Author: Alex Michaelides
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Publisher: Celadon Books
Format: Kindle ARC
No. of Pages: 320
No. of Pages: 320
Date of Publication: January 16, 2024
My Rating: 4 Stars
DESCRIPTION:
A masterfully paced thriller about a reclusive ex–movie star and her famous friends whose spontaneous trip to a private Greek island is upended by a murder ― from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Silent Patient.
This is a tale of murder.
Or maybe that’s not quite true. At its heart, it’s a love story, isn’t it?
Lana Farrar is a reclusive ex–movie star and one of the most famous women in the world. Every year, she invites her closest friends to escape the English weather and spend Easter on her idyllic private Greek island.
I tell you this because you may think you know this story. You probably read about it at the time ― it caused a real stir in the tabloids, if you remember. It had all the necessary ingredients for a press a celebrity; a private island cut off by the wind…and a murder.
We found ourselves trapped there overnight. Our old friendships concealed hatred and a desire for revenge. What followed was a game of cat and mouse ― a battle of wits, full of twists and turns, building to an unforgettable climax. The night ended in violence and death, as one of us was found murdered.
But who am I?
My name is Elliot Chase, and I’m going to tell you a story unlike any you’ve ever heard.
MY THOUGHTS:
"...the Aegean wind to menos, which means "the fury in English."
So, what is Alex Michaelides latest book, The Fury, about? There is the primary protagonist, Lana Farrar, a reclusive ex-movie star who invites a small party to spend Easter with her on a small Greek Island. They are are rather trapped due to the elements, and it is during this time that secrets. lies and revenge are slowly unraveled. As the story develops, there is the point of view of Elliot Chase, and how he tells this story in the most unusual of ways.
Having received a physical copy of this book from Celadon, I was eager to sit back in my recliner and read it. However, I took the chance that I might be approved for the Audiobook on NetGalley, which I am thankful that I was. It was excellently narrated by Alex Jennings, especially as the unseen character Elliot Chase delivered much of the story from his point of view.
As is quite often the case in any mystery/thriller, our characters in The Fury have secrets, deceit, lies and more that pop up just about on every page. This lends well to fabulous pacing. Factor in the many twists and turns in Alex Michaelides third book (The Silent Patient in 2019 and The Maidens in 2021), I definitely enjoyed it, albeit his first two books performed better for me.
A question that may come up is what does Elliot Chase have to do with Lana Farrar, and also, how does one of the seven guests who were invited to the island end up dead? Just like in his first two books, our Greek author mixes in a bit of Greek mythology, which lends itself no doubt to excellent research that works well to blend the past with the present.
With Elliot's form of narration, it was very easy to feel connected to the story, especially as the locked room trope was the premise. I truly enjoy books that have unreliable narrators and with only so many guests (on the island in this case), so everyone was suspect which left me guessing during much of the book.
Another reviewer compared the style of writing and storytelling to the Netflix movie The Glass Onion, and I definitely agree with that comparison, so I just had to include that thought in this review. Makes me want to re-watch both Knives Out and The Glass Onion.
I look forward to the next book Alex Michaelides writes and hope that I can continue to read his work for years to come. He is a gifted author and I am eager to watching his growth and development as he pens these thrillers for his readers.
Many thanks to Celadon Books and to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Alex Michaelides was born in Cyprus in 1977 to a Greek father and English mother. He studied English literature at Cambridge University and got his MA in screenwriting at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. He wrote the film The Devil You Know (2013) starring Rosamund Pike and co-wrote The Brits are Coming (2018), starring Uma Thurman, Tim Roth, Parker Posey and Sofia Vergara. THE SILENT PATIENT is his first novel.
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