The Fury
Alex Michaelides
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.
Lana seems sweet, I feel so bad for her - everyone else sucks ☹️ I am finding myself skimming this a bit though, the descriptions and little details feel so irrelevant. Here's hoping I'm not skimming past the clues, whoops
0Breaking the fourth wall in the prologue, okay okay I liked the silent patient (wasn’t blown away) and soft-dnf’d the maidens, so not expecting to love this. I just can’t help picking up a popular book I see everywhere - gotta check it off the list 😭
1Your rating:
Felt like a less well executed iteration of a Knives Out movie...guessed the twist and found the characters all so one-note and unlikeable.
0In classic Alex Michaelides fashion, the plot had so much potential but the execution was so bad I couldn’t enjoy it 😭 there’s something about the on the nose, in your face writing style that doesn’t work for me. But I gotta hand it to him - I needed to know what happened in this story, even if it meant skimming till the end. This ended up being very meta (a story about storytelling, breaking the fourth wall, characters and plot getting away from the writer) - I thought it was interesting and a unique touch to an otherwise straightforward thriller
1This book read like a movie, albeit one with with an unreliable narrator, skipping back and forth through timelines. I could picture sunny Greek beaches with clear blue seas, rainy London afternoons, and the old Hollywood feel of Lana's home. We're introduced to the narrator, Elliot Chase, who welcomes us in like an old friend, sitting at the bar having a drink and sharing his story.
While I didn't find it fast-paced like most thrillers, Alex Michaelides' writing is solid as always. I really enjoyed The Silent Patient, The Maidens less so, and this one the least. Just like with The Maidens, The Fury has a strong sense of setting and overall vibe.
The last 3/4 of the book really pick up in pace and reveal where Elliot has been faithful to the truth and where he has not. This is where things fell apart for me, as there were a lot of twists and turns that I didn't feel were totally plausible and I had a tough time following a few. Michaelides is great at a creative twist, and that's the case here as well. I didn't love Elliot's frequent interjections at this part of the story because they kept interrupting the flow of the book and reveals, making them really forgettable.
Overall, this was an okay read. Michaelides is one of the few thriller authors I enjoy, but I find myself less drawn to the genre these days.
2.5 stars
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