That’s not a negative by any means-in fact, for me, this story’s measured pacing served to deepen my understanding of its intricacies and made me all the more invested in its ultimate solution. THE MAIDENS is an undeniably slower-burning story than was The Silent Patient in his sophomore effort, Michaelides uses the book’s first 100 or so pages to set the scene, establish character and setting, and lay out the facts of this story’s complex central case. Approaching The Maidens and Fosca first with the eye of a professional (Mariana is a group therapist by trade), and slowly but surely spiraling into obsession, Mariana delves into the mysterious and sinister world of The Maidens, determined to prove Fosca’s guilt and stop a killer before he can strike again.Ĭomparisons to Michaelides’ wildly bestselling first novel The Silent Patient are unavoidable here, so let’s tackle them head-on. Police are quick to dismiss Zoe’s claims after all, what motivation could the revered Fosca have for the murder? But Mariana isn’t so convinced. The victim of this brutal attack was a member of a secret society known as “The Maidens,” a group of highly intelligent and mysterious young women who all study under that very same professor, the enigmatic Edward Fosca. Mariana rushes to Cambridge to be by Zoe’s side, and Zoe soon confides something shocking to Mariana: Zoe believes that one of her professors, a charismatic Greek tragedy professor, is the culprit behind her friend’s death.

Zoe is calling with unthinkable news: one of her classmates has just been found dead, the apparent victim of a brutal attack on campus.

Grieving widow Mariana Andros’ life is turned upside-down one evening when she receives a fateful call from her niece, Zoe, a student at Cambridge University. THE MAIDENS (CBTB Rating: 5/5 stars) tells an elegant and atmospheric story of secret societies and murder at a university. Alex Michaelides burst onto the crime fiction scene with his 2019 release The Silent Patient, and this summer, he’s back with another intricate mystery, this one similarly laced with Greek mythology and also featuring dark academia appeal.

The maidens by alex michaelides summary