The Fury

by Alex Michaelides

I really wanted to like The Fury. I've enjoyed Michaelides's other books, and for much of this one I was on board. The buildup is steady, the isolated-island setting is intriguing, and I kept turning pages expecting it all to come together in a satisfying way. Instead, the novel completely unraveled at the end. Elliott started as a strong story teller and ended as a dud. I'm not sure whether it was the self-conscious narration style, the constant time jumps, or simply the writing itself, but the big reveal landed with a plop. The twists were more convoluted than clever, and the ending seemed to ask me to admire its ingenuity rather than actually earn it. I spent most of the book anticipating a payoff worthy of the suspense, only to find that the mystery's greatest trick was making me care far more about the setup than the solution.