I cannot lie, I like a dark and twisty tale. Having read The Maidens, a previous novel by this author, I was willing to give this one a go. So glad I did! This one is much more well developed than The Maidens, which I found a little predictable. The Fury is like Agatha Christie meets Gone Girl on a Greek island.
Our narrator, Elliot, tells us right from the beginning that he is unreliable. In the prologue, and if you are a writer wondering about prologues, this one works, he breaks the fourth wall and invites the reader in to be a part of the tale. Enjoy the ride in this literary locked room mystery/thriller right through to the last page.
The story is structured like a five act play, as Elliot is a playwright. (ASIDE: Several books I have recently read are structured like this, so I am wondering whether it is a trend.) In each act, the reader is drawn deeper into the complicated lives of our star, an Actress, her husband, her best friend, her son, and her “sidekick” and our narrator.
The murder doesn’t happen by page twenty, so this definitely steps outside genre expectations. When it does happen, there are plenty of motives to go around. But just as in any good thriller, there are also plenty of twists. Look sharp, and you might see the big reveal coming, but even if you do, it is supremely satisfying.
Michaelides plays with ideas from Greek myths, tropes from popular fiction, and respects the reader—no overexplaining here.
If you love a thriller that expects a little more out of you than turning the pages, pick this up, you won’t regret it.
Find out more here: https://www.alexmichaelides.com/the-fury