A review by taylorpg
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

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

3.0

The Maidens is a book about loss and lack of control. Our main character is a group Psychotherapist currently recovering from the tragic death of her husband. She receives a call from her niece/adopted daughter in Cambridge saying a student has been killed. Mariana decides to visit and that’s where our story begins.

The book was giving “I listen to a crime podcast so I know what I’m an expert” except our main character is a psychologist so she thinks she knows how murderers think. Although it is communicated with her many time to stay out of it she takes it upon herself to get involved and solve the murders.

There’s a very interesting yet obvious dialogue around death and how fate pulls her strings and gives us no control over it.

Overall I thought it was good for a semi-quick read, the audio book is only 9 hours long so it’s on the shorter end. But I really didn’t think it got too interesting until the last 30 minutes. The twist was good but there wasn’t really any suspense throughout the rest of the book. The red herrings were unnecessary and didn’t blend into the story as well as they could have.
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