The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
Edward Fosca is a murderer. Of this Mariana is certain. But Fosca is untouchable. A handsome and charismatic Greek tragedy professor at Cambridge University, Fosca is adored by staff and students alike - particularly by the members of a secret society of female students known as the Maidens.
Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on the Maidens when one member, a friend of Mariana’s niece Zoe, is found murdered in Cambridge.
Mariana, who was once herself a student at the university, quickly suspects that behind the idyllic beauty of the spires and turrets, and beneath the ancient traditions, lies something sinister. And she becomes convinced that, despite his alibi, Edward Fosca is guilty of the murder. But why would the professor target one of his students? and why does he keep returning to the rites of Persephone, the maiden, and her journey to the underworld?
When another body is found, Marian’s obsession with proving Fosca’s guilt spirals out of control, threatening to destroy her credibility as well as her closest relationships. But Mariana is determined to stop this killer, even if it costs her everything - including her own life.
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I’m not exactly sure what I thought about this book, but I know that I enjoyed it. I went into it expecting dark academia with some Greek mythology/classics thrown in with some gruesome murder sprinkled on top. It wasn’t at all what I expected. I’d definitely say, don’t expect this to be Dark Academia as it wasn’t even close, however it was a good psychological thriller. I say thriller loosely as it was a lot more psychological than it was a real nail-biter but I think that’s what kept me hooked. I needed to know how this would all resolve and it really messed with my head a bit. It was a pretty good read, it kept me hooked, and I loved the “resolution”. I still have soooo many questions so this author better write a follow-up.
I want to start with a few of things I had issues with, and then end on a high note. First of all, it makes zero sense that the psychotherapist aunt of a random student should have anything whatsoever to do with a murder investigation that doesn’t involve her. Biggest plot hole is the point of the plot! Now that that’s out of the way, I still really loved all the coincidences in Mariana’s life that led her onto this “quest” for truth. It also wasn’t a super fast-paced thriller, I knew the “whodunnit” pretty early on but it was still SUCH A TWIST in the build up and I think the ending really saved the book for me.
In terms of character development, it didn’t really feel like there was any. Mariana is struggling through loss in her life but she doesn’t change much and the entire supporting cast felt pretty one dimensional. Zoe had no depth and seeing as she’s the whole reason Mariana came to Cambridge, it’s strange how little her character or their relationship is really explored. And our big bad guy, Edward Fosca, didn’t nearly have enough page time. Whether he’s the perpetrator or not, we didn’t get to explore him enough to form our own opinions on him as a character and just had to trust the feelings Mariana had on the subject and that took away some of the intrigue. I’m a sucker for great character development so this fell pretty short for me. I feel like with proper character exploration this would have been a five star read for me.
I absolutely loved the setting, having a gruesome murder based on ancient rites take place at such an old institution like Cambridge was fantastic and had me hooked from the start. I also really enjoyed the spiritual aspect to it, the beliefs of our characters in the divine and the exploration into Greek tragedy and how classic rituals have played a big part in many famous stories was intriguing and had me turning back to a lot of my mythology texts to find out more. I could read a whole other book just about some of the studies discussed in Fosca’s private study group (actually, can I put in a request for a real Dark Academia book just based on that?). There were a lot of red herrings too which typically doesn’t impress me but each little subplot branching off still had me intrigued so I guess it worked. These fake-outs definitely still left me with a lot of questions but I feel like some of them may have been nods to this authors other book so I’m thinking I’m going to have to pick up that one next to fully understand what’s going on. Really enjoyed the writing style, I just wish the characters were a bit more intriguing.
Overall, I enjoyed it. It wasn’t what I expected and I’m not sure it even became what it was meant to be but it was still intriguing and had some great surprises throughout. If you’re into the psychological books, this one will play with your head a bit. I gave it 3.5 stars.