Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

39 reviews

let_therebebooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

2.0

⭐️⭐️/5 

“It’s important to keep looking ahead. You mustn’t forever look back, over your shoulder. Think about the future.”

Y’all this book was WEIRD, and not in the good way. In the creepy, inappropriate way.

This book was slow at first and then it picked up in the middle, which doesn’t surprise me because I felt the same exact way with his previous novel, The Silent Patient. I will say, however, that it was clever how he connected the two books in a very minor and subtle way. Gold star for creativity! 

There were so many times I put this down and found 793 other things to do besides read it because I was bored. But I HAD to know how it ended and I was disappointed. 

I honestly don’t think I liked a single character. At. All. They all sucked. Also, it annoyed me that all these men suddenly are flocking to our main character. I always felt like there were characters introduced who didn’t need to be, and were kind of pointless. I did like the Greek mythology theme though, the author did a great job with that and it wasn’t too overwhelming. 

So many people RAVED about this book and loved it, so I was intrigued. Unfortunately, this being my second novel of his, I don’t think Alex Michaelides is the author for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Animal cruelty, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Toxic friendship and Toxic relationship

hsummers6's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Minor: Suicide

haleymckenna123's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

em_5460's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

One of the best thrillers I've ever read. Twist was incredible and not predictable at all. I thought I had it solved so many times, but I was way off, which just goes to show how great the twists are. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Blood, Self harm, Stalking, Animal death, Drug use, Suicide, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Alcohol

lexslittlelibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I want to love this book so much! Up until the very last plot twist I was captivated by everything within the text. Given how convinced Mariana was that Fosca was a murderer I went into this going “okay so not him” but time and time again I was a bit unsure. I think there was one potentially really good red herring thrown in but he was too easy to dismiss. Same with the other attempts made at a suspect. 

Henry could have been such a great suspect if he wasn’t clearly too far gone to write that kind of text /

It was too easy as a reader to look at the letters of confession and know who could not have written them. However the plot twist at the end did nothing feel entirely earned. It came out of left field without much to substantiate it and honestly made a lot of the emotion I invested in some of the characters feel a bit wasted? 

Overall, the side characters who could have been compelling fell flat. We didn’t see enough of Fosca and the Maidens (in my opinion) and the Maidens we did see were hard to get a feel for. 

The two introduced Maidens who died just felt like a toss up of ‘oh I know that name. Didn’t contribute to who was a suspect or give much emotion for the victims /

Overall, I want to love this book. And it’s fun enough — until the very end with the very last reveal. That’s where it lost me. Solid read but fell a hit short for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Death, Incest, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

mfrisk's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I can’t fully decide yet how I feel about this one but I’m going to try to capture my experience. I really enjoyed the world building, the character building, and the fast pacing due to the shorter chapters. Where I struggle is with the conclusion and the final reveal. I’d have to reread to see if it really makes sense but I’m not sure I feel the reveal was built enough into earlier details of the book. Which I guess could be intentional but the reveal seems overly reliant on the idea that our main character essentially didn’t see what was right in front of her within her relationship. It just seems a bit too neatly wrapped up and convenient. The prologue also could have gone a bit further as well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Death, Violence, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Car accident, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Body horror, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Self harm, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Suicide

meowkira's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Murder, and Suicide

mykes's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Incest, Alcohol, Body horror, Stalking, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual assault

ameliacollins's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Violence, Stalking, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Blood, Addiction, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual harassment, Sexual content, and Suicide

alomie's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I really enjoyed this whodunnit. I did not see the ending coming and it kept things interesting. 
Some of the "origin stories" were a bit harrowing, and it's not easy going in that respect, however, as we are trying to understand the motives of a serial killer it makes sense contextually. These messed up childhoods absolutely might create a serial killer. 
Kept me guessing right to the end and was actually quite gripping. 
Found this to be a slow start but really picked up in the third act and personally I could have done with a bit more pace, potentially this is an audio-book issue rather than a book issue. I liked it overall but I don't think I would go back to it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Warning Re the Dog

The dad kills the lovely dog, it's really horrid.