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Book Summary and Reviews of The Fury by Alex Michaelides

The Fury by Alex Michaelides

The Fury

by Alex Michaelides

  • Readers' Rating (5):
  • Published:
  • Jan 2024, 320 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

A masterfully paced thriller about a reclusive ex–movie star and her famous friends whose spontaneous trip to a private Greek island is upended by a murder ― from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Silent Patient.

This is a tale of murder.

Or maybe that's not quite true. At its heart, it's a love story, isn't it?

Lana Farrar is a reclusive ex–movie star and one of the most famous women in the world. Every year, she invites her closest friends to escape the English weather and spend Easter on her idyllic private Greek island.

I tell you this because you may think you know this story. You probably read about it at the time ― it caused a real stir in the tabloids, if you remember. It had all the necessary ingredients for a press sensation: a celebrity; a private island cut off by the wind…and a murder.

We found ourselves trapped there overnight. Our old friendships concealed hatred and a desire for revenge. What followed was a game of cat and mouse ― a battle of wits, full of twists and turns, building to an unforgettable climax. The night ended in violence and death, as one of us was found murdered.

But who am I?

My name is Elliot Chase, and I'm going to tell you a story unlike any you've ever heard.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
  1. In the first chapter, Elliot states, "We are all the unreliable narrators of our own lives." Do you agree? How much did you trust Elliot's narration while reading?
  2. What other "locked room mysteries" or "trapped on an island" stories have you enjoyed in literature, television, or film? How does The Fury fit the genre? In what ways does the author subvert your genre expectations?
  3. Elliot refers to a variety of figures from Greek mythology, history, and literature, including Clytemnestra, Artemis, Eros, and an oracle. What references to Greek figures stood out to you? In what ways does this novel reflect a Greek tragedy?
  4. Elliot claims that he and Lana were "soulmates." In what ways were they similar? In what ways did ...
Please be aware that this discussion may contain spoilers!

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What book or books are you reading this week? (01/09/2025)
I am currently reading The Fury by Alex Michaelides. I am so far enjoying it. Also I am reading Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, which has been on my list for awhile. It's also very good.
-Connie_H

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Shades of Agatha Christie and Sunset Boulevard color this outstanding psychological thriller …Michaelides keeps readers on deliciously unsteady ground throughout, ratcheting up the tension until he arrives at the final series of reveals. The result is a character-driven, atmospheric delight." ―Publishers Weekly

"Michaelides again creates an almost tangible blend of tension, manipulation, and obsession. Even readers will fall prey to Michaelides' craft, nudged into shifting, sympathetic allegiances to the damaged, unlikable characters in this pitch-perfect, classic crime set-up and modern psychological thriller." ―Booklist

"Michaelides's deliciously twisty and fiendishly clever third novel takes the classic locked-room mystery and delivers a fresh spin on the genre... What sets the book apart is its innovative structure and the compelling voice of its narrator, Elliot Chase; wonderfully sinister and beautifully unreliable, he guides us – with sleights of hand aplenty – through this impressive and highly enjoyable tale of subterfuge, secrets and murder." ―The Guardian

"The Fury by Alex Michaelides is a proper, grown-up thriller that exudes class from every page. So much more than a murder mystery, every twist and turn is simultaneously a total surprise and completely inevitable. The writing is perfectly sparse, yet cloaks a narrative of rare complexity. So many contradictions, yet all unite in a devastating whole. The Fury is a very special book and highly recommended." ―Janice Hallett, author of international bestseller The Appeal

"Glamorous, sinister, and endlessly surprising, The Fury reads like Agatha Christie and Patricia Highsmith took a Greek vacation together and decided to write a book while there. It's twisty, twisted entertainment." ―Riley Sager, New York Times bestselling author of The Only One Left

This information about The Fury was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Alex Michaelides

Alex Michaelides was born and raised in Cyprus. He has an M.A. in English Literature from Trinity College, Cambridge University, and an M.A. in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. The Silent Patient was his first novel, debuting at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, and has sold more than 6.5 million copies worldwide. The rights have been sold in a record-breaking 51 countries, and the book has been optioned for film by Plan B. His second novel, The Maidens, was an instant New York Times bestseller and has been optioned for television by Miramax Television and Stone Village.

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