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The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

Thriller

The Maidens

Repeat author

Alex Michaelides is back at Book of the Month – other BOTMs include The Fury and The Silent Patient.

by Alex Michaelides

Excellent choice

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Quick take

From the author of The Silent Patient, a gripping tale of murder, myth, and the horror lurking beneath the ivory tower.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Multiple_Viewpoints

    Multiple viewpoints

  • Illustrated icon, Creepy

    Creepy

  • Illustrated icon, Murder

    Murder

  • Illustrated icon, Academic

    Academic

Synopsis

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, Mariana’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.

Free sample

Get an early look from the first pages of The Maidens.

The Maidens

Prologue

Edward Fosca was a murderer.

This was a fact. This wasn’t something Mariana knew just on an intellectual level, as an idea. Her body knew it. She felt it in her bones, along her blood, and deep within every cell.

Edward Fosca was guilty.

And yet—she couldn’t prove it, and might never prove it. This man, this monster, who had killed at least two people, might, in all likelihood, walk free.

He was so smug, so sure of himself. He thinks he’s got away with it, she thought. He thought he had won.

But he hadn’t. Not yet.

Mariana was determined to outsmart him. She had to.

She would sit up all night and remember everything that had happened. She would sit here, in this small, dark room in Cambridge, and think, and work it out. She stared at the red bar of the electric heater on the wall, burning, glowing in the dark, willing herself into a kind of trance.

In her mind, she would go back to the very beginning and remember it all. Every single detail.

And she would catch him.

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Why I love it

If you’ve read The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides’s breakout debut thriller, it will come as no surprise that the author is also a screenwriter. Like his previous book, The Maidens is wildly cinematic and you can TOTALLY imagine it playing out on the big screen. This book is so atmospheric that I really believe it should come wrapped in ivy and scented like the antique books in a Cambridge library—or perhaps with a salty waft of the Aegean.

Our heroine Mariana is a grieving widow and group therapist who cares deeply for her niece, Zoe. So when one of Zoe’s friends is murdered, Mariana travels to Cambridge to support her—and to prove the guilt of Edward Fosca, the enigmatic professor who seems to have captured the admiration of everyone but Mariana. She’s also determined to uncover what’s really going on with his cultish student followers who call themselves The Maidens.

While we’re still largely stuck at home and unable to travel I found that this wonderful read more than sated some of my wanderlust. And this is one of the things that sets Alex Michaelides’s writing apart from lesser thrillers: yes, there’s the twisty, compulsive, page-turner appeal, the cleverly placed red herrings and the ‘what the hell just happened’ moments, but also a wonderful sense of place and a rich depth of character. I cared hugely for our grieving heroine Mariana and her niece Zoe. I was fascinated by the mysterious Maidens and by their enigmatic leader, the deliciously byronic Edward Fosca with his sweeping dark cloak and long locks. I came away from reading this feeling richly sated and as though I had had my breath snatched from me by the thrilling roller coaster ride of the plot. And I have to say that while I hugely enjoyed Alex’s debut, I think this one might just clinch it for me.

Reader, you’re in for a glorious gothic treat.

Other books by Alex Michaelides

Member ratings (51,344)

Thriller
The Boyfriend
The Last One at the Wedding
Sleep Tight
First Lie Wins
House of Glass
Middle of the Night
Listen for the Lie
A Talent for Murder
Someone in the Attic
One Perfect Couple
Like Mother, Like Daughter
Darling Girls
Kill for Me, Kill for You
Bad Tourists
Murder Road
Daughter of Mine
The Fury
Only if You’re Lucky
The Other Mothers
When I’m Dead
The Soulmate
What Lies in the Woods
She Started It
The Only One Left
Dark Corners
Blacktop Wasteland
All the Dangerous Things
The Only Survivors
The Broken Girls
The Family Game
The Push
We Were Never Here
Things We Do in the Dark
The Golden Couple
The Collective
The Stranger Upstairs
Gone Tonight
Too Good to Be True
The Last Word
You Are Not Alone
Rock Paper Scissors
Not a Happy Family
A Flicker in the Dark
The Last Flight
Reckless Girls
The House Across the Lake
The Wife Upstairs
The Last Thing He Told Me
The Maidens
Everything We Didn't Say
Invisible Girl
The Paris Apartment
You're Invited
The Last Party
Dark Places
Pieces of Her
The Wife Between Us
Sharp Objects
None of This Is True
The Silent Patient
The Winter Sister
The Other Woman
Necessary People
The Family Upstairs
The Night Swim
Girl A
The Hunting Wives
Just Another Missing Person
First Born
The Lies I Tell
Breathless
Thriller
View all
The Boyfriend
The Last One at the Wedding
Sleep Tight
First Lie Wins
House of Glass
Middle of the Night
Listen for the Lie
A Talent for Murder
Someone in the Attic
One Perfect Couple
Like Mother, Like Daughter
Darling Girls
Kill for Me, Kill for You
Bad Tourists
Murder Road
Daughter of Mine
The Fury
Only if You’re Lucky
The Other Mothers
When I’m Dead
The Soulmate
What Lies in the Woods
She Started It
The Only One Left
Dark Corners
Blacktop Wasteland
All the Dangerous Things
The Only Survivors
The Broken Girls
The Family Game
The Push
We Were Never Here
Things We Do in the Dark
The Golden Couple
The Collective
The Stranger Upstairs
Gone Tonight
Too Good to Be True
The Last Word
You Are Not Alone
Rock Paper Scissors
Not a Happy Family
A Flicker in the Dark
The Last Flight
Reckless Girls
The House Across the Lake
The Wife Upstairs
The Last Thing He Told Me
The Maidens
Everything We Didn't Say
Invisible Girl
The Paris Apartment
You're Invited
The Last Party
Dark Places
Pieces of Her
The Wife Between Us
Sharp Objects
None of This Is True
The Silent Patient
The Winter Sister
The Other Woman
Necessary People
The Family Upstairs
The Night Swim
Girl A
The Hunting Wives
Just Another Missing Person
First Born
The Lies I Tell
Breathless