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Famous movie star, island murder mystery, yada-yada. Meh. For one, this cover is awful. The Silent Patient was better. I actually kind of liked the unique narration, but it was a bit all over the place. Could have been executed better. 3/5 stars

OK, I am going to have to Google the ending on this one because my husband kept talking to me while I was trying to read the last part of the book & I feel like I completely missed something. Book was just ok to me. I am over the people trapped on an island with a murder, but this one was a little different & did a little more character building than focus on the murder but still the ending is something that I gotta read up more on to understand.

I had to start this book a few times to get into it and I‘m glad I did. It was a different approach and I enjoyed the story. A murder mystery of sorts with the narrator being one of the main characters. Worth a read.

#hauntedshelf #flerken #bookrecommendation #mysterious #gottacatchemall #vengeful

#hauntedshelf #flerken #wordsearch #read #night @PuddleJumper

July 2024 Book #6

This book has low rating I‘m GR but it worked for me. Even when I suspected the ending, who did it, I still liked the story because it was character driven, not much plot, it was how characters were developed and the interaction between them with an unreliable narrator. As many character driven novels, it was a slow pace reading. 3.75/3.8⭐️I can‘t say much without spoil the story, it is a short novel

I‘ve seen lots of negative reviews for this one, but I thought it was entertaining. Over the top, yes, but in a good way. It‘s told in the classic Agatha Christie unreliable narrator style, which I liked. And so many twists!

#bookspinbingo - free space

I liked this book and the unreliable narrator! It is very character driven, I wish there was more weather though 😅. It also has a satisfyingly messy ending!

Another long hold just came in!

#audiobooks #Libby

Next up

This definitely didn't live up to the hype. It was twisty and the unreliable narrator (not a spoiler, it's pretty transparent) was interesting, but it was really just ok!

#BookHaul #BookMail

Added some new titles to my (95% TBR) to my shelves last week🥳🤗 I decided to splurge a little bit😝because it‘s been a fantastic reading year so far! I‘ve cleared so many books from my shelves (33+) & I haven‘t bought more than 10-15 new ones. I‘ve spent some time re-evaluating what‘s on my shelves. I‘ve reduced some double rows & things look a bit🤏🏻less chaotic🤗 🥂to so much more reading!

Seven friends gather on an idyllic Greek island.
Among them , a playwright and an actress, her second husband, and their wayward son. There's jealousy,betrayal, unrequited love, a handful of secrets, and too many lies.
36 hours later, after they arrive ,one of them is dead....
There are too many twists in this book for me to appreciate and enjoy, plus I did not like a single character in this story.

This is a page turner, with an unreliable narrator walking the reader through his twisty storytelling. While the plot is not fully unpredictable, the novel still keeps you hooked until the end.
A famous retired cinema star invites her closest friends for a short vacation to her private Greek island where things go awry.

My #BookClub meets tomorrow to discuss this one and I‘m definitely curious to see what everyone else thought of it! Though fast-paced, I found the plot predictable and wished there was more to the narrator‘s development to better balance him out, bringing him more authentically to life. I do enjoy a locked room mystery but there wasn‘t much of a surprise here… I enjoyed the remote island setting & while I disliked the characters, I was hooked!

7-10-24: My 22nd finished book of 2024! The Fury starts off with a singular narrator telling the story of the love of his life and how things unraveled through a series of events he tries to control. After learning of a treachery, Lana, a retired famous movie star, invites her closest friends to her island in Greece. As our narrator becomes more unreliable we learn through many twists that things are not what they seem. ⭐️⭐️⭐️📖#️⃣2️⃣2️⃣

I enjoyed this book. I didn‘t feel like it was as disturbing at the end as The Maidens, by I can now see that his writing style is layering twist at the end. Which I do enjoy. Some were obvious to me others were a complete surprise. He does make you question everyone and what is it that he‘s hiding. He also showed in both books the two sides of childhood trauma playing out. I also continue to love that it has a backdrop of Greece and its myths.

I loved the way this was structured! You feel like you‘re having a conversation with a friend, with them confessing to a wild weekend and trying to bring you over to their side of the situation. But talk about an unreliable narrator! I couldn‘t have figured out where this was going if I tried my hardest! So fun and I definitely recommend the audiobook. 🌟🌟🌟🌟

A retired star invites a select group to her private Greek island, where a murder tears them apart. This was an entertaining read but the narrator telegraphed his unreliability in ways that made the repeated reveals feel tired. It may just be that it suffers from comparison to The Silent Patient, a book I could hardly put down--this one was much less compulsively readable, at least to me. It could make a good movie, though or the next White Lotus.

I read this for book club back in early March. After discussing it there I made my review lower. There really weren‘t enough characters for a locked room mystery. And there was discussion of the twist being that there is no twist and how it plays out the way you think it would. While I loved The Silent Patient, it seems like Michaelides‘ books are on a downhill trajectory from there. I‘d get this one from the library if you want to read this one.

Another great one! 🧿

I enjoyed this one though I had the first big surprise figured out well before it was revealed. The rest of them that followed snuck up on me however! A good story with nods to age old classics like Christie, and certainly worth the time. Not my favorite read, but an all around fun whodunnit/whydunnit.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

My neighbor's doormat and my #currentread. I couldn't pass up this photo op. 😃

What a strange and original book. As I read I kept thinking…what kind of mind comes up with a plot like this? Murder, in several different ways.

This was a mess. It starts well with a murder & a limited number of suspects on a private island but then it backtracks to tell the history of the narrator in great detail. As I couldn't stand him I had issues with this. The 4th wall was broken repeatedly which, while I've enjoyed it in other stories, became tedious. The reader was constantly promised that this bit ⬇️

This was my most unliked book from this author! The beginning was very underwhelming with a protagonist who was so arrogant. Something would happen, and he would break the fourth wall and say oh just in case you didn't understand, let me explain it. Like it wasn't obvious. Then the ending was overwhelming, and I just could not suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy it. 2/5

Saturday + a trip to Greece + Beyoncé's new album + a wholesome breakfast 😉😁 = a good morning

Anyone doing the Jimmy Fallon book club? There are 16 books (could not fit them all in my screen shot) that they are going to whittle to 8, then 2. The winner will be Fallon's official book club read this spring. If you have already read any of these, voting is open!

This book is rather confusing. The narration is messy, it is manipulative, it makes you swallow down a story that the narrator wants to say. But I guess that's the thing about unreliable narrators. Inspired by classical plays and Christie's unreliable narrators. It's an okayish thriller. But honestly it doesn't remain one at the end.

I really enjoy Alex‘s unconventional twisty storytelling. He writes interesting characters and the bad ones are just fun to dislike.

Can you really call something a "whydunnit" if you still haven't revealed who was killed, let along who did it a quarter of the way into the book?

Ultimately, this was quite predictable.

For a twisty island murder mystery this one really dragged. I didn‘t love the style of a narrator that kept telling you that he was about to tell you something big. It was exhausting. He‘s a classic unreliable narrator, but there‘s too much telling & not enough showing in the story. The characters are such selfish, superficial people & they‘re constantly betraying each other. It was hard to find anyone to root for & the ending felt like a cop out.

I actually enjoyed this suspense from Michaelides! I see a lot of negative reviews but it satisfied my hunger for some twisted drama. I read this courtesy of #NetGalley and I did enjoy it. There were definitely posts where I was shaking my head at the drama of it all, but that's what it made it a fun and interesting read . 🌟🌟🌟🌟

The reviews I‘ve seen for this are really negative but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Way better than The Silent Patient. Just a bunch of pretty rich people being envious & scheming against eachother on a gorgeous island. People with too much time on their hands keeping their friends close & their enemies closer.

⭐️ Not at all a fan of this locked-room mystery‘s narrative style. The story gives strong Agatha Christie vibes, which is cool, but Michaelides‘s writing is so basic. It‘s astoundingly awful. A lot of short, clipped sentences that read nearly like stage directions. I enjoyed The Silent Patient, disliked The Maidens, and detested this. Never reading this dude again.

#BOTM

I found 'The Fury' to be just okay. There are a lot of twists and turns it takes. It flip flops a whole lot between past and present, which I don't usually mind, but the way it was written didn't work for me. There's been mixed reviews on it and I can see why. The narrator, Elliott, was unreliable to me.

#readaway2024 #bookspinbingo #alphabetchallenge2024 (f)

A meandering story with a bit of suspense. None of the characters was likable and I wasn't excited to solve the mystery. I didn't appreciate the tricks, frequent “well that's what I WISH happened“ asides from the narrator that do nothing but make him lose the reader's trust. I love an unreliable narrator, but this one is unreliable, unlikable, and uninteresting. Some good twists near the end that aren't worth waiting for.

Wow. Where to begin with this review? I love the idea of a murder mystery on a Greek island. This book had major Poirot and Shakespearean play energy. If you‘re a fan of one or both of those, then you should definitely read this one! This is my first Michaelides book and won‘t be the last!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is a weird book about a man obsessed with his best friend who was an actress.
#BOTM
#WickedWords #couple @AsYouWish

An interesting romp through the mind of a madman, with a murder plot (or two) gone awry, and malice aplenty. Michaelides keeps the reader engaged and guessing always.

The Fury is a great idea for a twist on a locked room mystery, but it needed more refinement before going to print. I suspect a few fans of The Silent Patient will love it, but most will be disappointed. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/the-fury-alex-michaelides/

There‘s not much one can say about this book without divulging spoilers. I enjoyed it. It‘s a classic “unreliable narrator” story, which is obvious early on, so I don‘t think saying so gives anything away. If you like this author‘s other books, you‘ll probably like this one as well.

This is Alex Michaelides‘s third novel and having read the other two I had high hopes and high expectations for The Fury. Unfortunately while I did enjoy the novel it didn‘t fully live up to my expectations. I could not stand the narrator, Elliot; while I understand that he isn‘t meant to be a reliable narrator, I found him extremely irritating and annoying nonetheless. The chapters are short which helps to move the narrative along rather quickly.

While I did not love this book, I still found it an entertaining and easy read. I enjoyed the slightly unusual format which reminded me of some of the books by Anthony Horowitz, whom I always enjoy. The plot was clever and there was lots of interesting characters, but for some reason, although I loved the slightly unrealistic final twist, I found the ending a bit of a let down. Thank you to Edelweiss+ for the digital ARC. 3.75/5 stars.

Im jumping on the crochet a square for the books we read this year… this is my first one. Do we think it should be lighter? 🫣 My next book was Butcher and Blackbird… what chaos this blanket will be! 😍

The ending tying in characters from the other books written by the author was my favorite part. Unfortunately, I had a difficult time getting into the book due to the narrator of the audiobook.

3.5 ⭐️
My problem is comparing all of his books to The Silent Patient.
This book was giving me whiplash. I enjoyed every twist and turn. The characters were both likeable and unlikeable. And the setting just sounded beautiful. Such a fun buddy read with the beautiful @BookBabe2018

02.09.2024

Didn't really care for this one. I mean the ending saved it a little bit, but it was a lot of meh and boredom reaching the end.

I still say that The Silent Patient is his best book by far, but I liked this one well enough. The narration style was fun, with the narrator talking directly to the reader a lot and teasing with other murder mystery references. And the cast of characters held my interest. It was a solid mystery with a vivid setting on a Greek island. #botm

Zoe‘s eye matches the one on the cover! 😋 That was a happy coincidence.