Elegant, sinister, stylish and thrilling, The Maidens answers the weighty question, how do you go about following one of the biggest thrillers of the past decade? You write something even better.

Alex has achieved the almost impossible and surpassed The Silent Patient in this compelling literary thriller, which grips from intriguing start to horrifying finish … A brilliant achievement.

What a thrilling, heart in throat ride. A great triumph.

A deliciously dark, elegant, utterly compulsive read – with a twist that blew my mind. I loved this even more than I loved The Silent Patient and that’s saying something!

Alex Michaelides hits a home run in his sophomore effort. The Maidens is a page-turner of the first order.

A stunning psychological thriller … The intelligent, cerebral plot finds contemporary parallels in Euripides’s tragedies, Jacobean dramas such as The Duchess of Malfi, and Tennyson’s poetry. The devastating ending shows just how little the troubled Mariana knows about the human psyche or herself. Michaelides is on a roll.

The greatest campus novel since The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Packed to the dreaming spires with mystery, murder, emotion and a yearning, heart-aching nostalgia for all that we leave in the past – places, lovers and ourselves when we were young. The millions who loved The Silent Patient will be delighted to hear that Alex Michaelides once again mugs you with a climatic twist that you will NEVER see coming.

Michaelides’ stage-setting skills are as masterful here, as they were in The Silent Patient – another tense, cleverly twisted winner.

Nothing short of genius.

[Michaelides’] writing, especially his characterisation, possesses a unique sparkle and more promise than most other writers.

The Maidens is a compelling read, and delivers its Hellenic thrills in style.

Stylishly written with a great sense of place, bestselling author Michaelides’ second novel is a compelling and complex psychological thriller of the highest order.

A thriller that deftly weaves psychology, murder and an understanding of Greek mythology – where do we sign up?

This atmospheric mystery speeds along at such a pace, Michaelides’ genius for storytelling is clear.

Michaelides is a stylish writer who seamlessly weaves Greek mythology, psychology and murder into his writing and this atmospheric thriller keeps you guessing till the end.

It’s a tense, original story set against the luscious backdrop of the ancient university.

The Maidens ticks a lot of boxes, particularly if you like a good thriller. It has a fast pace, lots of misdirection, and intriguing backstory and a damaged protagonist.

Tautly plotted and impeccably paced , it’s an intelligent and propulsive second novel.

When Alex Michaelides’ first psychological thriller, The Silent Patient, debuted in 2019, it skyrocketed to the top of best-seller lists. His follow-up is just as twisty-and involves another suspicious killing.