I've been a huge fan of Michaelides and his work ever since The Silent Patient, and his second book The Maidens was just as good. Somehow, I missed the memo that he was writing a third book until after it was released, and honestly, I'm glad I didn't spend too long waiting for it. While I enjoyed the overall story, this one missed the mark for me in several ways.
"Thanks to Agatha Christie, we all know how this kind of story is meant to play out: a baffling crime, followed by a dogged investigation, an ingenious solution—then, if you're lucky, a twist in the tale. But this is a true story, not a work of fiction. It's about real people, in a real place. If anything, it's a whydunit—a character study, an examination of who we are; and why we do the things we do."
One thing is made clear from the very beginning: this is a tale of murder. A very famous murder, it turns out, as one of the people involved was Lana Farrar, an incredibly famous movie star.
However, our narrator, Elliot Chase promises that we've never heard the real story—until now.
Elliot is a successful playwright, which is how he first came to know Lana. The two quickly became inseparable, and have been the closest of friends ever since.
Chaos ensues when Lana, Elliot, and five other friends travel to Lana's private island for an Easter getaway. Seven people entered the island, but only six walked away. We aren't sure who was killed, or who killed them, or why, but Elliot promises to tell all. He insists that he will present us with the "plain, unvarnished truth—or as near to it as I can get," but as the story progresses, we realize that Elliot's version of the story may not be entirely accurate. Presented in several Acts, is this just another of his cleverly written plays?
“We are all unreliable narrators of our own lives.”
I wanted to love this, and in some ways, I did. The story itself was fascinating, and I loved the setting: a private, possibly somewhat cursed Greek island.
I also like that all of his books seem to take place in the same universe. Theo from Silent Patient and Mariana from Maidens both make small appearances in The Fury, which I thought was really neat.
Michaelides is known for his insane, out of left field twists, so I fully expected that going in. In fact, the amount of twists makes it really hard to describe much of the plot without giving away major spoilers, so please forgive me for how brief my synposis is. There's a reason, I promise!
The way the twists were presented is what annoyed me. During each Act and chapter, Elliot provides new information that he had previously been withholding—basically, a constant bombardment of things that he conveniently forgot to mention, or something he hadn't been entirely truthful about, each of which completely changes the course of the story. I enjoy an unreliable narrator as much as anyone else, but I feel like this was excessive. I found myself too annoyed with the storytelling to enjoy the story that was being told.
The characters also seemed extremely two-dimensional and none were particularly likeable, although that may have been the point.
In conclusion, I don't feel like this is anywhere near the same level as The Silent Patient or The Maidens. However, you might feel differently! Just because this wasn't my vibe doesn't mean it won't be yours, and I think anyone into theater, the Greek tragedies, or both, might enjoy this more than I did.
If you've read it, or if you decide to, please let me know so we can discuss! I have a Discord server for exactly that, and I'd love to hear from you.
'•.¸♡ Thanks for reading! ♡¸.•'