Review | The Maidens

Title: The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

Date Published: June 15th, 2021

Dates Read: August 30th - September 1st, 2021

Current Goodreads Rating: 3.65/5

If you've been here before you know that I reviewed Michaelides' other acclaimed novel The Silent Patient back in May and enjoyed it enough to pick this novel up when it became available at my library.

Like his previous novel The Maidens had been getting some good reviews and the fact that it was a murder mystery with the main suspect a Greek Tragedies professor? I was instantly sold. In the end it was a little bit of a let down, but I still enjoyed unpacking all the layers of the mysteries on campus, including one mystery I didn't even realize needed to be unravelled.

Ok, so what happens? There is no doubt in Mariana's mind that Edward Fosca, the Greek Tragedies professor at her niece's university, is a murderer. Though Mariana herself is still reeling from the death of her husband via a tragic drowning accident in Greece a few months prior, she doesn't even hesitate to take the trip down to Cambridge University to support Zoe, who's roommate had been the unfortunate victim.

Though Mariana has no experience as a detective, her life as a therapist helps her focus in on clues around campus that may lead to the elusive killer and, according to her, all signs point to Fosca who surrounds himself with women from his class - groupies who call themselves The Maidens. Will Mariana be able to uncover the truth before another woman is murdered? Can she save her niece, Zoe, from tragedy? Will Mariana herself become the next victim?

All books with the dark academia feel take place in something that looks like this. No exceptions.

Ok, so what did I think? If you're a fan of dark academia I think you'll really enjoy this book. If Donna Tartt's The Secret History is about the people on the inside of a cult-like literary group, then Michaelides' The Maidens is about the scrutiny of those on the outside. And, you know, both have a gruesome murder in it.

While I did like the feel of this book and the setting, I wasn't totally sold on the characters or really even the mystery. Michaelides seemed to introduce characters as a heavy handed red herring that everyone could see from a mile away. Mariana has to dodge a very intense, creepy guy on the train who returns several times throughout the novel as though he's stalking her, but the character is just too intense to really take seriously. There's also a very threatening man Mariana had been counseling who leaves increasingly threatening voicemails as the story progresses, but his fear tactics are ballooned to almost comic proportions. To be honest, the entire world seemed to shrink to Mariana, Fosca, and Zoe and I never felt the danger of this unknown killer throughout the novel.

Also, the "twist" ending was just so...ugh. I've come to realize after this year of reading mostly female authors that women just write so much better than men. I'm tired of storylines that involve a young woman throwing herself at an older man and going crazy when love gets involved. I'm also so tired of reading predatory men storylines or women who have been raped, molested, or abused. I'm not saying that because I don't believe it happens, but because I know it does and I'm tired of those things being the events that shape the entire woman's character. All in all, that was the main reason I didn't like this book as much as I liked The Silent Patient.

HOWEVER, if you know me you know I like a good easter egg. Whether it be the ghosts in the background of Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House or the fact that Libba Bray is constantly putting the characters of her series A Great and Terrible Beauty in the background of her other books, every time I catch one of these little easter eggs I want to excitedly scream about it to anyone who will listen. So, since you are my captive audience, I'm going to scream about the easter egg in The Maidens.

If you've read Michaelides' The Silent Patient then you're well versed with the characters of Theo and Alicia. I won't go too far into details if you're interested in catching their small cameo yourself, but let me just say that when they appeared I practically screeched. Honestly, even though this book was kind of a let down for me, I may read Michaelides' next novel just to see how his other two books connect in his own MCU (yes, I mean the Michaelides Cinematic Universe).

Long Story Short:

• Women make better writers

• Easter Eggs may be my favorite thing in the entire world

• Maybe don't get into Greek if your university falls into the dark academia category?

My Rating: 3/5