Book Smart Kate

Book: 🌟🌟🌟🌟  Audiobook: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 💫

by Alex Michaelides

Books by Michaelides always feel like, and I mean this as a huge compliment, a throwback to classic British mystery shows on BBC. They take me back to my youth, just discovering a passion for mysteries. 

The Fury is a murder mystery on the private island of Lana Farrar, a reclusive retired movie star, when she plans an impromptu vacation for herself and her famous friends. The weekend’s tragic events are recounted by Elliot Chase, one of her best friends, as he retraces what happened during those days and the complexities of emotions and relationships over the previous weeks (and years) that brought them all to the island tragedy.

In this first-person narration, Elliot regularly engages directly with the reader as he tries to make sense of what unfolded. There were a couple of points in this book where I thought, “Wait, is this going to be exactly what I thought from the first page?” But Michaelides provides several twists that made me smile that I hadn’t (quite) understood the complexity of the tale. Does this have the shock-and-awe of his debut, The Silent Patient? No. But is it a really entertaining mystery novel? Absolutely. 

The true gem is the audiobook, narrated by actor Alex Jennings. He does an extraordinary job and will have you absolutely hypnotized by his captivating narration. 

Thanks to Net Galley, Macmillian Audio, and Alex Michaelides for the free audiobook and the opportunity to provide my honest review.