Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

39 reviews

sierrabowers's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

 I thought it was an okay story, but mostly it was very slow. The mystery itself was not that compelling, but I thought the ending left me with more questions than anything. If you haven’t read the silent patient, I would recommend reading this book first, because one character is linked to that book. I have already read the silent patient, so now I feel as if I need to reread it in order to understand it better or in a new light. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Blood, Classism, Death of parent, Gore, Infidelity, Drug use, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

cinderpot's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Amazing book! Amazing twist!!! I read the silent patient about a year ago and really like it. This book follows a similar premise and over all ties in greatly. Some professional decisions from the main character is questionable… but what can you get with a fiction.

The added cameo from Theo was my favourite

Will be ready his next book with anticipation!!!! JUSTICE FOR FRED!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Self harm, Blood, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Terminal illness, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Violence, and Stalking

theequeendee's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I've only read "The Fury" by the author and decided to read another one of his works. It was overall a decent read, it wasn't as interesting as "The Fury" but it was still worth a read. I might read "The Silent Patient" eventually.

The chapters were rather on the shorter side, making the story feel rather rushed at some parts. Some of the scenes of this book made me cringe, like the scene where Edward Fosca kissed Mariana after talking about "Do you think you can see inside my soul?" I love Mariana's character and the inner conflicts she has while being at the same university that she met her late husband at. Although the twist is predictable, I do enjoy how the author builds the reasoning as to why they did the killings.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, and Suicide

Minor: Incest

studymeaghan's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Abandonment, Mental illness, Murder, Stalking, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, and Suicide

weirdgirlcoded's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

this book was astonishing. 

i was absolutely capitivated by the relationships that were built throughout the story, capitivated by the misdirection of the narrative. while a lot of my prediction was correct, i was also far off in integral ways to the plot. i am absolutely stunned by the way the story ended. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, Gore, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide and Self harm

Minor: Pedophilia

schausjk's review

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I flew through this book. The pacing was excellent, and there were so many red herrings that I wasn't 100% sure of anything until the end. That being said, a lot of the characters were a bit flat for me and I would've liked to have seen them better developed. There were also several loose ends that I really would have liked to have seen tied up in some capacity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Drug abuse, Blood, Domestic abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Animal death, Physical abuse, Grief, Violence, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Stalking, and Self harm

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Death of parent, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Emotional abuse, Car accident, Torture, Suicide, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Classism, and Medical content

bessadams's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Grief, Blood, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Infertility, Drug use, Murder, Physical abuse, Stalking, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Domestic abuse

anderson27paige's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This plot, and even the giant twist, pretty much exactly mirrors The Silent Patient, so if you liked that book, you’ll like this one. I do, however, think this book was better in the sense that it more climactic events happen throughout so I was more engaged and

it loops in characters from The Silent Patient, leading me to believe all of his books will be connecting somehow

. The ending wasn’t my favorite as I felt like it happened hard and fast and left me with a lot of confusion at first, but this does seem to be this author’s style.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Suicide and Suicide attempt

daybreakreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I finished this book in a day and a half. It was impossible to put down. I haven’t read his other book — I find it interesting that most of the negative reviews simply say that this one isn’t as good as The Silent Patient (makes me wonder how great that one is if I loved this one so much) — but I’m happy I read this one first because there’s a subtle connection between the two.

I actually suspected the right person early on (ultimately for the wrong reason), but mostly dismissed it because of a very powerful red herring (even though I at one point suspected the red herring as being such). I would say the true ending would be very difficult if not impossible to guess the first time through; I almost want to re-read it again now that I know how it ends.

The audiobook was fascinating to listen to; they used a different voice actor for the alternate perspective.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Blood, Murder, and Death

Minor: Infertility, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual violence, Animal death, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Forced institutionalization

miggyfool's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, Abandonment, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Torture, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Death, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Mental illness