I've had this book on my TBR list since it came out, but I kept putting it off until now. Maybe because I was such a huge fan of The Silent Patient, and I didn't think this could be anywhere near on the same level.
Boy, was I wrong!
"Let me tell you something—this is what those old Greek plays are about. What it means to be human. What it means to be alive. And if you miss that when you read them—if all you see is a bunch of dead words—then you're missing the whole damn thing. I don't just mean in the plays—I mean in your lives, right now. If you're not aware of the transcendent, if you're not awake to the glorious mystery of life and death that you're lucky enough to be a part of—if that doesn't fill you with joy and strike you with awe... you might as well not be alive."
Mariana seems to have it all: a successful therapist living in a picturesque yellow house in London. Though she is still mourning the death of her husband, Sebastian, she finds comfort in helping her patients. Perhaps by helping them heal, she can also help herself.
Her world is turned upside down when she receives a call from her niece, Zoe, who is currently studying at Cambridge University.
Zoe, Mariana, and Sebastian had always been close, and after Sebastian's death and the death of both of Zoe's parents, all Mariana and Zoe have left is each other.
This is why Mariana drops everything to head to Cambridge when Zoe tells her the news: Her best friend, Tara, has been murdered.
“That was the horror of it. We all secretly hope that tragedy will only ever happen to other people... sooner or later, it happens to you.”
After arriving in Cambridge, Mariana begins to learn more about Tara's life (and death) at the college. All circumstances seem to point to her boyfriend, Conrad, as many witnesses had reported seeing them have arguments that could have easily escalated to violence.
Zoe, however, insists that Conrad is innocent. Tara had come to Zoe's room the night before, terrified, claiming that someone had threatened to kill her.
Not Conrad, but a professor at the college named Edward Fosca.
Naturally, Fosca is questioned, but is found to have an alibi for the time of the murder. Several of his students were able to confirm that he was with them all evening, teaching a private lesson on the Greek tragedies.
“No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.”
Despite his alibi, Mariana can't help but suspect Fosca is Tara's killer. Zoe is clearly afraid of him, and Mariana gets the feeling that Zoe isn't telling her everything.
She decides to do her own investigation, especially into Fosca's private group of elite students known as the Maidens, of which Tara was a member.
Mariana only becomes more confident in this theory when two more of the Maidens are found dead, each more brutally stabbed than the last. Found in each of their belongings was a postcard depicting a scene from a Greek tragedy, with a Greek quotation on the back that seems to describe their deaths.
Naturally, all signs seem to point to Fosca, even though the investigators have cleared him, ordered Mariana to leave the campus, and threatened to have her arrested for harassing the professor.
When Zoe is next to receive a postcard, Mariana knows she has to act fast to catch Fosca and prove that she was right all along—or was she?
“There was a word for this moment in Greek tragedy: anagnorisis—recognition—the moment the hero finally sees the truth and understands his fate—and how it’s always been there, the whole time, in front of him. Mariana used to wonder what that moment felt like. Now she knew.”
No matter who you think the killer is, you're wrong. I audibly gasped! Michaelides knows how to throw the perfect curveball, and I love him for it.
My only complaint, and a very mild spoiler alert, is that the first few chapters spent a lot of time focusing on a character who had very little to do with the rest of the story. It just felt unnecessary, and it made it hard for me to get into it at first. However, I'm glad I kept going because this shaped up to be an incredible read.
As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Have you read any of Alex Michaelides' work?
Would you like to, based on this review?
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'•.¸♡ Thanks for reading! ♡¸.•'