The Maidens by Alex Michaelides is a dark academia style thriller set in and around the University of Cambridge, we follow the main character Mariana as she learns of and tries to solve the murders of a secretive group of girls referred to as the Maidens. Her motivation comes down to her niece Zoe who is a student there, and who’s best friend was one of the victims. As a group therapist, Mariana feels she has an insight into how to figure this mystery out, and she is convinced that the murderer is the professor that the group look up to. So we follow her on her journey to prove that he is guilty.
Ultimately, this is a story with a deep interest in psychology, from the obvious with Mariana as a group therapist who focuses on psychology to the more subtle psychologies of grief and love that are explored throughout in a multitude of ways. I liked the exploration of grief, though at times it felt slightly one dimensional and later on as it was explored more I would’ve liked to see more focus on how grief and love interwoven together are explored, but I think this is a hard thing to do within a story, especially one reaching its climax.
It’s been a while since I read a thriller, and as I was reading this I found myself questioning why because I just couldn’t put it down! In a matter of hours I had finished it, truly drawn into the world and the intrigue of the book. The pace is incredibly fast which definitely aided this, small chapters making it all too enticing and difficult to put down. All of this aids to the addictive feeling as you read it, especially as the chapters are broken up with diary entries of someone the reader assumes is the murderer, written from a reflective look at their childhood. So as you read you’re desperately looking for clues in how the characters in the rest of the story speak, about what they allude to.
Another thing that made me adore this book was the focus on Persephone and the cult at Eleusis. The Maidens themselves are the favourites of their professor, who has an interest in the Greek deities (although I’m not sure I can remember what he is actually a professor of whether it is Classics or English). As an undergraduate at university, I studied Persephone and the cult at Eleusis as part of my dissertation on feminist interpretation of the myth of Persephone. So finding it in this book was incredibly compelling to me, I squealed when I saw where it was headed because I was so excited about it.
Although at the time I read it I loved it, reflecting over the past week before writing this review I have found myself rethinking it slightly and realising that I still have questions that were left unanswered, throughout the book there are several things that are dropped in and then never truly explained or expanded on. Clearly meant as red herrings to keep the reader guessing, but in reflection I wish that towards the end they had been explained, as now I can only guess at the answers or make up my own.
As I’m writing this I find it difficult to fully review because I’m trying not to spoil anything or give anything away, so that if it is a book you do turn to then you’re able to go in spoiler free. All in all, I think it was an enjoyable read, though on reflection I wish there had been more explored so I had less questions left unanswered. So this is a bit of a shorter review, but I hope that if you do read it that you enjoy it and get as engaged as I was because I truly did enjoy diving into this!
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