(3.5 rounded down to a 3)
A good read for a dark academia prompt. I inhaled the first 43% of the book in my first sitting. It's very "potato chip"-y, as the chapters are individually pretty short, so I found myself wanting to read "just one more chapter" before putting it down.
The audiobook is pleasant to listen to. There are two different narrators, and both readers do a wonderful job. The main POV is in limited third person from the main character Mariana, a psychotherapist who specializes in group therapy. The other POV is in first person, seemingly from the person who may be behind the murders.
If you're the kind of person who hates it when the heroine makes bad decisions (like going on a walk by herself in the days following a grisly murder, or hiding evidence from the police), this may not be the book for you. It's also a pretty slow burn, but I found that enjoyable. Felt pretty 50/50 mystery/thriller.
I haven't read the author's freshman debut, The Silent Patient, but a significant character from that book appears briefly in this one as well. Both of these books appear to be in the same universe, with The Maidens occurring first chronologically. I'll probably end up checking out his first book at some point since I did enjoy this one.
A good read for a dark academia prompt. I inhaled the first 43% of the book in my first sitting. It's very "potato chip"-y, as the chapters are individually pretty short, so I found myself wanting to read "just one more chapter" before putting it down.
The audiobook is pleasant to listen to. There are two different narrators, and both readers do a wonderful job. The main POV is in limited third person from the main character Mariana, a psychotherapist who specializes in group therapy. The other POV is in first person, seemingly from the person who may be behind the murders.
If you're the kind of person who hates it when the heroine makes bad decisions (like going on a walk by herself in the days following a grisly murder, or hiding evidence from the police), this may not be the book for you. It's also a pretty slow burn, but I found that enjoyable. Felt pretty 50/50 mystery/thriller.
I haven't read the author's freshman debut, The Silent Patient, but a significant character from that book appears briefly in this one as well. Both of these books appear to be in the same universe, with The Maidens occurring first chronologically. I'll probably end up checking out his first book at some point since I did enjoy this one.