Title: The Maidens
Author: Alex Michaelides
Publisher: Celadon Books
Genre: Mystery Thriller
First Publication: 2021
Language: English
Book Summary: The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
YOU ARE INVITED TO JOIN THE MAIDENS.
The Maidens are Cambridge University’s most exclusive society, whose members are selected by the charismatic professor of Greek tragedy, Edward Fosca.
A SECRETIVE SET OF THE BRIGHTEST, MOST CAPTIVATING STUDENTS.
When one of the Maidens is murdered, grieving young therapist Mariana Andros is drawn back to the idyllic campus where she was once herself a student.
THE GROUP FROM WHICH EACH VICTIM WILL BE CHOSEN.
Because beneath the university’s ancient traditions and beauty is a web of secrets, jealousy and lies. And when the killer threatens the person she loves most, Mariana will give anything to stop them – even her own life…
Book Review: The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
Okay, buckle up fellow bookworms, because we’re diving deep into Alex Michaelides’ latest mind-bender, The Maidens. If you dug the author’s breakout hit The Silent Patient, you’re going to gobble this one up like a bag of literary chips. Just be warned – you may need to sleep with the lights on after.
The story kicks off at Cambridge University’s hallowed halls, where a group of female students has formed an insanely exclusive clique around their charming-but-creepy professor. I’m talking real Classics Dept. royalty, fluent in Ancient Greek and quoting Homer like it’s nothing. As an English major who struggled through Chaucer, I was intimidated from page one.
Our narrator is Mariana, a group therapy leader who ditched her former life in London to start over at her alma mater. Her arrival coincides with the grisly murder of a handyman who worked closely with said elitist classics crew. Red flag number one. Red flag number two is Mariana’s obvious instability – she’s popping prescription pills like M&Ms and haunted by the death of her beloved husband. Not the most reliable narrator, if you ask me.
But hey, I’m all for an unreliable narrator when it’s done well. Anyone else get whiplash from Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train? I’d take Mariana over those hot messes any day. As she gets sucked into the investigation of the handyman’s murder, she becomes obsessed with the same question we all have – did one of the “maidens” commit this brutal crime? And if so, which one?
Let’s talk about these maidens for a second, because they’re a delightfully infuriating bunch. There’s Zoe, the golden girl who rules the clique with an iron first under her perfectly manicured nails. Then you’ve got Tara, the artsy free spirit. Honestly, I wouldn’t have been caught dead with that clique back in college. Way too much work just to get invited to their seance BYOB events.
But Mariana is transfixed, driven by her personal demons to figure out the mystery behind the maidens and the seemingly idyllic life of their professor, Edward Fosca. Yes, Edward is the quintessential charismatic genius mentor that every bookish gal has a crush on. He’s brilliant, sophisticated, loves to engage students in deep literary discourse…and he may or may not be a psychopathic killer!
Look, I was rooting for Edward at first. I’m a sucker for the sexy professor who makes Virgil and Ovid sound scintillating. But then Michaelides slipped in those creepy little details that made the hairs on my neck do the wave. The weird mushroom obsession. The insistence that the maidens attend his infamous lectures alone. The hushed rumors about his mysterious past.
It all adds up to a perfectly twisty psychological suspense novel that will keep you turning pages late into the night. Every time I thought I had it figured out, Michaelides threw me for a loop. And just when I was sure the murderer had to be X, Exhibit Y made me doubt everything all over again.
Trust me, you’re going to be second-guessing every character by the end, even poor unstable Mariana. The fact that she has a dark connection to Edward’s past that even she doesn’t fully understand just amps up the delicious unease. Talk about a muddled sense of reality!
While the shocking final reveal did tie together some maddeningly loose ends, I’ll admit I was a tad let down that certain subplots didn’t get fully fleshed out. What was the deal with Mariana’s missing sister? And seriously, if the cast of characters at Cambridge wasn’t elitist and pretentious enough, the inclusion of Greek life and secret societies took things to a whole new level of eye roll for me. Like did we really need a rehash of Skull and Bones conspiracies on top of everything else? A little too much going on there, Michaelides!
In spite of those few gripes, I still gobbled up The Maidens like a sinfully gooey brownie. It checked all my boxes for a gripping modern gothic thriller – an isolated, rarefied setting; an unreliable narrator; damaged characters brimming with secrets; and a splendidly unsettling villain whose motivations are as murky as the River Cam.
While perhaps not quite as mind-blowingly original as The Silent Patient, the book still boasts enough jaw-dropping twists and turns to delight even the most jaded psychological suspense fans. Just be warned – you may find yourself side-eyeing every Classics professor who goes on a shroom tangent after reading this one.
So if you’re looking for a compulsively readable summer thriller to get deliciously creeped out by, add The Maidens to your TBR pile immediately. Grab a blanket, some chamomile tea for those inevitable middle-of-the-night wake ups, and prepare to be utterly consumed by Michaelides’ dark academic wonderland. Just don’t blame me when you start seeing togas and laurel wreaths in your sleep. I warned you it was freaky good!
