A Book Review of The Fury by Alex Michaelides
A Book Review of The Fury by Alex Michaelides
Lately I’ve been studying the design of psychological thrillers to determine what I like and don’t like. And what I might adopt or discard in my writing. After identifying best sellers with over 5 million copies sold, from contemporary male authors, I settled on Alex Michaelides, who recently rocked the literary world with The Silent Patient and The Maidens.
Sadly, those titles were not in the local library, so I settled for The Fury. Perhaps I’ll buy those other titles online.
If a thriller is designed to seduce us with suspense, misdirection, and character depth, then The Fury offers two out of three. Character depth is missing.
This isn’t a summertime beach read. It’s a constructed play. A stage set. And in many ways, I think that’s his point.
Narrative Design: When the Story Knows It's a Story and thinks It’s Really Clever.
We’re introduced to an unreliable narrator who doesn’t just bend the truth, he crafts a performance. Like a playwright. Michaelides leans into the "meta" style: breaking the fourth wall, teasing what he’ll reveal later, and toying with our trust like an illusionist. It’s part Alfred Hitchcock, part Greek tragedy, part Netflix writer’s room. Totally unfamiliar to me... which made me feel ignorant at times.
For readers who enjoy that layered, self-referential tone, it may be a thrilling design. For those who want to read a clean narration, you may feel disappointed.
I suppose that all art deserves meta-new-radical styes... To test the norms. Call me ignorant.
Characters: Lots of Surface, Not Much Substance
Michaelides writes about beautiful, broken people in exotic places. The celebrity actress. Beloved by all. Then murdered. And this locked room setting- a private Greek island- creates an intense cinematic atmosphere. Surrounded by the endless winds, like the ancient Greek Furies, who reflect their fears and tensions. The characters? They’re glamorous, enigmatic, and often underwritten. Archetypes more than complex characters with emotional depth. As if they are wearing those large masks from Greek tragedies.
The central narrator offers clever insights, but rarely emotional vulnerability. And that’s the gap. We’re watching from the VIP balcony in the Greek theater. Outdoors. But never allowed backstage or inside their hearts.
Style: Controlled, like a noisy wind whipping around an ancient Greek column.
The Fury moves slowly, like a carefully blocked play. That pacing is deliberate. The reveals are timed. Slowly. The tension is intellectual more than visceral. Some of the twists work, others feel dropped in as if from a screenwriting workshop. Maybe that’s part of the meta-design.
It’s an emotionally distant style. Perhaps reflecting the celebrity movie star who is admired more than deeply loved.
What Works for me:
Narrative voice that dares me/ you to keep up with clever reversals
Elegant structure with Acts that create a theatrical sensibility
Strong control over tone and pacing and setting
Evokes the classic designs from Agatha Christie or Alfred Hitchcock
What Doesn’t work for me:
Emotional detachment from the central players
Plot twists that feel too engineered, or too late (Maybe I’m getting too critical in my old age)
Meta narration design led to frustrations and made me set the book aside (Probably because I don’t understand the fourth wall direct appeals to readers.)
Character development that rarely gets beneath the masks worn on the island
Some Final Thoughts
I closed The Fury feeling impressed but not moved. I wanted to be greatly moved. Perhaps I should have read his other titles first...
The Fury is a clever novel about storytelling. But that cleverness left me wanting.
Read it if you want a stylish mental puzzle.
Have you read it? Did the narrator charm you or push you away?
Drop a comment- I’d love to know what you think of thrillers that know they’re thrillers.