Thank you to the publisher and BookishFirst for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
I was so excited to receive this ARC in the mail! Although I haven't read The Silent Patient, I have heard the hype. And, I know that literally everyone wants to read The Maidens. In fact, The Maidens might be the most hyped-about book of 2021. In my book communities, almost every single wishlist includes The Maidens. So when I got approved to review this ARC ahead of its release date, it was a dream come true. I couldn't believe it. Thank you again to the publisher and BookishFirst for this opportunity!
The Maidens is a twisty psychological mystery that blends serial killer fiction with dark academia. The protagonist is Mariana, a therapist getting over the death of her husband. She gets caught up in a series of murders at a local college when her niece Zoe's best friend is murdered. Using her experience as a therapist and her intuition, Mariana realizes that the murderer is Edward Fosca, a popular professor of Greek tragedies. Suspiciously, he has a harem of college girls who follow him around, who he calls The Maidens.
Here is an excerpt from the first page of the book: (This is not a spoiler, because it's on the first page.)
"Edward Fosca was a murderer.
This was a fact. This wasn’t something Mariana knew just on an intellectual level, as an idea. Her body knew it. She felt it in her bones, along her blood, and deep within every cell.
Edward Fosca was guilty.
And yet—she couldn’t prove it, and might never prove it. This man, this monster, who had killed at least two people, might, in all likelihood, walk free.
He was so smug, so sure of himself. He thinks he’s got away with it, she thought. He thought he had won.
But he hadn’t. Not yet.
Mariana was determined to outsmart him. She had to."
After I read this prologue, I couldn't wait to continue reading and see how the story progresses. I love books that are set in colleges, and I am also a fan of thrillers with twists, so I thought that this would become one of my favorite books. For a while, the plot was engrossing. I was voraciously reading every single detail and looking for deeper meanings. I was very interested and could not put this book down. I even finished it in one sitting.
Unfortunately, the ending was a letdown. Without spoiling anything, I would just like to say that it didn't really make sense for me. Even though it was explained, I totally did not understand the motivations of the murderer for committing these murders. In addition, a lot of the themes and threads in the plot ended up leading to nothing. I had been drawn into every detail of the story, because I thought that the references to Greek tragedies were the author's way of communicating a deeper message. I was expecting a work of literature. It turns out that those references were just "window dressing," and this book is just a typical thriller. There's nothing wrong with thrillers, and I did enjoy reading this book. I do think it is being over-hyped though.
Overall, if you enjoyed The Silent Patient or if you're a fan of thrillers and/or dark academia, then I highly recommend that you check out The Maidens when it comes out in June! Don't go in expecting a masterpiece of literature. If you go in with the mindset that this is a thriller, you won't be disappointed!
I was so excited to receive this ARC in the mail! Although I haven't read The Silent Patient, I have heard the hype. And, I know that literally everyone wants to read The Maidens. In fact, The Maidens might be the most hyped-about book of 2021. In my book communities, almost every single wishlist includes The Maidens. So when I got approved to review this ARC ahead of its release date, it was a dream come true. I couldn't believe it. Thank you again to the publisher and BookishFirst for this opportunity!
The Maidens is a twisty psychological mystery that blends serial killer fiction with dark academia. The protagonist is Mariana, a therapist getting over the death of her husband. She gets caught up in a series of murders at a local college when her niece Zoe's best friend is murdered. Using her experience as a therapist and her intuition, Mariana realizes that the murderer is Edward Fosca, a popular professor of Greek tragedies. Suspiciously, he has a harem of college girls who follow him around, who he calls The Maidens.
Here is an excerpt from the first page of the book: (This is not a spoiler, because it's on the first page.)
"Edward Fosca was a murderer.
This was a fact. This wasn’t something Mariana knew just on an intellectual level, as an idea. Her body knew it. She felt it in her bones, along her blood, and deep within every cell.
Edward Fosca was guilty.
And yet—she couldn’t prove it, and might never prove it. This man, this monster, who had killed at least two people, might, in all likelihood, walk free.
He was so smug, so sure of himself. He thinks he’s got away with it, she thought. He thought he had won.
But he hadn’t. Not yet.
Mariana was determined to outsmart him. She had to."
After I read this prologue, I couldn't wait to continue reading and see how the story progresses. I love books that are set in colleges, and I am also a fan of thrillers with twists, so I thought that this would become one of my favorite books. For a while, the plot was engrossing. I was voraciously reading every single detail and looking for deeper meanings. I was very interested and could not put this book down. I even finished it in one sitting.
Unfortunately, the ending was a letdown. Without spoiling anything, I would just like to say that it didn't really make sense for me. Even though it was explained, I totally did not understand the motivations of the murderer for committing these murders. In addition, a lot of the themes and threads in the plot ended up leading to nothing. I had been drawn into every detail of the story, because I thought that the references to Greek tragedies were the author's way of communicating a deeper message. I was expecting a work of literature. It turns out that those references were just "window dressing," and this book is just a typical thriller. There's nothing wrong with thrillers, and I did enjoy reading this book. I do think it is being over-hyped though.
Overall, if you enjoyed The Silent Patient or if you're a fan of thrillers and/or dark academia, then I highly recommend that you check out The Maidens when it comes out in June! Don't go in expecting a masterpiece of literature. If you go in with the mindset that this is a thriller, you won't be disappointed!