“We are all unreliable narrators of our own lives.”
Here at What We Reading, we’ve become big fans of Alex Michaelides’ books. Through The Silent Patient and The Maidens, he’s established himself as one of the most successful thriller novelists on the planet, and we love how he blends academia, psychology and the classics into his work. Michaelides’ stories also feature compelling fake narrators and some of the most jaw-dropping twists we’ve ever read; which is why his latest book, The Fury, was one of our most anticipated novels of 2024. This murder mystery set on a luxurious private Greek island promised to be a homage to the classic Agatha Christie tales of old with all the flavours we’ve come to expect from Michaelides. But, did it live up to the hype of The Silent Patient and deliver the goods when it comes to thrills and spills? Join us today for our The Fury book review to find out!
Date Published: 2024
Author: Alex Michaelides
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 298
Goodreads Rating: 3.38/5
Premise
The Fury centres around Elliot Chase, a playwright who serves as the story’s narrator. Through Elliot, readers are walked through a trip to an idyllic Greek island named Aura made by seven friends. The island is owned by Lana Farrar, a glamorous Hollywood movie star, however, it isn’t long before jealousy, resentment, secrets, lies and betrayals soon emerge between the group. And, as the weather worsens and threatens to cut them off from the mainland, tensions escalate to the point where, merely thirty-six hours after arriving, one of them will be found dead.
What Worked
Off the bat, the highlight of The Fury is undoubtedly Elliot. As a protagonist, he is incredibly similar to Theo from The Silent Patient, there’s something so incredibly distinctive about the way in which Michaelides writes his characters that we can’t help but adore. Parts of the story are told from the third person, whereas others are straight from Elliot’s perspective. The sequences told from Elliot’s lens are easily the better of the two and give The Fury its own feel. Without them, this would a very formulaic murder mystery type of story.
Elliot is very conversational with the readers, explaining himself how the entire story is being told as if he and the reader were conversing in a bar. There’s a lot of intentional hoodwinking and skipping over important details and reveals, which some audiences might find frustrating. However, like Theo, there’s something so enigmatic about Elliot that makes it all so compelling for us. Elliot definitely garners sympathy from the reader; however, you’re always aware that you cannot fully trust him, or even feel at ease with his actions and motivations being on the right side of the moral compass. He’s complex, dazzling and delivers the story with the sort of theatrics one would expect from a character like him.
One of the other solid parts of The Fury is the location. Rather than feeling like a lighthearted escapist beach read, Lana’s private island feels like the perfect place for a ‘And Then There Were None’ type of whodunnit. Aura is creepy, the weather suitably atmospheric and it provides more than a few opportunities for Michaelides to throw in the sorts of artsy, academic and mythological references anyone familiar with his work would come to expect.
We know this might not be to everyone’s liking but, like in The Maidens, we do like how Michaelides weaves in certain references to his previous books. It doesn’t take away from The Fury, they’re not important to the plot whatsoever, but it is a nice nod for us who have read his other books and who are away of this ‘Silent Patient universe’.
What Didn’t
For as good as The Fury is, there are a few aspects that certain readers aren’t going to resonate with. As mentioned, Elliot’s narration is fairly conversational at times and there are more than a few fourth wall breaks and cheeky skip-overs that he intentionally drags readers through. For those who don’t enjoy that sort of style of writing, this probably isn’t for you.
The pacing of the book is also another point where readers may feel slightly frustrated. It takes a while for the main storyline to really kick into life; and, when it does, things are delivered at break-neck speed. For us, The Fury would have benefitted from more time being spent on the island with the characters having more interactions with each other and really selling themselves as potential suspects.
Whilst Elliot is exceptional as a layered and complex character, the rest sadly don’t live up to the same level. The majority of them are fairly one-dimensional and fit into the sorts of archetypes any thriller reader would have experienced time and time again.
Finally, when a book explicitly promises a jaw-dropping incredible final twist, it needs to deliver one. Unfortunately for us, The Fury doesn’t quite deliver on this. A number of hefty twists are revealed quick soon after one another, which does tend to water down the impact they have.
Check Out These The Fury Book Questions
Verdict
It can sometimes feel unfair constantly judging an author against the bestselling, heavily acclaimed debut. And we are really keen to judge The Fury on its own merits, rather than just against The Silent Patient. However, there are so many similarities between the two that certain comparisons are inevitable. From the protagonist to the twist, this book feels like a true return to what makes Alex Michaelides such a recognisable talent in the thriller genre. But, full transparency here, The Fury is some ways off The Silent Patient in terms of its punch.
With that home truth out of the way, we can go back to what we really think of it as a book.
A few of the twists and reveals lack the jaw-dropping effect of other thrillers, most of the characters are frustratingly one-dimensional and some readers may be put off by the style of narration.
However, for those who are looking for a gripping and addictive page-turning psychological thriller, The Fury more than delivers the goods. As mentioned, this story feels much more like Michaelides is back in his flow. We positively devoured the story and, in Elliot, we may have found one of the most compelling and complex main characters we have ever read. For that reason alone, Michaelides’ latest book is more than worth a shot in our eyes.
Our Rating: 4/5
Check Out Every Alex Michaelides Book In Order
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
