Review: ‘The Maidens’ by Alex Michaelides (a literary, Dark Academia mystery thriller)

I’d heard of ‘The Silent Patient’, but I’d never really felt much desire to look into it as it just didn’t sound like my thing, but after finishing ‘The Maidens’ I bought it without even reading the synopsis. I was expecting to like this book, but it completely captured my attention.

Edward Fosca is a murderer. Of this Mariana is certain. But Fosca is untouchable. A handsome and charismatic Greek tragedy professor at Cambridge University, Fosca is adored by staff and students alike - particularly by the members of a secret society of female students known as The Maidens.

Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on The Maidens when one member, a friend of Mariana's niece Zoe, is found murdered in Cambridge.

Mariana, who was once herself a student at the university, quickly suspects that behind the idyllic beauty of the spires and turrets, and beneath the ancient traditions, lies something sinister. And she becomes convinced that, despite his alibi, Edward Fosca is guilty of the murder. But why would the professor target one of his students? And why does he keep returning to the rites of Persephone, the maiden, and her journey to the underworld?

When another body is found, Mariana's obsession with proving Fosca's guilt spirals out of control, threatening to destroy her credibility as well as her closest relationships. But Mariana is determined to stop this killer, even if it costs her everything - including her own life.

I mean, there’s nothing not to like about that synopsis, right?

‘The Maidens’ does have a slow start, but it’s intentional, I think. There’s time to get to know Mariana and Zoe, their stories and what led this sad, lonely woman to be running to the aid of her university-aged niece in Cambridge when she calls in distress following the death of her friend. Mariana is a deliciously complex character, who at first glance seems to be perfectly ordinary in her tragedy, but once in Cambridge with Zoe, we learn more about her relationship with the late husband and his untimely death and she starts to flesh out and become infinitely more complicated.

This slow burn and steady unveiling of details could easily make the novel slow, but it does the opposite. Michaelides mastered the tension and I was utterly compelled to carry on reading. I was almost frustrated that I couldn’t listen to the audiobook any faster without it becoming a garbled mess!

The university setting is, of course, a huge part of dark academia and Cambridge is the perfect place for this book. It’s an old, prestigious university with a history of scandals brushed under the carpet and of elite clubs and societies. A famous teacher’s exclusive club based around Greek tragedy? It couldn’t be better placed. Everything about The Maidens is sinister. A group of young, rich and beautiful women in a secretive club with a prominent male professor and the celebration of sacrifice and female submission in particular, and it helped make it feel like the trajectory of the novel.

But not quite.

The twists this novel threw at me blew me away. I didn’t see them coming at all. It left me with a serious book hangover. I want to write about those twists endlessly, but even with a spoiler warning there’s a risk that people will still get spoiled and these floored me so thoroughly that I don’t want to risk it (or risk Sarah seeing them before she’s read the book)! But if you’ve read it, please tweet, email or DM me - I would be over the moon to discuss this book.

Published June 2021 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. I purchased the audiobook with my own money via Audible.

Written by Sophie