um.. what was that ending..?

i actually feel kinda bad saying this, because the author himself mentioned that writing The Maidens (his second book) was different than writing The Silent Patient (his debut). unlike The Maidens, Alex Michaelides had no audience to please and expectation to meet for TSP. and i completely understand that. so just to be clear, my review is objectively on The Maidens on its own (as much as i could) and not comparative to his debut.

The Maidens follows Mariana, a group therapist, with a grief of her own that she carries with her, who is set to unravel the mystery behind the tragic death of a close friend of Mariana’s beloved niece, Zoe. as the murder took place in Cambridge, and Mariana herself being Cambridge alumni, she is fixated in discovering the truth behind the mystery, especially when Zoe seems to know who the killer is.

firstly, the thought-provoking discussions about family institutions are my favourite one. it’s eye-opening, how an environment as small as, and as early as a family instutition and upbringing could impact and pave the way of one’s decisions and life. i’ve always enjoyed this kind of discussion in book.

i’m also a fan of alex michaelides’s writing; the way he approaches a situation or expresses an emotion allows me to get a grasp on the topics, often he does it in a beautiful and reflective way.

honestly, the pace for The Maidens was painfully slow. but considering that it’s a psychological thriller—in which authors usually had to instil the necessary emotions in the readers’ mind from the very beginning—i still gave it a go and continued.

the plot was a bit messy here and there, so i was expecting the ending to be a conclusion that oh, everything makes sense now, but it wasn’t what i expected.

it’s as if the plot twist moved entirely away from the whole plot of the book..? like if you take only the beginning and the ending and put them in any other thriller books where a dead body was found, you could literally get the same outcome. i understand how the author might’ve intended it to be like a red herring kind of twist, but the supposed twist in this book doesn’t really do it for me. it feels as though it’s disconnected from the whole plot of the book.

not to mention that i also think this book could’ve been shorter in a way. nonetheless, a part of me feels like it was the execution of the ending that didn’t go well; that if the same concept was to be executed in a different way, it might’ve worked out better.

some scenes that didn’t sit right with me are when Mariana was

kissed by Fosca and Fred, both without her consent, yes it angered her at the moment but apparently she just brushed it off and continued meeting them for the plot as if nothing ever happened

, and nothing was addressed about the issue.

you might enjoy The Maidens if you love Greek mythology. you don’t need to have prior knowledge about it (i didn’t at all and it’s still fine) but i guess you might enjoy it better if you did know some of the Greek mythology in the book.

p/s: i love reading the

cameo from TSP

, which honestly.. the author GOT me there!! i spent an additional time reading because i was flipping over the pages

of my TSP copy ahahaha because i was 80% convinced that the characters from these two books could possibly be related?

i was wrong though, but this didn’t affect my review or rating on this book, i just think that’s interesting to see

some character crossover.