The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

 

Mariana Andros goes to Cambridge to be with her niece Zoe when Zoe's friend is found murdered.  A therapist, Mariana worries about Zoe's mental health after the death.  They are both still grieving the recent death of Mariana's husband.  Simon and Mariana raised Zoe after the death of her parents in an accident.  Zoe has more experience with loss than most her age and Mariana worries that this death may be more than Zoe can handle.

Zoe's friend is just the first.  There is a group of young women who flock around a charismatic professor, Edward Fosca.  After observing him, Mariana is convinced he is the murderer and sets out to prove it.  The police are not convinced, viewing Mariana as an amateur who doesn't have any proof to back up her theories.  They are right but Mariana is convinced her training has given her the ability to diagnose Fosca as a psychopath.  As the murders continue, can Mariana get the proof she needs?

This is Alex Micahelides' second novel.  Like his successful first novel, The Patient, it is based in the world of psychological practice.  As Mariana attempts to prove her theory, she finds that she has put herself in danger, drawing attention from the killer.  I'm not sure that universities would allow the kind of female adulation of a male professor that the book documents or that the police would give Mariana even the amount of attention she gets in the book for her theories.  Those two elements don't ring true for me but work in the book to build tension.  This book is recommended for thriller readers.