I’m a big fan of Alex Michaelides and his interconnected story universe. There are links between all his books: The Silent Patient, The Maidens, and now his new book, The Fury. Check out my Review with Spoilers for The Fury which includes a Fury book summary and my two (possibly wacky) theories about the ending of The Fury.
The Fury by Alex Michaelides
To be published by Celadon Books on January 16, 2023. Thanks so much to the publisher for providing me an advance copy to read for my honest review AND to use to participate in Celadon’s Little Free Library Drop.
Jen’s Quick Take on The Fury by Alex Michalides
- Has a HUGE spoiler for The Silent Patient, so if you have not read TSP, please read that first!
- NOT a locked room mystery, but a suspense story
- A very enigmatic narrator
- An omniscient narrative POV that may not be for every reader
- Slow pace until the end
- Interesting narrative structure with a playwriting element and lots of literary references
- On my list of Most Anticipated Mysteries and Thrillers of 2024
Plot Summary for The Fury by Alex Michaelides
Movie star Lana Farrar decides to invite a few close friends to leave chilly London behind and spend Easter weekend on her private Greek island, Aura.
But on the trip, secrets are revealed and the furious island winds (or the goddess Aura) whip up the emotions of one of the guests and lead to …. murder.
Review with Spoilers for The Fury by Alex Michaelides
Alex Michaelides’ books are very different from one another. The Silent Patient is a diabolically twisty psychological thriller that takes place in a psychiatric hospital, while The Maidens is a classic detective story that features a psychologist methodically solving a series of murders.
I’d argue that The Fury feels more like The Silent Patient
Why?
Both books have interesting narrative structures that set up a surprise at the end. Neither book is fast-paced but I think the twist in The Silent Patient was much more shocking.
As mentioned above, The Fury has a BIG spoiler for The Silent Patient, so do not read The Fury first. I will also argue in the Spoilers section below that you should read all three books in order as they are interconnected.
If you were a fan of the unreliable narrator trend of the 2010s, you will enjoy The Fury
Elliot Chase, the narrative of The Fury, is hard to pin down. His narrative jumps around. He leaves information out and changes his story as he goes along.
I’m really curious to hear other readers’ opinions. At first I wasn’t sure that I liked The Fury nearly as much as The Silent Patient and The Maidens.
But as I worked on this post and added it to my World of Alex Michalides post (which I highly recommend, as it contains a timeline that shows how all three books fit together as well as literary references and important places in all three books.)
And if you want my two VERY out-there theories about The Fury, check out the spoilers below and tell me what you think!!!
Spoilers and My Theories About The Fury by Alex Michaelides
Well. There are a LOT of things that our friend Elliot leaves out of the story and some things he doesn’t know himself, despite the omniscient POV that seems to let us into the heads of all the characters.
Elliot thinks can be with Lana. He says he was about to propose to her, but says that evil Barbara had a word with Lana and that she married Jason instead. This also seems really unlikely.
Yes, I believe he had a fixation on Lana’s movies as a teenager, but did he really think Lana would marry him and save him, like a gender-flipped Pretty Woman?
During Elliot’s “afternoon activities,” as he calls them, (he is back to sex work after the money from selling Barbara’s house ran out) he claims that he sees Lana’s husband Jason looking super-cozy with her friend Kate. He proceeds to follow them around and take notes on their affair.
Annoyed that Lana seems not to know about the affair, Elliot plants one of Kate’s earrings on Jason’s suit.
Finally Lana figures out about the affair and comes to him, distraught. Elliot tells Lana that she needs to stage her own death, which is why she invites everyone to the island.
Again, really? Who would agree to this? I feel like he’s lying.
Eliot later claims that Lana found his spy notebook at her flat and felt completely betrayed. He says that Lana went to Kate and they made a plan to ruin Elliot’s plan, unbeknownst to Elliot. Lana’s son Leo and her housekeeper Agethi are allegedly in on the Kate/Lana plan.
Elliot claims Lana goes along with his plan to fake her death. Afterwards, she tells Elliot that Jason obviously doesn’t care that she’s “dead.” (Um, he was cheating on her with her good friend, so hardly shocking…)
Elliot says he wanted to marry her. If only she’d made the correct choice!
According to Elliot, Lana laughs and asks Elliot if she will end up pushed down the stairs like Barbara. Yikes! Then Kate accuses Elliot of wanting Lana dead because she left him money in her will.
Finally, Lana produces the spy notebook (Elliot says she left the notebook in his flat, and now she has it?) and Elliot’s humiliation is complete.
Lana orders Elliot off the island, but instead he sneaks into her kitchen and shoots her.
In the epilogue, Mariana (yes, from The Maidens!) comes to visit him in prison and suggests he write everything down.
Two Theories About Elliot in The Fury
Okay these are a little out-there but I feel like The Fury really needs one more twist!
Theory #1: Elliot is actually in prison (for killing Barbara) and that is where he made the entire Lana-Greek-island murder story up
This is my least wacky theory and I feel like there is some evidence to support this.
So: there are two possibilities for this theory.
First, that through Barbara, Elliot did cross paths with Lana and Kate and Jason BUT made up the whole Greek island murder story to entertain himself in prison.
OR, it’s possible he just moved to London, moved in with a mother figure (he says his own mother was an alcoholic, like Barbara) and dreamed of a pretend relationship with a movie star. Maybe Barbs found out and mocked him and he pushed her down the stairs.
Evidence that the whole Lana-on-the-Greek-island thing was made up:
First, I call BS on the idea that the super-reclusive, super-fabulous, super-famous Lana is Elliot’s soulmate. That she spends her days taking long walks with Elliot AND leaves him seven million dollars in her will. Lana has a son to inherit her money!
Plus, Elliot mopes around saying the best he can do is mooch off wrinkly old Barbara (the ageism!). He describes himself as having bad hair, a big nose, and no jaw.
Also, why would Lana agree to the rather pointless plan to stage her death? After she found out that Elliot was creepily spying, why did she not un-invite Elliot from the trip?
The omniscient narration strongly suggests that Elliot is making up other people’s thoughts and actions the entire time. How could he know Agathi’s innermost thoughts as she cleans fish? Or that Lana kissed Nikos? All part of his fiction!
Plus, Elliot says over and over that he’s telling us a story: “Life is a performance. None of it is real. It’s a pretense at reality, that’s all…”
What I think happened:
Elliot was obsessed with Lana as a teen. He moved to London, took up with Barbara and perhaps caught a glimpse of Lana (or even met her through Barbara) at Kate’s play.
Depressed that his teen fantasies never came to pass and that he was stuck with Barbara, he pushed her down the stairs.
Maybe he tries to pass Barb’s play off as his own and got convicted of Barb’s murder and sent to prison, where (at his former therapist Mariana’s suggestion) he concocts this entire Lana-in-Greece murder story to pass the time behind bars.
Theory #2: “Elliot” is actually Henry from The Maidens
Okay, I know that is a VERY out-there idea, and I have mostly abandoned it, BUT:
First, we know that “Elliot” changed his name.
Second, we know that “Elliot” was in Mariana’s therapy group.
Third, Elliot mentions Liz (who is in Mariana’s therapy group in The Maidens) so “Elliot” was in the group at roughly the same time as Henry.
Fourth, in The Maidens Mariana describes Henry as in his mid-thirties. (You can check out my full timeline, but Elliot claims to be forty as he is telling the story and also says that he “started group therapy in his mid-thirties.”)
Fifth, Henry had an abusive father and a “dark and bubbling anger that was often difficult to contain.”
Sixth, Henry fixates on Mariana just as “Elliot” fixates on Lana and tries to give Mariana a ring, just as Elliot hoped to give Lana a ring.
The last we hear of Henry is when he follows Mariana to Cambridge, accuses her of abandoning him, and threatens to take his own life. He’s taken to a psychiatric hospital and Mariana means to check on him but then gets involved in her investigation and seemingly forgets about him. Awkward!
So maybe he was released, killed his sugar mommy Barbara, and the rest is history.
Counterevidence: Mariana describes Henry as having red hair, while Elliot says he has dark hair and eyes. Elliot claims he was interested in theatre and books, while Mariana says that Henry planned to study physics.
Question: Is Lana Inspired by Uma Thurman?
Uma Thurman. The book is dedicated to her, and she attended the book’s launch party at The Strand in New York City. Is Uma Thurman the inspiration for Lana? Uma is also blonde and beautiful and had a marriage straight out of a domestic suspense novel. They split and he married the nanny.
And don’t forget to check out my mega post on the world of Alex Michaelides which connects all the dots between his three books, The Silent Patient, The Maidens, and now The Fury!
Please answer this question in comments: What do YOU think is true in Eliot’s story and what is made-up?
Your theories are so interesting!! Elliot being henry makes so much sense.