Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

123 reviews

iamnita's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

0.25

Utter utter trash. The main character is just plain stupid. Her decision making is so flawed - it’s ridiculous. The writing is clunky to put it mildly and very difficult to get through. The twist at the end of unbelievable after all we went through. It is just not an enjoyable book. I didn’t even enjoy the journey.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Drug abuse and Pedophilia

lizzieinmt's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This book reminded me of Secret History, it's setting and first half was really interesting. But I feel like I'm it's attempts to carry on as a thriller and provide a twist ending it really fell apart. There were characters who really didn't need to be in the book at all, that were given a lot of time. But the main characters weren't really challenged or put together for much of the book so by the end it felt really forced. I enjoyed it as escapist fiction but honestly wouldn't read again. Just read secret history if you want a dark academia murder mystery. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, and Blood

Moderate: Grief and Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

bookishexpat's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Pedophilia, and Sexual content

allisonwonderlandreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Sometimes I just need a psychological thriller with an atmosphere that is tense and anticipatory with a side of dark academia. Aka this exact book. A serial killer with a fondness for Ancient Greek plays and a cult of personality surrounding a literature professor set the stage for the story.

Mariana is our protagonist, a group therapist that I found to be unreliable but empathetic as narrator, a winning combination in the genre. I personally appreciated her healthy dose of suspicion and was intrigued by the way she interacted with others through a therapist's lens, interpreting behaviors and motivations. Did I doubt every person she interacted with, including her? YES of course I did. So naturally, I was partially correct at the end while also being wildly not correct, which I enjoyed immensely. I appreciate the author for his sleight of hand and the way he manages what I notice as a reader to lead me astray.

The last 10% of the book was a wild ride. At first, I was irritated at where I thought the big reveal was headed and started to adjust my expectations for the finale and the book as a whole (thrillers more than any other genre hinge on the ending for me in terms of how I feel towards it). Luckily, I was being tricked ~again~ and a quick shift left me surprised and much more satisfied.

I was impressed by the range of the audiobook narrator with sinister interludes from the serial killer's perspective from a different voice actor. I liked the way this obscured his identity by separating the main performance from the way his writings were read, i.e. I wasn't able to match voices to guess who he is.

Finally, I loved the unexpected The Silent Patient tie-in, a brief easter egg that was clever and enjoyable while remaining subtle enough to not detract from the reading experience if you aren't familiar with the author's other book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Violence, Blood, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent

kylajaynebooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

since when is daddy issues and a pedophile husband a plot twist I have THOUGHTS

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

crosberg's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Another disappointing thriller/mystery.  The book is only 330 pages and there's only one core mystery with several murders and acts of violence so I don't know how the author managed to make it feel slow, but he did.  Without spoilers or going too much into detail, the overwhelming feeling of this book is that the author really doesn't like women, and his male characters are showing exactly how.  The main character was a female therapist, and she did have a few female colleagues/mentors to rely on, plus all of the victims were female.  But somehow the only people who had any personality were all men and most of them treated the women in their lives callously at best, abusively at worst.  Gaslighting and "there, there dear let the men handle it" patronizing is rampant with all but one of the male characters, who the main character seems to fall in love with after he's simply kind to her for about 30 seconds.  I was so distracted by the absolutely flat, passive women and the terrible, violent men that I became utterly disinterested in the actual mystery.  What's worse is that the author treats sexual assault, child abuse, and trauma with a casualness that made my skin crawl.  Forget the actual murderer, I'd be uncomfortable interacting with the author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

mariasilva's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

aideen_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Stalking, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child abuse

miamcmillan's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

this was an absolute page turner for me and i really enjoyed it! i haven’t read the silent patient lol so i had no expectations for the author to live up to and thoroughly enjoyed this. some of it doesn’t make a lot of sense but to be honest i don’t care that much, i didn’t see the twist at the end coming and thought for the most part the characters and the plot were very compelling. (also omg the amount of red herrings ?? truly impressive)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

tori_rose's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Animal death