Have you read The Maidens by Alex Michaelides and have questions about the ending? Need a plot summary for The Maidens? Want to discuss the suspects? You are in the right place, because this is my Spoiler Discussion for The Maidens.
Written and edited by Jen Ryland. Last updated on:
Table of Contents for the Plot Summary and Discussion of the Maidens
- Plot Summary for The Maidens
- List of Characters in The Maidens
- Approximate Timeline in the Maidens
- Clues Left in the Killer’s Chapters
- List of Suspects in the Maidens
- Who was the Killer in the Maidens?
- Spoiler Discussion Questions
- A Link to My Post About Crossover Characters and Places in The Maidens and The Silent Patient
- Movie Adaptations of The Silent Patient and The Maidens (opens a new page)
Please feel free to skip to the parts that you need and PLEASE join the discussion!
And PLOT TWIST Mariana appears (briefly) in Alex Michalides’ 2024 book, The Fury. Check out my review of The Fury with protected spoilers!
Plot Summary for The Maidens – Mariana’s Narrative
Mariana Andros, a therapist, is mourning her husband Sebastian, who died about a year ago. After a group therapy session one day, she confronts a participant, Henry, who is disrupting the group and behaving strangely.
Mariana’s niece Zoe calls. The body of a woman has been found in the Paradise Woods near Cambridge University, where Zoe is a student. Mariana offers to come. On the train to Cambridge, a young man named Fred awkwardly flirts with her. On the train, Mariana reflects on all the tragedies she (and Zoe) have faced. Mariana’s mom died when she was young, her sister and brother in law (Zoe’s parents) died in a car accident, Mariana’s father died of a heart attack, and Sebastian drowned fourteen months ago during a vacation they took to Naxos, a Greek island.
At Cambridge, Mariana goes to her former college, St Christopher’s, to look for Zoe. She runs into Julian, a former classmate and fellow psychotherapist. Mariana learns the the victim is Tara, her niece Zoe’s best friend.
How Does Mariana come to suspect Fosca of murder?
Mariana finds Zoe, who blames herself. Tara told Zoe that she was sleeping with a professor, Edward Fosca. Tara threatened to tell the college, and Fosca threatened her. Mariana urges Zoe to go to the police with her suspicions, but they say Fosca has an alibi and Tara has a boyfriend with a criminal record.
Zoe and Tara run into Fosca who claims that Tara was failing classes and told Edward if he didn’t cover for her she’d accuse him of sexual harassment. He denies being involved with her.
Mariana asks around about Fosca. He’s new, and an American. Mariana meets with her former tutor, Clarissa. She hears gossip from Morris, the college porter, about Fosca’s entourage of women and the group’s wild parties.
Mariana talks to Elsie, Tara’s “bedder” or assigned housekeeper. Elsie dislikes Fosca’s group of women and says they bullied Tara. Elsie seems suspicious of Zoe. Elsie agrees to let Mariana see Tara’s room, where Mariana finds a postcard of a Titian painting with a quote from Euripides about the sacrifice of a maiden, a nobleman’s daughter, to Persephone.
Mariana meets Fred, the man from the train, for a drink. He doesn’t think Conrad killed Tara and offers to help her solve the murder. But when he mentions visiting Naxos, Mariana is alarmed and leaves. Someone follows her home and she hides in an alley. She runs into Morris who lets her into the college.
The Killer of the Maidens Strikes Again!
Zoe calls Mariana and tells her another victim has been found. Fred and Mariana go to the site and see Julian, who offers to let her see the body. It is Veronica, slashed and holding a pine cone. Julian tells her that Conrad was in custody and has been eliminated as a suspect. Mariana finds Serena’s postcard from the killer, with a quote from Iphigenia by Euripedes.
Mariana has dinner with Fosca. He serves her rare lamb (more on that!) Fosca tells her that he has an alibi for the night of the murder. He thinks the murders are ritualistic and the killer is a showman. He leaves to make coffee and she finds a copy of Iphigenia with Serena’s postcard passage underlined. She is convinced he is the murderer and is taunting her.
Fred Says There Could Be TWO Killers!
Mariana asks Fred to meet her. She tells him about Fosca’s alibi and he suggests the killer could have an accomplice. Fred tells her to be careful. She receives a threatening, anonymous call and assumes it’s her patient Henry.
As she leaves for London the next day, she sees Fosca giving an envelope to Morris. She follows Morris and finds herself in an abandoned cemetery. Morris arrives and Mariana watches him and Serena have sex.
Mariana goes to London to see Ruth, her supervising therapist. She wonders if Serena and Morris are blackmailing Fosca. She feels like someone is following her.
Mariana meets with Ruth, who suggests she treat the Maidens as a group. She also asks Mariana if Fosca reminds of her father. Hmmm… daddy issues, Mariana? This bothers Mariana, who denies it. She suggests that Mariana speak to Theo Faber, a psychopathologist who was another one of her students. (And the main character of The Silent Patient.)
Theo Tells Mariana To Find The Maidens Killer’s Motive
Theo doesn’t like Julian. Theo also says that Mariana needs to figure out the killer’s motive. That the postmortem violence is staged and that the killer is calm and in control. Theo is looking for a job and Mariana suggests he apply for an open job at the Grove, a London psychiatric hospital. They briefly discuss Alicia Berenson, an artist sent to the Grove after the murder of her husband (more The Silent Patient references – when you’re done with this post, be sure to check out my post about The World of The Silent Patient and The Maidens)
Mariana returns from London to find her room ransacked. Mariana asks Fosca if she can hold a group session with the Maidens. At the session the group mocks her for not inviting Zoe, as she is also a Maiden. Mariana is shocked at this revelation but decides to confront Zoe later.
Mariana runs into Fred. He proposes and she asks him to leave her alone. Fred leaves and Henry appears bloody and holding a knife. Morris comes and overpowers Henry.
One More Maidens Victim, and Mariana is Next!
The next morning Elsie comes to Mariana’s door. Serena was found murdered. Also there’s a postcard outside Mariana’s door with a quote from Electra in Greek. Mariana sees Fosca standing in the courtyard and goes over and shows him the postcard. He translates the Greek as “the gods have willed your death.” Mariana goes crazy and starts attacking Fosca. DCI Sanger shows up with Julian. Mariana explains that she thinks Fosca is the killer. The girls are under his spell. He was clearly involved with Tara and killed the others to cover. DCI Sanger says Fosca was given an alibi by Morris. The police seem to suspect Morris. Julian says that Mariana seems paranoid and unwell. DCI Sanger orders her to leave Cambridge or face charges for obstruction of justice.
The police take Morris away. Mariana meets with Clarissa and Zoe. Zoe denies being a Maiden. She says she went to the folly for the initiation and was given a drink spiked with GHB. Fosca touched her throat with a knife and then hid it, but she got away. Zoe announces she has now received a postcard (with an image of Iphigenia) from the killer. Mariana is alarmed and wants to take Zoe to London.
Mariana Finds The Main Clue to the Identity of the Killer!
Mariana is in Zoe’s room and finds a typewritten note hidden in her stuffed zebra. It’s a love letter to Zoe from someone who says he wants them to be together. Mariana is positive it’s from Fosca. Zoe shows up and tells Mariana she is ready to go find the knife she saw Fosca hide. They head to the Folly by boat, ending up at a building with a swan emblem. Zoe pulls out the knife and tells Mariana they are going for a walk. Mariana shows Zoe the letter she found in her room. Zoe says Fosca didn’t write the letter.
Who was the serial killer going after the Maidens?
According to Zoe, Mariana’s husband Sebastian is the one who wrote the letter to Zoe.
Zoe says she and Sebastian fell in love and consummated their relationship when Zoe was fifteen.
Sebastian killed Mariana’s father when he discovered that Sebastian was involved with Zoe.
Sebastian told Zoe that Mariana was in the way of them being together and had to die. Also, with Mariana out of the way, Sebastian and Zoe could have her money. But Sebastian said they needed a distraction from Mariana’s murder, something to throw the suspicion from them. Zoe told him about the Maidens and he planned the Maidens’ murders as cover. But then Sebastian drowned and Zoe decided to carry out the murder plan without him. Zoe threw suspicion on Fosca by getting Mariana to suspect him.
Zoe says she’s now going to kill Mariana and frame Fosca.
Fred shows up. Zoe rises up with the knife and Fred stabs him. Zoe is about to stab Fred again but Mariana hits her with a rock. Zoe falls on the knife, screaming hysterically . Mariana calls the police (finally).
DCI Sanger shows up and tells her that Fosca got fired for sleeping with all the Maidens. Morris was blackmailing him. Zoe and Fred get taken to the hospital.
Mariana is left completely shocked by the truth about Sebastian. Zoe has a complete mental breakdown and gets put into the Grove. Theo is her therapist. Mariana refuses to speak to Zoe. Mariana visits Fred and thanks him for saving her life. Months later she receives a letter from Theo, asking her to come to the Grove. Mariana tears up the letter. She finally agrees to go the Grove and see Zoe.
List of Characters in the Maidens
Mariana Andros – a 36 year old therapist who lost her husband 14 months ago. She’s been the guardian of her college-aged niece, Zoe, since Zoe’s parents died when Zoe was 10-12 years old. Mariana’s mother died when she was a baby and her father died of a heart attack five or six years ago. Lives in Primrose Hill, London.
Sebastian – Mariana’s late husband.
Zoe – 20 year-old student at Cambridge University and niece of Mariana.
Henry – Mariana’s troubled therapy patient.
Fred – 29 year-old theoretical physics student at Cambridge. (See more about Fred in suspect clues.)
Clarissa – Mariana’s former tutor at Cambridge
Mr. Morris – the porter at St. Christopher’s College, Cambridge.
Edward Fosca – a charismatic
Inspector Sangha – investigating Tara’s murder.
Julian Ashcroft – a forensic psychologist who studied in London with Mariana.
Ruth – Mariana’s training therapist
Theo Faber – studied psychology with Mariana, now a forensic psychologist
Tara – Zoe’s friend and the first murder victim
Conrad – Tara’s boyfriend, who is initially arrested for her murder.
Veronica – an American student and aspiring actress. Second murder victim.
Elsie – Zoe and Tara’s “bedder” or assigned housekeeper
Serena – the third murder victim
The Maidens – a group of female students who meet with Fosca. Natasha, Carla, Diya, Serena, Veronica, Lillian
Approximate Timeline for The Maidens
When I was going over the clues in The Maidens one more time, I found an interesting one: the timeline.
36 Years Ago – Mariana was born and her mother died.
17 Years Ago – Mariana met Sebastian at Cambridge when they were both 19. At some point they married.
7-8 years ago – Zoe’s parents died and Mariana and Sebastian took Zoe in. (Mariana says Zoe was away at boarding school when her parents died and that after her parents died, Zoe “finished her adolescence,” so I’m guessing she was 12-13 when this happened.)
5 years ago – Mariana’s father died of a heart attack (or murder) AND according to Zoe, she and Sebastian consummated their relationship when she was fifteen.
14 months ago – Sebastian drowned.
October 7 – the date of the killer’s chapters. Mariana says that Zoe calls her “that night in October.” If Sebastian did write the chapters and died 14 months ago, he would have had to have written them two years ago.
Clues Left in the Killer’s Chapters
The killer has left us a lot of clues (well, a few) in his chapters. Let’s run through them:
The journal/letter that makes up the killer’s chapters is dated October 7 and seems to be published in sections. I talk more about this in the timeline section above. The events in question also take place in October.
The killer is male – he says his parents wished for a girl
The killer says “there is more than one of me.” Does this refer to an accomplice, or a case of dissociative identity disorder? Perhaps the latter, as the killer also describes being “split in two” and wanting “to be whole.”
The killer kept a brown leather journal when he was twelve, the year he “lost” his mother.
The killer lives on a farm with lambs that are slaughtered.
His father is abusive to him and his mother. The killer says his father “punished” him – possibly sexual abuse.
His father killed his beloved dog.
When he’s twelve, his mother says she is leaving and will send for him. She asks him to keep her secret. He is furious, and dreams of cutting off her head.
The night his mother left, he wrote in his journal. Today he noticed two pages were missing. They were destroyed because they were dangerous. So he possibly killed his mother, or told his father she was leaving, and his father killed her.
He declares his love for Zoe and says he had a premonition they would be together and that she was his destiny.
The letter is signed “X.”
Who is the Killer in the Maidens? My Suspect List
Mariana Andros. Lately I’ve read a fair number of Big Twist thrillers in which an unreliable main character/narrator is the killer. Mariana has a) ties to Cambridge and b) seems little unhinged. But her bio doesn’t seem to match the killer’s. And she’s a woman.
Zoe. I was suspicious of her as she seemed like the last person I was supposed to suspect. Also, Elsie seems to suggest Zoe is sketchy. But Zoe’s bio/timeline didn’t match the details in the killer’s POV chapters, as she was orphaned as a young child. Plus, Zoe just seems to me to be too petulant and inept to carry out multiple murders without getting caught
Edward Fosca. I mean, Mariana TOTALLY thinks he did it, but he also seemed like an obvious red herring. He does tell Mariana that his father “brutalized” his mother. And serves Mariana rare lamb for dinner.
Henry. (Mariana’s troubled patient.) His father abused him, he self-harms with sharp objects, and he had a knife. But I decided he was also a red herring.
Theo. Mariana’s former classmate. As the main character in The Silent Patient, probably not! But maybe…
Conrad. He also seemed like a red herring and eventually was eliminated.
Morris, the porter. No real clues connecting him to the crimes.
SUSPECTS I WAS STILL CONSIDERING:
Julian. Mariana’s former classmate, also a psychotherapist who is consulting on the murder. But we aren’t told anything about him.
Fred. He seemed to pop up all the time and that definitely made me suspicious. There were a LOT of clues that pointed to Fred:
- He repeatedly says he has “premonitions,” just like the killer’s chapters.
- He is a strong swimmer and diver and visited Naxos, where Sebastian was killed.
- When Mariana visits his room, it’s filled with pages and pages of “scribbled writing.”
- He tells Mariana that he’s writing something about his mother who “left him” (then he says she died) when he was a young boy.
- He tries to give Mariana some sort of letter, but she refuses to take it.
Spoiler Discussion Questions for The Maidens:
I had a long discussion with someone who argued that The Maidens had WAY too many unresolved loose ends and red herrings. I can’t disagree, so here we go with some of my questions:
Was Sebastian really the mastermind?
Zoe says so. But we only have her word for it. Is she credible? I’m not so sure.
Clues that suggest that Sebastian planned the murders:
Mariana says her father hated Sebastian and didn’t want her to marry him. Did her father think that Sebastian was in love with Zoe? If so, why didn’t he say something?
Mariana also says that after Sebastian’s death, she found out that he had some major debts that he’d hidden from her. So he needed money, was hiding that from Mariana, and killing her would have been a way to resolve both problem.
Evidence against Sebastian planning the murders:
Mariana really seemed convinced that she and Sebastian were happy. She says Sebastian wanted them to have a baby during the time he was allegedly sleeping with Zoe.
Could Sebastian really have carried on an affair with Zoe for FOUR YEARS without anyone knowing? Sneaked to Cambridge repeatedly to be with her?
Could the Greek police really have mistaken Mariana’s father’s death by strangulation as a heart attack?
Did Sebastian really write the killer chapters?
Up until the part he declares his love for Zoe, the killer chapters fit Fred much better. Do we KNOW that the pages in the zebra are really part of the killer chapters and not just from some random secret admirer that Zoe had?
Mariana immediately thought the “letter” to Zoe was written by Fosca. But she was obsessed with Fosca, who (maybe) was the one who reminded her of her father.
Could Fred have written the killer chapters?
He does fit the profile of the killer chapters the best. Maybe the killer chapters (up to the ones in the zebra) were written by Fred and he tried to give them to Mariana to confess his mother’s murder to her.
Could Fred have killed Sebastian?
Wacky, but bear with me. Fred is 29 and is presumably doing an advanced degree at Cambridge. What if he:
While a student at Cambridge, saw Mariana and Sebastian visiting Zoe, and also saw Zoe and Sebastian cheating on Mariana
Killed Sebastian in Naxos.
Followed Mariana to Cambridge to protect her from Zoe/propose to her? And his confession is in the letter her tried to give Mariana? THE ONE SHE DID NOT READ!
Did Zoe and Sebastian really have an affair?
Again, we only have Zoe’s word for it, and after she says it she has a complete breakdown. Could it all have been in her head?
Did Zoe and Sebastian sleep together more than that one time? Mariana says she and Sebastian used to visit Zoe “often” n at Cambridge (though if Zoe has been at Cambridge only two years and Sebastian died 14 months ago in August, I’m not sure that’s even possible.) Was he sneaking to Zoe’s boarding school to sleep with her? Was he going to Cambridge to meet her? Did Elsie know about this and that’s why she seems to dislike Zoe?
Zoe DOES seem fixated on Sebastian. Mariana talks about how close they were. After the first murder, Zoe says “I wish Sebastian were here. He’d know what to do.” Mariana wants to go back to London but Zoe tells her “Sebastian would want her to stay.”
Elsie clearly does not like Zoe at all. She suggests that Zoe is arrogant and rude.
Loose Ends I Would Have Liked Tied Up:
- Some kind of independent confirmation of either Zoe’s confession or of the author of the pages.
- What happened to the killer’s brown journal? If Sebastian wrote the killer POV, did he kill his own mother?
- Why did Zoe and Sebastian decide to frame Fosca?
- What was the letter that Fred tried to give Mariana?
- What happened to the rest of the killer’s journal (besides the pages in the zebra.)
- More details/ confirmation on the Zoe-Sebastian relationship.
Check out my post on Crossover Characters and Places in The Silent Patient and the Maidens!
So Theo and two other characters from The Silent Patient pop up in The Maidens.
Are you wondering if Mariana and Zoe are in the Silent Patient? I am here to reveal all!
My World of the Silent Patient and the Maidens Post has all the answers: I list the crossover characters and places in The Silent Patient and The Maidens, plus I made a joint timeline showing you how the books fit together. It’s spoiler free!
Movie and TV Adaptations of The Silent Patient and The Maidens. What do we know? Will either of them make it to the screen?
Join our Spoiler Discussion for the Maidens in the comments!
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Thanks so much for stopping by my Spoiler Discussion and Plot Summary for The Maidens – if you love discussing thrillers, check out all my discussion posts here on my Armchair Book Club!
Yes I believe the Kill reference in the journal is the murder if Mariana’s father. Zoe admits that Sebastian had to kill him because he caught them and was going to tell Mariana.
Hi Lajju! How did Mariana miss all this?!?!?!?
Mariana said her dad died of a heart attack,in the olive grove.
Hi Roxana! Yes, that is what she thought happened to her father. But at the very end Zoe tells Mariana that her grandfather (Mariana’s dad) caught Zoe and Sebastian together in the olive grove and that Sebastian had to suffocate him to keep their affair secret.
Yes I agree. I think Zoe is nuts and made everything up. Maybe she has dissociative identity disorder. But… did Marianna mention if her dad died while she and Sebastian were visiting? I did an audio version and so I can’t go back. But if that were the case that would lend some credence to Zoe’s explanation.
Perhaps we’ll find out in the third book!
But overall, I don’t think Sebastian was behind all of this – the timeline doesn’t make sense. The whole affair thing wouldn’t have worked unless Sebastian travelled alone (perhaps business trips?), but also the planning of the murders – why did Zoe wait for 2 years to execute the plan, how did she know The Maidens and Fosca were still going to be around? I just think Zoe was jealous of Mariana because she was secretly in love with Sebastian, hated her and blamed her for his death and then came up with the Maidens plan as a revenge (+ lots of money to inherit).
That does make more sense. I did try to work out the timeline of Sebastian sneaking to London to see Zoe and having this alleged affair (I think I mentioned that in a prior comment or even my post but can’t remember) and it seemed a little questionable. However, didn’t Sebastian die just one year ago?
I do agree that Zoe is selfish and jealous (yes, she was orphaned so I will try to have some empathy for her) and got weirdly fixated on Sebastian.
Yes, he’s been gone for one year, my mistake. But still quite a long time to wait – what if The Maidens as a group had split up by then or Fosca had moved to teach somewhere else? I assume she was grieving, but this whole plan sounded to me like an after-thought more than anything else. And why go all the way, when Sebastian could have killed Mariana any time really, even when they were at Naxos?
I just can’t or don’t want to grasp this whole idea of Sebastian being involved. It just felt like the author did it for the sake of the big twist at the end and that ruined it for me a bit.
A much better ending would have been just Zoe going crazy and, I don’t know, explaining how much she hates Marianna because she got all the good thiings in life (a nice profession, a loving husband, money from her dad), while Zoe had lost everything.
I’m a psychologist and I understand how deeply such experiences can affect someone, so I do have a bit of sympathy for Zoe and I think this would have been a justified ending.
But one thing really got me interested in the whole revelation at the end – Theo told Marianna this: “Zoe is beginning to open up more – and I’m deeply disturbed by the secret world she shared with your late husband. I’m hearing things that are truly frightening. And I must say, Mariana, I think you’re extremely lucky to be alive.”
So in a way wouldn’t this be a confirmation of Sebastian’s involvement? Unless it’s an act/delusion on Zoe’s side, yet I’d expect that Theo can recognize the difference.
I think (based on my notes) that it was like 14 months since he died. I didn’t mean to nitpick your comment because I agree – why wait over a year? And I agree w/ you 100% that it makes much more sense that Zoe is the sole killer. Maybe Zoe just gets weirdly fixated on Sebastian, imagines he’s in love with her, imagines her grandfather’s death by heart attack was some grand gesture from Sebastian to protect their secret love affair. Then mean Mariana takes Sebastian off on a romantic trip and he doesn’t come back. This abandonment by Sebastian sets Zoe off (after the tragic loss of her parents) and Zoe has a complete breakdown and pretends she’s killing on his behalf but really she hates Mariana, hates the Maidens, hates Fosca, hates everyone.
As for Theo, I don’t know if you have read the Silent Patient, but maybe he’s not the most credible? Or maybe Sebastian did mess up and get involved with Zoe, kill the grandfather so that he doesn’t get caught cheating with his own niece and Mariana dumps him and he loses her $, but then just accidentally drowns, and that sets Zoe off, blaming Mariana for his death?
Either of those scenarios fits. I think.
I’m currently reading the Silent Patient and I spoiled myself accidentaly, so I think I know what you mean with Theo not being credible.
I agree with your scenarios, but I struggle internally to accept Sebastian as the bad guy. No idea why, perhaps because he was built up as a nice and caring person throughout the whole book, just to be completely shattered as a character and turned into a psychopathic liar, cheater and a killer. We should riot and demand a spin-off or a prequel with Sebastian’s life.
Haha. Poor Sebastian. It’s easy to blame a dead guy! I had Zoe on very low my suspect list because I was like nah, she’s too inept. I know that Michaelides loves a big twist but I feel like the Silent Patient twist was surprising and more credible.
However, just to be devil’s advocate, there are a few small facts that support the idea that Zoe’s story is fact, not fantasy:
1) Mariana’s father instantly disliked Sebastian
2) Sebastian had money problems that Mariana only found out about after his death. So he needed money, and killing Mariana would be the easiest way to get it.
3) As you pointed out, Theo does seem to say that Zoe is a victim too and that she and Seb shared some kind of frightening secret world
4) Demeter and Persephone killed Sebastian because he was evil (okay mostly joking but there is a quasi-supernatural feel to that part)
Still my favorite theory of yours is that Fred is the reincarnation of Sebastian!
Yes it’s Alivts, she lived!!
Hi Rose – do you mean Alicia? (Autocorrect can be so annoying!) Yep, I think most of us think it was Alicia at the end. If you haven’t already, check out my post on the World of The Maidens and The Silent Patient, where I discuss the connections between the two books.
Maybe Fred is Sebastian? He loves her immediately, asks to marry her ? He may be a reincarnation or an angel. Mariana is with him, but then turns to fined him, and “he seem to have disappeared”. I don’t think Sebastian was the killer, or that he was Zoe’s lover. Too far fetched ( like my ghost theory🤭) for a therapist to be fooled like that.
Hi Joyce! There is a #TeamFredisSebastianReincarnated so you are not alone! I have been meaning to go through all the theories and add them to the main post and I will do that soon! I hope you’re as excited as I am for the next book in this world!
was there any foreshadowing or flashbacks?
hi Morgan! Mariana thinks about Sebastian’s death toward the beginning, which is sort of a flashback. Looking back I do think there was also foreshadowing about Sebastian’s evil in those sections. On the trip to Greece when Sebastian dies, they visit Persephone’s temple and Mariana points out that in Greek Persephone is known as “maiden.” Then Mariana prays for her love with Sebastian and the sky darkens (as if Persephone is warning her that Sebastian is CHEATING with her niece, Zoe.) Persephone is goddess of death, so perhaps she takes Sebastian’s life in punishment for his transgressions. As sebastian is drowning, Mariana even thinks she hears the “cold, mocking laugh of a goddess”
Just a couple of scenarios though seem illogical:
1. What if Marianas found out about her husband’s ill-wish and betrayal (maybe without exactly knowing with whom he was cheating with) and (got) killed Sebastian?
2. What if Zoe actually lied made up everything about Sebastian, to protect the real mastermind?
I can see either of those as a possibility, though maybe option one is too much like The Silent Patient. Option two, definitely. There’s really NO independent evidence of Sebastian doing anything, except that (I think) Mariana’s dad didn’t approve of him.
Just finished this book, and multiple things bother me:
i just get really frustrated after reading a book like this that takes place over a very short period of time, and goes into explicit detail over hundreds of pages about time frames throughout the main plot, but then ties up the ending in just a few short pages. It often feels like a waste of time — like the author was up against a deadline and just had to quickly finish it, but leaves more loose ends than clears them up.
any way. Just frustrated.
Hi! Thanks SO much for sharing all your thoughts. I have not read this book in a while but here are my thoughts based on what I remember.
1. I agree. It seems SO improbable but I listened to the author as a guest on a podcast. He’s a very big Agatha Christie fan. He sees the Maidens as a “Christie love triangle,” which I guess means Zoe and Sebastian ARE a thing.
2. Yes, I tried to pin down the timeline too.
3. I guess Henry is just a red herring? I went SO into the weeds with Henry. I think I even thought he had some role in another book. Maybe The Fury? I’ll have to re-read that post and see.
4. Completely agree. She’s like a Mary Sue character BUT she also misses everything around her, which is another point he makes in the podcast. The woman with her eyes covered on the cover is supposedly Mariana, who is blind to everything going on. So again, while I agree with you, it seems like the author’s intention is that the ending is not Zoe’s insane fantasies about Mariana’s husband, but supposed to be taken at face value. And I agree, if the reveals had been more spaced out, it might have made sense. The fact that Zoe and Sebastian are both supposed to be so evil is a lot to take in right at the end.
5. Very fair point.
6. Yes, agree. I really tried to figure out why Fred was there except to distract us.