Book Reviews: The Fury by Alex Michaelides

Rating: 4.5⭐️

“There were seven of us in all, trapped on the island.

One of us was a murderer.”

When former Hollywood movie star Lana Farrar invites her friends to join her on Aura, the idyllic small Greek island gifted to her by her late first husband, for an Easter weekend getaway with her family, little does she know that one of the seven would not leave the island alive.

Who was murdered and why? One of Lana’s guests, Elliot, a dramatist by profession, takes us through the events that transpired over that fateful weekend and that led to the murder in question. Through Elliot we get to know more about Lana and the others on the island - Kate, theater actor and Lana’s and Elliot’s friend; Leo, Lana’s seventeen-year-old son who wishes to pursue an acting career despite his mother’s disapproval; Lana’s second husband Jason who doesn’t seem too fond of the other guests; Lana’s housekeeper and confidante Agathi and the caretaker of island, Nikos both of whom have been in Lana’s employ for a long time. Beneath the friendship and camaraderie, there seems to be much tension, unrequited feelings, lies and resentment and it becomes evident that there was no lack of motive to turn on one another.

Elliot tries to be a “reliable” narrator of events, but as he so rightly observes,

“We are all the unreliable narrators of our own lives.”

Named after the Greek goddess of the breeze and the morning air, the island is rumored to be haunted and the locals believe that stepping foot on the island brings bad luck. The ferocity of the winds – “to meno” - “the Fury” in the region often makes it difficult to travel across the Aegean waters, trapping the visitors on the island with a murderer in their midst.

With an interesting cast of characters and a skillfully structured narrative, The Fury by Alex Michaelides is an atmospheric and suspenseful page-turner. I loved the setting and thoroughly enjoyed the intricately plotted Agatha Christie-ish murder mystery with more than a few twists! The author seamlessly weaves past and present events into a skillfully crafted narrative divided into five parts or “Acts”. The narrative, presented from Elliot’s first-person PoV, kept me engaged and entertained until the very last page.

Though The Silent Patient remains my favorite of all three of Alex Michaelides’ novels, I found The Fury to be a very satisfying read!

I have a feeling that with the right narrator, this would be PHENOMENAL in audiobook format!

Many thanks to the Celadon Readers Program for inviting me to be an early reader. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. The Fury is scheduled to be released on January 16, 2024.