My previous experience with Michaelides books has been average. My favourite is still his debut - The Silent Patient. His second novel The Maidens was again average as is this one. In my opinion, his books tend to become formulaic and predictable even with the hallmark twists at the end. His reliance on unreliable narrators and unlikable characters doesn’t help.

The Fury is narrated by Elliot Chase, an unreliable and stereotypical character. He’s an abused kid who grows up into an insecure, damaged adult. There’s a horrific scene of him bring bullied in school that I confess I skimmed over. Elliot breaks the fourth wall ever so often, talking directly to us readers, but the contrived tone & cliched thoughts annoyed me. The book has all the usual suspects - unreliable and unlikeable narrator - Elliot Chase; famous theatre and movie star of yesteryears Lana Farrar; her son Leo - an aspiring actor; her second husband Jason and her best friend, theatre actress Kate - a flamboyant alcoholic with a chip on her shoulder. In addition there are Agathi - Lana’s housekeeper and general Girl Friday and Nikos - the reclusive caretaker who looks after Lana’s home on her private Greek island - Aura which on occasion suffers wild winds called The Fury. The island setting and closed circle mystery are reminiscent of Christie’s And Then There Were None, but lacking the sinister undercurrents. In fact, after the murder occurs, there’s an entire tableau in which Michaelides channels Christie’s Poirot in the person of Inspector Mavropoulou!

Michaelides spends a third of the book getting us to the island. He goes back and forth in time which is sometimes a little hard to follow. As always with a cast of shady, obnoxious, unreliable characters, adults act like juveniles and Lana’s seventeen year old son Leo is the most sorted of the lot! The twists when they came felt disappointingly predictable. I had foreseen them all and so there wasn’t that element of surprise. Still, the pace picked up toward the end and that was good. Also disappointing was the lack of atmosphere. There wasn’t the expected build up of sinister vibes given off by an isolated island setting in a storm. It was almost like Michaelides’ words fell short of doing full justice to the wild and ancient beauty of Greece. Don’t get me wrong, he does describe its beauty effectively but I didn't feel it was as atmospheric as it could have been. 

The book improved a little toward the end. I think I would have liked it better if Michaelides hadn’t insisted on Elliot’s breaking the fourth wall to explain and justify himself. It got on my nerves because I knew he was lying. I thought there was too much plot and too little atmosphere. The narrative felt forced like Michaelides was trying too hard. I did enjoy the homage to Christie though!

On the whole, an average read that I wouldn’t have missed if I hadn’t read it. I’m going to take a break from Michaelides for a while. I need the time apart!