I felt this book was a definite page-turner, despite being over-hyped in my opinion. It was an okay read, but I felt little connection to the characters due to the writing being detached from them. I also felt Michaelides was doing a lot of telling rather than “showing” through great writing and imagery. The plot was also flawed, for reasons I’ll explain in my spoilery section of this review. Nevertheless, it was an interesting book with cool Ancient Greek motifs and other academia references woven throughout. 

☕️ Despite all the many references to how one’s childhood shapes the human being, there wasn’t enough character-building into the psyches of these characters…especially Mariana and Sebastian! And Zoe…these are the main characters and we only get a glimpse into what makes them who they are. Sebastian’s journals provided some insight, but in the end, we never got an answer for why Mariana never knew about his childhood…I mean, wasn’t she his wife?

☕️ The plot didn’t feel wrapped up enough. There were too many loose ends…The ending felt too rushed. We didn’t get enough pay-off for why Fosca was the way he was and his motivations for sleeping with the Maidens. There was also no explanation of the repetitive swan symbolism…and what was with Fred’s “premonitions”?! Mariana’s relationship with Fred wasn’t properly developed at all…I felt zero chemistry between the two. I also felt that the killer being Zoe was so out of left-field. A string of murders to cover-up a single murder that you planned all along? Seems a little crazy.

☕️ I didn’t love the way Michaelides painted women in this story. The women weren’t developed as real humans at all…Sebastian’s journals were the most compelling aspect of the entire story. The fact that he is the puppet-master all along and Zoe is acting as his “proxy” (Michaelides words - not mine!) is just so unsatisfying. What are Zoe’s motivations? How did she experience Sebastian’s manipulation? None of this was developed right…the real “killer” was Sebastian.