I really like Michaelides’ debut book, the Silent Patient, so I went into this with high hopes and likely somewhat unrealistic expectations. That said I still really enjoyed this book. The writing style was excellent, he offers vibrant descriptions of scenery and architecture and I feel like I can really picture things as they happen. Add that to the fact that the writing maintains a suspenseful, dark, feeling which permeates almost every page, never allowing me to forget I’m reading a suspenseful, psychological thriller.
Similar to his first book this one too incorporates psychology, which I personally am a huge fan of, especially since both books speak of rather interesting, possibly lesser known or understood psychology. This book specifically looks mostly at how trauma affects individuals mental state and how that also affects their ability to work or interact in group settings. The description by Mariana of what group therapy is and how it should be done and work was fantastic and so accurate. So often therapy is misrepresented in books it's always refreshing to see accurate depictions. Also liked how Theo (from Silent Patient) had a cameo in the book.
Mariana and Fosca were both complicated, multilayered characters. I enjoyed the Greek influence since I personally do not know much concerning Greek tragedy (and admittedly didn't have much interest in learning more) so it was helpful that this topic was interwoven with psychology, a topic I love and know a lot about. The inclusion of psychology and Greek tragedy, mythology, included in the pages kept me interested while I learned more about a topic I generally wouldn't be interested in learning about.
The part that fell a bit short for me was the ending or big reveal. It didn’t ruin the book completely, but it was a pretty big leap for me to make mentally, which I suppose may be effective for some people when reading a "psychological thriller", but for myself personally it was a disappointment mainly because I was so impressed throughout the book of the accurate portrayal of psychology. I also didn't love the fact that every single male character was creepy or bad while every woman was fairly basic and boring.
Overall though I do recommend for anyone who enjoys psychological thrillers, dark academia, and/or Greek mythology.
Similar to his first book this one too incorporates psychology, which I personally am a huge fan of, especially since both books speak of rather interesting, possibly lesser known or understood psychology. This book specifically looks mostly at how trauma affects individuals mental state and how that also affects their ability to work or interact in group settings. The description by Mariana of what group therapy is and how it should be done and work was fantastic and so accurate. So often therapy is misrepresented in books it's always refreshing to see accurate depictions. Also liked how Theo (from Silent Patient) had a cameo in the book.
Mariana and Fosca were both complicated, multilayered characters. I enjoyed the Greek influence since I personally do not know much concerning Greek tragedy (and admittedly didn't have much interest in learning more) so it was helpful that this topic was interwoven with psychology, a topic I love and know a lot about. The inclusion of psychology and Greek tragedy, mythology, included in the pages kept me interested while I learned more about a topic I generally wouldn't be interested in learning about.
The part that fell a bit short for me was the ending or big reveal. It didn’t ruin the book completely, but it was a pretty big leap for me to make mentally, which I suppose may be effective for some people when reading a "psychological thriller", but for myself personally it was a disappointment mainly because I was so impressed throughout the book of the accurate portrayal of psychology. I also didn't love the fact that every single male character was creepy or bad while every woman was fairly basic and boring.
Overall though I do recommend for anyone who enjoys psychological thrillers, dark academia, and/or Greek mythology.