OH, MY Sweet Baby James! This book, The Maidens, is Unbelievable. I wanted to write in all caps, and, yes, this would have deserved every single capital letter! The Silent Patient, the author’s debut novel, was absolutely amazing, and I could not recommend it to enough people. Everyone I know who read it were like me and thought it was the best book they read that year, and still read it based on my recommendation and love it. Including the friend who is taking it to the beach next week. This book will be no different, and I cannot wait to spread the word any way that I know how. This may sound bizarre, but I finished the book on Monday, but it took me til now to find the right words to say about a book which leaves me speechless.
When it comes to The Maidens, I am simply floored. For a follow-up novel after the author’s debut, it not only lives up the hype, it exceeds it and deserves even more I, for one, cannot wait to help put it out there. The hits keep on coming! I love the story woven by Alex Michaelides and learned a lot about Greek mythology, the UK college institutions, and various aspects of university life. From the moment the book begins you are hooked. There may have been a couple of times when it felt a little slow, but I am glad I kept going. After you get into the rhythm, you cannot put it down. (I may have sneaked a peek and read a little here and there when I was supposed to be doing something else.)
Mariana gets a call from her niece, Zoe,, who is at college in London, upset because her closest friend has been murdered. Mariana who practically raised Zoe as her own when tragedy struck Zoe’s family, drops everything to be with her niece. Mariana is also dealing with her own loss after losing her husband she loved for many years, and is struggling with overwhelming grief. Mariana is now a therapist who conducts group therapy with a few interesting characters.
Zoe feels uncomfortable with a particular professor who she feels is linked to the crime. So begins the trip down the rabbit hole where Mariana believes the professor may be involved as the killer. Soon, other girls begin dying as well, and Mariana’s obsession with the professor, who is popular with a certain group of young women called The Maidens, grows more and more. The Maidens is a term tied to Greek Mythology and only adds suspicions as the professor teaches the Greek Tragedies. The story behind the name does not do him any favors in Mariana’s eyes, and as each girl is found with postcards in their possession with a Greek quote written on the back just prior to their death, Mariana begins spiraling. Finding out who is the killer comes to a peak when Mariana receives her own postcard.
Alex Michaelides is my kind of author! I felt like I knew what was happening, but at the same time I Literally told myself, Autumn, you know you are not right or not completely because he is better than that. And he was. And he totally got me! This is another reason he is a master… He found ways to tie back to The Silent Patient that made me audibly gasp at the doctor’s office with his first intro of a reference to the debut novel. Then there were little things along the way that made me have to go back and reread the first book again! If you read this one first, you will still be surprised when you go back to the first book. I cannot wait for another book! Please, do not make us have to wait as long, but if it takes that long to deliver another work of perfection, I will gladly wait.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the great honor and privilege of previewing The Maidens in exchange for an honest review.
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