too hard.

Interesting plot, writing style let it down. Kind of choppy, same basic sentence structures repeatedly and elements of the story felt really heavy handed. Still an enjoyable experience but hasn't made me sure if I want to read the authors other book.

It wasn't really easy for me to get into the story, and I think the red herrings could've been less, however I loved the references to greek mythology and loved the atmosphere the author created with this.
I thoroughly enjoyed the short chapters and i did love the ending - although I know this isn's perhaps a very popular opinion.
All in all a great thriller!

"The Maidens" by Alex Michaelides is a gripping thriller that follows a group of Cambridge University students and a therapist, Mariana, as she investigates the murder of one of her patients, a member of a secret society called the Maidens. The novel is skillfully crafted, with a tantalizing mystery and plenty of twists and turns that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. Michaelides' writing is engaging and atmospheric, creating a vivid sense of place and drawing readers into the world of the novel. Although some elements of the plot may be predictable, "The Maidens" is a well-executed and entertaining read. A solid four-star thriller.

A very nice book by Alex Michaelides. I’ve never read a book by this author before so I wasn't sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the story and the characters.

Let me begin by explaining that Michaelides's The Silent Patient was and still is one of my favorite thrillers ever! I found it an impossible-to-put-down kind of psychological thriller. The writing kept me on the edge of my seat and I enjoyed the twists and turns.

And, to be fair, in the beginning The Maidens gave me a similar feeling. Maybe not quite as compelling as the author's debut, but I've discovered I really like the way Michaelides weaves just the right amount of literature, art, and Greek tragedy references into his murder mysteries. For me, it's more Dan Brown level hidden messages and puzzle-solving than, say, The Secret History, but if you're looking for a pageturner, that's hardly a bad thing.

This one sees Mariana Andros going back to Cambridge, her alma mater, when a friend of her niece is murdered on campus. Initially going for support, Mariana stumbles into an isolated world of charismatic professors, exclusive groups of beautiful students, and a whole lot of tragedy. The general kind, as well as the Greek.

I liked Mariana, who was dealing with her own grief behind the scenes. What I didn't like was the direction the book took in the later chapters. For one thing, I was fairly convinced early on that I had figured out the culprit, and I was right. But more than this, what came out as the reason behind everything was so baffling and out of left field that I was disappointed by it. I also just really dislike when a character who acted completely normal for the whole book suddenly pulls out a knife and turns "here's Johnny!" on us.

I'll still read whatever the author writes next, but this one wasn't as satisfying as I'd hoped.

The dark academia vibe of this pulled me in and this was haunting and electric. I’ve got a hardback copy to delve into as well because I was hooked so much

Thanks so much to the publishers for the gifted copy

This is Michaelides follow up to the immensely popular "The Silent Patient" and it did not disappoint. This leans very heavily into the dark academia genre and kept me invested throughout. Would recommend!

Oh my gosh Michaelides has done it again with an ending that had me gasping for breath with my head spinning!!! I love learning more about Greek mythology! With a fascinating cast of characters and a fun glimpse back to The Silent Patient, he knows how to write to captivate!

Once I started The Maidens I devoured it. I had put it off because I was worried the Greek themes might be too heavy and that I wouldn't have the concentration, but this couldn't have been further from the truth. The short, punchy chapters had me constantly thinking "just one more" and before I knew it I was well into the story.

Having read The Silent Witness I was well aware of Alex Michaelides's ability to throw in a twist and turn into a story and this is another book that has plenty of red herrings throughout. I especially liked the small cameos from characters from The Silent Witness.

I’ll start saying that University is one of the most toxic places that you’ll ever find to work in, professors always fighting against each other for more awareness and funding while they have their own student “followers”… And this is not a fiction story, I have direct connections with different universities and for now, they are all still the same… So, I was not surprised when I read the plot of this book. A woman, Mariana Andros, becomes obsessed with a Greek Tragedy professor at Cambridge University who she believes has killed her niece.
This is a twisted story, it’s easy to understand how Mariana becomes obsessed with the case; her grief and pain moves her, and in the end what only matters to her is to discover the truth. I could relate how she feels and the need to know everything, but at the same time I felt that she is so obsessed that can’t see things clear and only wants Fosca to be guilty, it doesn’t matter if he did it or not. Real, yes, but that’s where the police should be trying to solve the case instead of here, but they don’t seem to be quite good at their work!
I always love a good thriller, even if I suspected the ending quite early, it makes me make guesses and try to discover the truth. There are a few questions that I didn’t have answer at the end, but I suppose that’s how life really works, you never know everything…
If you are looking for a thriller to keep you awake at night, this is your book, it will be impossible to put down.
Are you ready to discover “The Maidens”?

Thank you for the advanced copy, good storyline but so slow, I preferred the silent patient to be honest - better story.

Although I haven't read it myself, I was very aware of the giant success that was The Silent Patient, Michaelides' debut novel, and so I was expecting good things from his latest. I love novels set in university, particularly focusing on the more academic side of things, and so the setting of Cambridge was perfect, as the descriptions of the lectures and the general environment of the students worked so well with the darker tone of the novel. I was genuinely surprised by the twists and turns, and especially the ending, which felt nice that it wasn't so predictable and I got to experience the shock of finding out the truth. The writing had me gripped from the start, and I really enjoyed the dual narrative of the murder mystery alongside Mariana's role as a psychotherapist, how she wasn't investigating in an official capacity but still had knowledge and insight.

After devouring The Silent Patient, I was very excited for Alex Michaelides' next offering. But unfortunately it left me disappointed. Where The Silent Patient was well thought out and seamlessly written, The Maidens was not. There is no doubt, Michaelides is a very good writer but this was underwhelming. The story felt clunky, the twist expected and I struggled to really care about the characters.

Still, I await his next book with happy anticipation and will continue to recommend The Silent Patient to all and sundry.

Review hadn’t saved. Really enjoyed this one- writing what fantastic and drew me in, didn’t want it to end!

I really enjoyed this book. I loved The Silent Patient, and thought this was equally as clever! Alex has such a fantastic way with words, and I can’t wait to read what comes next.

I read The Maidens as a buddy read with our online Campus Novels bookclub, and we really enjoyed it! Everyone loved the creepy atmospheric location, and the twists and turns kept everyone guessing until the end.

A thoroughly enjoyable Campus thriller!!

Another amazing book from an extremely talented author.
A real page turner that would make an amazing tv or film adaptation!
A book not to be missed

I went into this book existed because I absolutely loved the silent patient. However, this book just didn’t hit the mark for me like the silent patient did.

I found the book hard to get into as it was a little slow and didn’t really pick up until about the 40% mark. At that point I was starting to enjoy it a lot more but I was really struggling on liking the characters. They all fell a little flat to me and I just didn’t vibe with them.

I did really enjoy the plot twist as it shocked me a lot but I didn’t really understand the reasoning behind it.

The ending of the book was what really disappointed me, it felt super rushed.

Saying this, I didn’t dislike the book. It was an okay read but it just didn’t hit the mark like the silent patient did but it was an intriguing plot and story.