The Maidens, a review by Sherry

The Maidens
Alex Michaelides

352 pages
Celadon Books
9 hours 19 minutes
Macmillan Audio
Published June 15, 2021

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While I liked it, I wasn’t a huge fan of The Silent Patient, mostly because the best part is the twist and somehow listening to it, I figured it out pretty early on in the book. So why did I request an ARC of the second book to review? The description drew me in.

Recently widowed Mariana is a therapist that practices in group therapy. When her niece is distraught over the death of a close friend, she heads off to Saint Christopher’s College to comfort her. Filled with ghosts of her late husband, the location unnerves her.

There is a secretish society, a too involved professor and deaths stacking up. The book weaves the mythology of Persephone and Demeter into the tale. There is no shortage of suspects, even though Mariana has honed in on just one.

What sets this book apart from most of this summer’s mysteries, is it is a suspenseful book written in an artful way. I haven’t read The Secret History by Donna Tartt, but I’ve seen many comparisons to it. And the author was able to weave in some of his home country of Greece. And for those of you who’ve read The Silent Patient, there is a nice surprise.

For me it wasn’t a rip through the book in one sitting, but I read and listened to it over a period of time. It is more of a slow burn, than an edge of your seat thriller. And you might think you’ve figured it all out, but WOW, you will not see that ending coming.

I also listened to the book and the narrators are great. Kobna Holdbrook-Smith and Louise Brealey set an eerie tone and brought the story to life.

If you like a slow moving mystery with an ending you’ll never see coming, then you’ll like this book.

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