The Maidens was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021, and it did not disappoint! I liked the Silent Patient, a lot, but The Maidens was even better.
(This book is all over the bookish world, so I’m going to skip a synopsis recap. The blurb says it all, and I don’t know that I could add any more without spoilers.)
First off, The Maidens was much faster paced than SP. I don’t mind a slow burn book, but I definitely prefer fast paced over slow burn. I think by chapter 3 I was already having a hard time putting The Maidens down. I was immediately drawn to the characters, I was interested to find out more about Edward Fosca, and ultimately, I wanted to know if Fosca truly was a murderer and why.
Some of the foreshadowing in the book made some of the “twists” pretty obvious. I had one of the major twists figured out pretty early on, I just didn’t know why. With that being said, I was also wrong about some of the twists, and they ended up being nothing like I expected. I was still blown away by the twists even if I had them figured out, and that is what made this book so great for me. There is nothing worse than guessing a twist and being let down with the reveal. That was not the case for me here.
I enjoyed the Greek tragedy aspect, even though I know absolutely nothing about Greek tragedies. I thought it was creative and a refreshing new element to make this thriller stand out from so many others. I also appreciated the fact that there was a bit of backstory to some of the Greek tragedies mentioned in this book without being too heavy or too dry. It was just enough to help the reader understand without detracting from the story.
Overall, I think Michaleides nailed it. I personally think this is his best book, and I am excited to see what he brings in the future. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes fast paced murder-mystery thrillers. This is a book I will be thinking about for a long time.
(This book is all over the bookish world, so I’m going to skip a synopsis recap. The blurb says it all, and I don’t know that I could add any more without spoilers.)
First off, The Maidens was much faster paced than SP. I don’t mind a slow burn book, but I definitely prefer fast paced over slow burn. I think by chapter 3 I was already having a hard time putting The Maidens down. I was immediately drawn to the characters, I was interested to find out more about Edward Fosca, and ultimately, I wanted to know if Fosca truly was a murderer and why.
Some of the foreshadowing in the book made some of the “twists” pretty obvious. I had one of the major twists figured out pretty early on, I just didn’t know why. With that being said, I was also wrong about some of the twists, and they ended up being nothing like I expected. I was still blown away by the twists even if I had them figured out, and that is what made this book so great for me. There is nothing worse than guessing a twist and being let down with the reveal. That was not the case for me here.
I enjoyed the Greek tragedy aspect, even though I know absolutely nothing about Greek tragedies. I thought it was creative and a refreshing new element to make this thriller stand out from so many others. I also appreciated the fact that there was a bit of backstory to some of the Greek tragedies mentioned in this book without being too heavy or too dry. It was just enough to help the reader understand without detracting from the story.
Overall, I think Michaleides nailed it. I personally think this is his best book, and I am excited to see what he brings in the future. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes fast paced murder-mystery thrillers. This is a book I will be thinking about for a long time.