The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

​  In 2019 Alex Michaelides’ first novel took the publishing world by storm, becoming either the best selling thriller or something of that nature, either way it was by all accounts the most impressive of debuts. I didn’t read it. It was too hyped up and too…always out at the library. But when The Maidens, his follow up effort, appeared on Netgalley, I was, of course, interested in checking it out.  And I must say…it’s pretty disappointing.
     It isn’t all that disappointing for a thriller genre, because there are just too many books there, too many well meaning but lackluster attempts at wowing the readers with their attempts at twisting the plot just right. And I read tons of those, they are just too popular, too ubiquitous to avoid and when they are good, they are really good. I love being surprised by the ending. But mostly they are average. And this book is very much average. It’s nowhere near the quality one would expect from a writer who singlehandedly blew thriller fans’ minds just two years ago.
       If I’d never heard of the author prior to reading the book, I’d place it somewhere well within the random kindle freebie books I sometimes score, it’s just about in the middle there, maybe slightly above. The writing is the greatest detractor here, it’s flat, bland, cardboardy, there’s just no spark, no magic, nothing. The characters aren’t very interesting. The plot itself is decent enough and the novel’s main saving grace is the ending twist, which is a genuine surprise, especially considering the general triteness of the overall proceedings. Plus it’s relatively slim, so you’re not stuck with it for too long. But those are not exactly best selling attributes one might have expected from such a lauded author. It’s nothing more than a very average beach read. Though surely it’ll be hyped up into something more.
       The plot has to do with a recent widow who comes back to her university to morally support her niece after a brutal murder of one of her schoolmates. The murders continue and the widow decides to stick around and play Sherlock, which may or may not involve a dashingly handsome  very popular with the young ladies professor and his fan club of groupies who refer to themselves as The Maidens. The Maidens are obnoxious, wealthy brats, the professor is a slimeball, there are also some red fishes of the family Clupeidae that get heavy thrown around to confuse the readers. And some really basic first year psychology to give profundity to it all.
     The author went to the same school and it shows in his writing, the setting is created expertly and with great attention to detail. The author is Greek, which is also something that’s prominently featured in the novel, not just geographically, but in its themes and motifs. But of the fact that the author is a bestselling thriller genius, there is no evidence to be found. The entire production has a strikingly amateurish quality to it and, unless bestselling means dumbed down for general population, it really isn’t justified with this book. It might be a sophomore slump sort of thing. No way to know without reading his debut.
       And so, this was a quick mindless thoroughly average read just barely saved by a fun ending twist. Read if you want to. Pass and miss out on nothing. Thanks Netgalley.