Books to Read if You Loved The Maidens

Fans of The Maidens should definitely check out Alex Michaelides’ debut novel, The Silent Patient. Both are dark psychological thrillers with vibrant characters and shocking twists. They also draw on Greek myths to tell their gripping tales. In The Maidens, a Cambridge student’s murder sets off a baffling campus mystery. In The Silent Patient, criminal psychotherapist Theo Faber is determined to understand why a famous painter named Alicia Berenson brutally shot her husband — and why she now refuses to speak.

Both The Maidens and The Plot are dark academia books, which makes them perfect companion pieces. The Maidens focuses on a secret campus society and a potentially dangerous Greek tragedy professor by the name of Edward Fosca. In The Plot, Jean Hanff Korelitz introduces us to a different kind of professor — one with dubious ethical boundaries. When washed-up writing teacher Jacob Finch Bonner discovers that his former student passed away before finishing a promising novel, Bonner decides to take the plot and pass it off as his own. Years later, an ominous e-mail threatens to destroy Bonner’s revived career. Now the professor must confront his fateful choice and uncover the stolen narrative’s true origins before it’s too late.

Like Alex Michaelides, Tana French is a New York Times bestselling author and a master at crafting dark tales of suspense. And like The Maidens, The Secret Place takes place in an academic environment. This time, it’s a boarding school for girls, where a boy has been murdered. A year later, the murder remains unsolved. When a new clue prompts the reopening of the case, a team of detectives — including Frank Mackey, the father of a student at the school — must uncover the truth. Fans of The Maidens’ dark and elegant style will love this gem of a novel.

Like The Maidens, Case Histories boasts an intricate narrative that draws you in and doesn’t let you go until the last page is turned. The book centers on Jackson Brodie, a private detective who’s investigating three seemingly unrelated cases. The first incident occurred some 30 years ago, when a little girl went missing in the middle of the night. Now Brodie must figure out how the decades-old disappearance connects to one mother’s shocking fit of rage and an apparently random attack on a young office worker.

Ian K. Smith’s The Ancient Nine is sure to appeal to readers who enjoyed The Maidens’ focus on cloak-and-dagger cliques. Like Michaelides’ novel, Smith’s tale dives into the dark rituals of a shadowy secret society. Harvard students Spenser Collins and Dalton Winthrop have just been tapped to join the ultra-elite campus group known as the Delphic Club. The invite is too good to pass up. Yet the more they look into the club, the more alarming questions they unearth and the closer they get to the Ancient Nine, a mysterious group of all-powerful alums who will do whatever it takes to keep their secrets hidden.

Greek mythology plays a key role in The Maidens, given that Greek tragedy professor Edward Fosca is obsessed with the rites of Persephone and her journey to the underworld. Jennifer Saint also draws on Greek mythology to forge her beguiling tale. Her novel follows Ariadne, princess of Crete, and her quest to overcome her brother, a monster known as the Minotaur. With the help of Theseus, Prince of Athens, Ariadne takes on the monster. But her decision to betray her blood has fateful consequences.

The Burning Girls is as terrifying as it is exciting, striking a tone similar to that of The Maidens. It centers on Rev. Jack Brooks, who moves to Chapel Croft, a remote village with a sordid history and a cast of unusual residents. When the reverend and his teenage daughter receive an ominous welcome package, it becomes clear that there’s more going on in this village than meets the eye. The Burning Girls is steeped in the supernatural, yet at its heart, it’s a tale about history, secrecy, and conspiracies — perfect for any fan of The Maidens.