Book Review: The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

 

The Maidens

Author: Alex Michaelides

Publisher: Celadon Books

Date of Publication: June 15, 2021

Pages: 352

     The Maidens is book number 2 for this author following his wildly successful The Silent Patient.  This book has a different premise and setting but lots of the same psychological backdrop.  The main character is Mariana Andros, a young but recently widowed group therapist from London.  She rushes to Cambridge to be with her niece whose classmate has just been murdered.  She decides to stick around to continue comforting and counseling her niece and try lending the police a hand in solving the murder.  Potential suspects are introduced on almost every page.  First there is the creepy guy on the train who stalks Mariana, then a misogynistic but charismatic literature professor, the victim's boyfriend who happens to have a criminal record and deals drugs, and a quiet but suspicious custodian.  One by one more young girls are killed.  These victims are stereotypical privileged elite class young women.   Like the first girl, each new victim belongs to a select study group led by the literature professor.  Mariana becomes more involved and feels the wrath from both the police, who feel their toes are being stepped on, as well as from suspects who feel wrongfully accused.

    There is a lot of great character development here, much like in The Silent Patient.  The psychological histories of many of the characters are similar: distant and/or abusive fathers who these characters are either trying to escape from or live up to.  There are a lot of "daddy issues" in this novel.  The setting is like another character, with detailed renderings of the Cambridge campus.  The plot is where this novel falls a bit short, though, in my opinion.  The story tends to drag as Mariana has dinner at the professor's home or drinks in various college bars with other characters.  The ending is wrapped up nicely with a twist that I did not see coming, although in retrospect, I should have.

     All in all, this is an entertaining read with a great setting.  For me, the plot could have used a faster pace with a little less psychology.