I'm happy that I read The Maidens before The Silent Patient because this one was a little underwhelming.

*spoilers below!*

The Maidens is a dual POV between the main character, Marianne, a widow who starts investigating a murder of one of her niece's friends, and the murderer. This was probably my favorite part of the novel, getting to see inside the killer's head as you're trying to figure out who they are alongside Marianne. The killer's POV's adds an extra layer of intrigue and darkness to the story, which is kind of needed to keep it interesting as Marianne's POV starts to become repetitive.

She seems to therapize most conversations but doesn't seem to be able to connect to the characters around her (which could be due to her still being very much in mourning of her late husband).

One of my least favorite things about this story is how every male character seems to jump at Marianne, or is a complete ass. And the only one who isn't, Fred, comes out of nowhere and is a very forced love interest. There's a scene where she is discussing the investigation with Fred (again, not much development from being a complete stranger) and he jokes about wanting to marry her. It felt very out of place, contributing to me thinking Fred was going to end up being the murderer.

Zoey, her niece, was a very unlikeable character, which now after reading the ending makes total sense (iykyk).

Overall, I only gave 3 stars because of the pacing of the book. It seemed to drag a little, being mostly conversations Marianne was having with people or internally. It wasn't very action based, and I think to keep the twist a secret there weren't any clues pointing to the murderer, and it made some of the plot fall flat. I think the author could have slyly added more backstory to the murderer (since it's a character very close to Marianne) without being obvious about it. The middle of the story really just needed more substance and action to keep it interesting.

However, I was surprised by the twist in the story, and I think Marianne's struggle with melancholy and loss is very well written.