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dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really enjoyed Alex Michaelides' first book The Silent Patient, and while this book was... interesting I just didn't resonate with it. Big cast of characters all with troubles that felt unnecessary to act as a bunch of red herrings, all for a strange plot twist to just slap you in the face quickly and unequivocally right at the end.
I honestly disliked our leading lady and couldn't quite suspend my disbelief enough about how much she got away with in terms of her "investigation". Also very bothered by how every man in this book lacks even the most basic of boundaries
I honestly disliked our leading lady and couldn't quite suspend my disbelief enough about how much she got away with in terms of her "investigation". Also very bothered by how every man in this book lacks even the most basic of boundaries
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Alcohol
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship
Minor: Car accident
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think that the very short chapter lengths were used to hide the fact that there is basically no plot development for a good two-thirds of this book, but I was compelled to finish because of the interesting premise. As I’m reading other reviews, it seems this is a trend with Alex Michaelides: great idea, mild execution — especially in regards to psychology. He certainly writes well, and he painted Cambridge University in such a way that it became a character itself. Yet, the protagonist is frustrating, various characters could’ve been used differently, and the reveal/truth came out of nowhere. Although I suspected the villain from the beginning, it was reveal of their motivations for their actions that made me go “?!?!?” Furthermore, no one at this prestigious university questions that a male professor has a cult-like following of female students? So while it was an intriguing mystery based in Greek mythology, perhaps I should've read The Silent Patient before reading The Maidens. For my first Alex Michaelides book, I was a little disappointed, given all the hype.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent
Minor: Animal death, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Murder
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Alex Michaelides The Maidens is a thrilling horror-mystery that features complicated and disturbing characters, childhood traumas and abuses, with a twist I can only liken to the feeling one must have if they were pushed off of a precipice and into the Twilight Zone’s iconic black and white vortex.
From the first page, our point-of-view character — Mariana Andros — is troubled by the men in her life, both personally and professionally.
Whether it be her deceased father, tragically killed husband, one of her male patients in a group therapy session she hosts, or any of the other male characters we meet along the way, Mariana’s experience with men in and around her orbit can be summed up in one word: unsettling.
Unsettling is not, in this readers opinion, the strongest word to describe the horrors Michaelides writes about in The Maidens, but it covers the array of events — both known and unknown — evenly.
It seems as if Michaelides took everything he’d ever seen on an episode of “Law & Order: SVU” and magnified it to write this novel. That is not a critique, as much as it is an attempt to express the kind of story and the nature of the relationships you can expect to find on page.
Almost every woman we meet in the novel is the/has been a victim of some man in varying capacities. Even if not explicitly stated, readers can infer a good deal from what is found on page in the character interactions or what is implied in the greater themes found in the story.
The women, however, are not the only victims of abuses perpetrated by men. Of the men we know of or meet, at least 3 were abused by their fathers as children in some capacity. What’s more, not only do we see that a number of — if not all of — the characters are suffering from childhood trauma related to emotional, mental, physical, and sexual abuse via paternal or legitimate father figures. Michaelides also makes it clear to readers that, in at least 2 cases, there was abuse — whether it be deliberate or unintentional may be debated — by their maternal figures as well. Every parental figure in the book is, by some measure, unfit to do their job.
This turns The Maidens into a story not only about a grief-stricken widow (with horrible boundaries, this reader thinks) dead set on proving the guilt of one man, but an in-depth investigation into the long term consequences of child abuse and the generational trauma as they relate to the characters in this story. The plot twist at the end calls this out —if not explicitly, almost nearly — and forces the reader to call into question everything they know about the cast of characters, their memories, and their reliability.
The last 40-or-so pages of the book left me considering who — or rather how — I could trust. Next to no one leaves the book unscathed. Michaelides wields grief, love, and memory expertly. In doing so, he shows us that each powerful emotion plays a pivotal role in the characters, often deluded, realities. Powerful emotions play just as much of a role in this story as murder, trauma, or Euripides.
I left this book feeling a number of contradictory emotions, while my more critical thoughts trickled in a bit later on. Many of those, I can’t fully explain without spoiling the whole story. What I can say is that I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about the ending at first, but when I went back through what I had read, it all perfectly lead back to the twist. I could see it clearly. The more I dig into it, the more I can say that this book is many things — thrilling, graphic, and genuinely disturbing to name a few — but it is all done extremely well and exactly as I think Michaelides intended.
From the first page, our point-of-view character — Mariana Andros — is troubled by the men in her life, both personally and professionally.
Whether it be her deceased father, tragically killed husband, one of her male patients in a group therapy session she hosts, or any of the other male characters we meet along the way, Mariana’s experience with men in and around her orbit can be summed up in one word: unsettling.
Unsettling is not, in this readers opinion, the strongest word to describe the horrors Michaelides writes about in The Maidens, but it covers the array of events — both known and unknown — evenly.
It seems as if Michaelides took everything he’d ever seen on an episode of “Law & Order: SVU” and magnified it to write this novel. That is not a critique, as much as it is an attempt to express the kind of story and the nature of the relationships you can expect to find on page.
Almost every woman we meet in the novel is the/has been a victim of some man in varying capacities. Even if not explicitly stated, readers can infer a good deal from what is found on page in the character interactions or what is implied in the greater themes found in the story.
The women, however, are not the only victims of abuses perpetrated by men. Of the men we know of or meet, at least 3 were abused by their fathers as children in some capacity. What’s more, not only do we see that a number of — if not all of — the characters are suffering from childhood trauma related to emotional, mental, physical, and sexual abuse via paternal or legitimate father figures. Michaelides also makes it clear to readers that, in at least 2 cases, there was abuse — whether it be deliberate or unintentional may be debated — by their maternal figures as well. Every parental figure in the book is, by some measure, unfit to do their job.
This turns The Maidens into a story not only about a grief-stricken widow (with horrible boundaries, this reader thinks) dead set on proving the guilt of one man, but an in-depth investigation into the long term consequences of child abuse and the generational trauma as they relate to the characters in this story. The plot twist at the end calls this out —if not explicitly, almost nearly — and forces the reader to call into question everything they know about the cast of characters, their memories, and their reliability.
The last 40-or-so pages of the book left me considering who — or rather how — I could trust. Next to no one leaves the book unscathed. Michaelides wields grief, love, and memory expertly. In doing so, he shows us that each powerful emotion plays a pivotal role in the characters, often deluded, realities. Powerful emotions play just as much of a role in this story as murder, trauma, or Euripides.
I left this book feeling a number of contradictory emotions, while my more critical thoughts trickled in a bit later on. Many of those, I can’t fully explain without spoiling the whole story. What I can say is that I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about the ending at first, but when I went back through what I had read, it all perfectly lead back to the twist. I could see it clearly. The more I dig into it, the more I can say that this book is many things — thrilling, graphic, and genuinely disturbing to name a few — but it is all done extremely well and exactly as I think Michaelides intended.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Oh my God what was that ending?! So many things left unresolved. Ver frustrating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Murder