My mom has been hounding me for months to read The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. All of the other readers in my family have read it at her urging and they're all raving, too. She's where I got my love of reading and I know it's going to be good, but we all know the curse of the endless TBR pile.
Knowing that, you can imagine my pride when I got to tell them that Celadon Books sent me an early copy of Alex Michaelides' new novel, The Fury! My mom immediately called me screaming--it was pretty hilarious.
The Fury is a tale about love...or murder. Or, both. They can go hand in hand sometimes, right?
Our narrator, Elliot Chase, is part of the inner circle for Lana Ferrar: legendary movie star. She's traded in her life of fame and the public eye for a more reclusive life in London. Her first husband, who was much older than her, has died, and she's remarried a more age-appropriate hottie. She's raising her teenaged son in London and just trying to live a quiet life. But, we've all heard about the sometimes brutal British weather, so every year for Easter, Lana and her friends travel to Aura, an island that her first husband bought for her off the coast of Greece. Many claim that the island is haunted, or cursed, but to Lana, it's a safe haven.
Well...until the murder happens. Now, Lana and her friends: Elliot (our narrator, Lana's quirky best friend with a tragic past), Kate (not-quite-as-famous-but-still-well-known actress and Lana's wild AF other best friend), Leo (Lana's quiet teenaged son), Jason (Lana's broody new husband), Agathi (Lana's confidant and lifekeeper--because housekeeper just isn't enough), and Nikos (the surly groundskeeper who lives alone on Aura most of the time and doesn't know how to "people" anymore), are stuck on the island with a murderer on the loose, and because of a wind anomaly, the police can't get to the island for hours. Is there a stranger on the island? Or, is one of the group a killer?
Throughout this book, Elliot, who is also a well-known playwright, references Agatha Christie. "If this were an Agatha Christie story," "if Agatha Christie had written this..." and it definitely gives Agatha vibes! You have a small cast of characters, all of which could have motive, and you become an armchair detective from the start. You have the mystery and intrigue of a whodunit murder mystery, but having never read another of his books, I knew to expect an Alex Michaelides novel to come with a hefty side of psychological thriller. He did not disappoint! Elliot tries to remain an impartial narrator, giving us the facts as he sees them, but he admits that, "we are all the unreliable narrators of our own lives," which...wow. It goes along with that age old quote about how there are three sides to every story...yours, mine, and the truth.
This book is poetically written, and draws you in from the start...I finished it in two sittings, only because alas, I had to go to work. The chapters are short, which for some reason makes the story that much easier to inhale? Elliot's voice is just an easy one to follow, while also painting such a descriptive picture of all of the events as the happen. While you'll likely predict some of the twists, there were several that I absolutely didn't see coming--and at the end, I gasped so loudly that I scared the dog that had been sleeping in my lap.
I am now an Alex Michaelides fangirl, and will be prioritizing The Silent Patient and The Maidens very soon because I need mooooore.
Time is a funny thing: Libby just let me know my audiobook copy of The Silent Patient is ready to borrow! Byeeee, besties!
You're going to want a copy of this book if you like psychological thrillers...trust me. You can preorder a copy of The Fury by Alex Michaelides here or here before it releases January 16, 2024. (And if you think you'll, like me, instantly become an Alex Michaelides fangirl, you can grab copies of The Silent Patient here or here and The Maidens here or here.)
Love and leaving out the meat to make the wasps move,
Mandy
Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher and have voluntarily written this review with my honest feedback. If you purchase a copy using my Bookshop.org affiliate links above, I will receive a small commission and you'll support local indies! If you purchase a copy using my Amazon affiliate links above, I will receive a small commission which I will use to justify my literary addictions and to spoil my dogs (probably).
