What Do You Make of His Story?

I’d lie if I were saying I didn’t have high expectations for this book due to the author, Alex Michaelides, having such a hit thriller previously. When starting The Fury, I kept telling myself that it is a completely different book and to try to put the previous one out of my mind and not have certain expectations. At first glance you would think this is a classic whodunit kind of story, when really the people you follow and our narrator, Elliot Chase, are much more complicated than they appear. Elliot Chase introduces himself as the narrator and jumps in on telling this story. Lana Farrer is a giant movie star; everyone knows her name and face. She lives in London with her second husband Jason and son Leo. Then her close friend Elliot and Kate also live in London. Lana decides they could all use a vacation on her private island in Greece, so she calls her friends and invites them for Easter. They travel to this beautiful island and where they each are hiding their own agenda on what will happen that weekend. The story kicks off with giving you the knowledge that during this lavish vacation there is a murder and with that a murderer. What you don’t know is how our narrator, Elliot, gets you to that point and who this murderer is. You quickly find out how messy their lives are and how each person really has the potential to be the murderer. Each one has a motive, each one has the opportunity, but what you find out is not to trust everything you read.

Favorite Quotes – “We are all unreliable narrators of our own lives.”

“That’s why, these days, I repeatedly force myself to return to my own experience: not are they enjoying themselves? But am I? Not do they like me? But do I like them?”

“In case I am speaking to a young person now, let me give you something to hold on to: do not despair at being different. For that very difference, initially such a source of shame, so humiliating, and painful, will one day become a badge of honor and pride.”

“Character is fate.”