M.L. Rio

As someone holding a theatre degree from a small, private university, this book gave me chills. Beautifully written, it captivated from page 1! The sheer number of direct Shakespearean quotes included is astounding and the friends' manner of speaking is just downright fun for any fellow lovers of the bard. This raised nostalgia for old school days, but also warned of the dysfunctional emotional heights bred from putting too much pressure in a role. As Oliver says, Shakespeare's characters show more "live in a world of real extremes... it's not melodrama, though, they're not exaggerating. Every moment is crucial." And more, "A good Shakespearean actor... doesnt just SAY words, he FEELS them." And what thespian doesn't spend their lives forever chasing those impassioned moments? show less

When I described this book to one of my friends, she said "oh, it's dark academia genre - that's what my 16 year old calls it". I hadn't heard that description yet, but it certainly fits!

This book is a mystery/thriller set at a small arts college in Illinois. The main characters are fourth year acting students in an extremely competitive Shakespeare program. The class is whittled down each year and the talented seven are the last ones standing. They have become incredibly close over the show more four years, but are they friends? Tensions are seething and they are becoming violent with each other. The whole story, including the death of one of them and the aftermath, is being narrated by Oliver, who is telling the story to the detective who worked on the case after the detective is retired and Oliver has been released from prison. It's clear that Oliver, though he's been in jail, may not have been the actual killer. Or is it an unreliable narrator situation?

The seven have complicated relationships - they know tons about each other, but at the same time they are all keeping secrets. Meredith has been dating Richard (the one who dies) and she is beautiful and sexy and talented. Oliver and James are roommates and best friends, but Richard's death reveals some weaknesses in their friendship. Alexander is gay and increasingly using drugs and alcohol to numb himself. Wren and Filippa round out the group and try to bring a bit of grounding to the group.

The author does a fantastic job of creating a realistic group dynamic between these artistic young adults. They are competitive but also each other's support system. It's set in the 1990s and she gets that era just right (they were my college years while doing a music performance degree as well!). She gets how they are all at the age where they are trying to create themselves but also being pulled back into home situations with parents and siblings. AND she works tons of Shakespeare into the book. Of course the actual plays they are doing are part of it, but the group also has their own internal language that incorporates Shakespeare quotes and I found this totally realistic when I think of the actor friend groups I've been on the fringes of.

Definitely recommend this when you're looking for a mystery/suspense novel that is smart and engaging. show less

Okay, okay. I waited a tad to marshal my thoughts. They are: Holy Shit. Damn. Read This book. Pterodactyl screech.

The plot and pacing of this novel builds so slowly that you almost miss it as it speeds up. The layering and nuance provided by the decision to bounce back and forth through time was impeccable. Revealing details of the past at the exact right moment for them to become relevant to the present *chef's kiss*.

I already knew going in that I would love the writing style, having read show more other works by this author. The characters are so deliciously complicated and human. Suzanne is a raw nerve still processing her father's recent passing. She embarks on a bat out of hell journey that can only be described as running. But, what, dear reader, is she really running from. A by all accounts flaccid marriage, her grief, or that one thing she witnessed when she was eleven.

Full disclosure, there is a moderately graphic scene or two featuring drug use, and violence. What this book is emphatically not, however, is horror. It just isn't. What it is, is a beautiful coming of age story presented in a way that is raw, and human, and messy. This book will rip your heart out in the best way possible. show less

***SPOILERS HIDDEN***

I was interested in reading If We Were Villains because I’d heard it’s like Donna Tartt’s [b:The Secret History|29044|The Secret History|Donna Tartt|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1451554846l/29044._SY75_.jpg|221359], a book I adored. It does resemble that work in many ways: It’s narrated in the first person by a twenty-something male protagonist and is a literary mystery featuring a group of students in an uppercrust show more academic setting. When a crime occurs in their final school year, the kinship they’ve taken for granted is threatened. Unfortunately, these books are similar only in this superficial way. If We Were Villains has none of what makes The Secret History so gripping.

This is a strange addition to the mystery genre. On the one hand, I give M.L. Rio credit for writing a literary mystery from a unique angle; on the other, I don’t think there’s a way to blend the Bard and mystery without Shakespeare overload. A book about theater students demands that a certain amount of the story be devoted to describing their acting in plays, and for this book, it really helps to be passionate about Shakespeare. A few Shakespeare plays figure prominently, with pages devoted to recitation of dialogue and stage and costume description. The playwright is quoted liberally, and not just when the students are on stage; they constantly quote him to each other out of the blue, in the middle of conversations. It’s pretentious and comical at the same time. It slows things down as the quotes need to be interpreted. Rio holds a master's in Shakespeare studies and it looks like she was dead set on putting her extensive knowledge to use. Even the most avid Shakespeare fans may find their enthusiasm dampened and patience tested.

Mystery fans will be less than enthusiastic too. The story is organized nicely, with the flashbacks and present day complementing each other, but the pacing is off. This is much too slow for a mystery, a genre where the usual expectation is that the pacing will be brisk and the suspense level high. If We Were Villains is not only unsuspenseful but also somehow both hurried and slow. Clues and answers constantly feel right around the corner but instead are very stingily doled out. At the same time, momentum is disrupted repeatedly by detailed Shakespeare performances. Frustratingly, the resolution is farfetched--but only because a gay-romance sub-plot that could have made the ending plausible wasn’t developed and came into play too late in the story. It feels thrown in to justify the improbable ending.

I don't know for sure whether Rio was inspired by The Secret History, but it seems like she was. Assuming so, in addition to copying its surface characteristics, she attempted to copy its structure, opening with a prologue narrated by the protagonist. Where Rio deviated from that model is exactly where her plotting is weak: Although in The Secret History the narrator names the crime victim in the present-day prologue, chapter one flashes back to the beginning, when the narrator meets the core character group. From there, characters are fleshed out and relationships established until the crime happens at the end, hitting hard.

In If We Were Villains, the story flashes back too, but the crime happens at the beginning--too early on, before the characters have been fleshed out and before their relationships to each other are clear. As a result, it’s impossible to become emotionally invested before the tragedy, and it therefore doesn’t hit hard. I never at any point felt sadness for the crime victim or pity for the rest of the group as it struggles in the aftermath. The characters remain one-dimensional and their relationships uninteresting right to the end, and my apathy also remained. This isn't to say If We Were Villains should have been a replica of The Secret History, but rather, the characteristics the two have in common are the most inconsequential.

I looked forward to reading this and wanted badly to love it. As a fan of Shakespeare, The Secret History, school settings, and close-knit character groups, I was absolutely positive I would. But although If We Were Villains is well-written, the dominant Shakespeare focus gets in the way and ultimately adds nothing; the similarities to The Secret History don’t matter; the characters are merely names; and the school setting lacks atmosphere. This is supposed to be a journey and a dramatic Shakespearean-like tragedy, but it’s just way too much Shakespeare and not enough mystery. show less