The Night Villa

Really enjoyed the Roman mythology and the mystery in this story. I saw the traveling Pompeii exhibit a few years ago so I could relate to the fear this people were feeling as the mountain was rumbling. There is a modern portion of the story told by interesting characters and there is a historical story told through papyrus that they have found during an archeological dig. I was captivated from the beginning to the final page of this novel. Great descriptions of Capri really help to bring the novel to life, it is easy to picture this beautiful island.

I have really loved most of Carol Goodman's previous books and have been entranced by the stories she creates. Unfortunately, I didn't think The Night Villa was quite up to those standards. While still an enjoyable read, the story seemed more formulaic and I wasn't even too sure what the mystery was until well into the book. I didn't really care deeply about the characters. I also thought the ending was a little too pat, and, while satisfying in some ways, was not very realistic.

Sophie is a professor of Archaeology who is coerced into joining an expedition to Pompeii when the other professor who was supposed to be going is murdered. The team is excavating "The Night Villa" which was situated on the coast and possibly inhabited by a young woman named Iusta about whom Sophie has written extensively. A scroll is discovered that might reveal whether Iusta was a slave or had been granted her freedom. There is also intrigue, around the murder of the professor and some other mysterious events at and around the dig site.
I wasn't a big fan of Sophie as a character who seems both too involved and not involved enough in the life of her young female student. I mean, there's some wisdom Sophie could impart which might have show more been helpful, but also Sophie is a pretty hot mess herself.
The historical information presented in the book was fascinating, but a lot more of it turned out to be made up for the purposes of this tale than I expected when I went about looking it all up.
I've been a big fan of Carol Goodman's books before, but this was a pretty disappointing example of her work in my opinion. show less

Atmospheric descriptions of ancient Italy.

I enjoyed my first two Carol Goodman novels, The Lake of Dead Languages and Seduction of Water, but this one seemed a bit one dimensional in comparison. I loved the descriptions of the archaeological site known as The Night Villa, and the story of the slave girl, Iusta, that was gradually being unveiled by multi-spectral imaging of the papyrus scrolls on which it had been written. Unfortunately I wasn't grabbed by the modern day characters or the 'adventure' story.

Archaeological professor, Sophie Chase, is recovering from a traumatic event on her University campus when she is persuaded to take part in a dig in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius. In the labyrinth of tunnels under the villa, the show more researchers find a number of valuable antique documents that become the target of money making moguls and a modern day religious cult whose rites are based on based on old scripts.

I visited Herculaneum and Pompeii a few years ago and could well imagine the old paintings and mosaics, and the sand coloured walls of the ancient villa. The tunnels underground made it even more atmospheric and I'm fascinated by archaeology. However, the characters didn't grab me and the subterranean chase felt more like a scene from The Hobbit than anything genuinely historic. According to Carol Goodman's web page, the story of Iusta is based on the life of a slave girl who lived at the time of the volcanic eruption, which I found fascinating, but the mythological stuff was, personally, of less interest.

All in all, a bit of a marmite book; good in parts. Probably best recommended to lovers of mythology and archaeology.

I listened to an audio version, expertly narrated by Susanna Burney

Other Carol Goodman novels I have read:
The Lake of Dead Languages (4 stars)
Seduction of Water (4 stars) show less

This was my first Carol Goodman book and while it drew me in enough as a mystery to keep reading to the end, I found that there was too much flowery writing for my taste; too many similes, metaphors, and big stretches to link myth with what was going on in the book. But having read some of the other reviews about this book, I may try one of Goodman's earlier works, since many reviewers who are familiar with her work seemed disappointed by this one. The book did stir up the desire to read more about Herculaneum and Pompeii (a National Geographic article about Pompeii that I read as a child has always stuck with me) and perhaps even travel to Italy to see the ruins, so that was a good outcome.

This is my second Carol Goodman novel. I previously read The Drowning Tree and loved it. I also thoroughly enjoyed The Night Villa, with its lovely descriptions of Capri and Naples. I could almost smell the ashes from Vesuvious. Ms Goodman is now on what I call my REB group of authors which means that I will hunt down and read every book she writes.

This is the best of the Carol Goodman's books I have read so far.I have just finished The Ghost Orchid - well actually I couldn't finish it. The Night Villa is far-fetched but the detail about Naples and Herculaneum are really quite interesting and I did want to press on and read the whole story. I am a fan of Roman history and found some of the details quite fascinating. She got a bit carried away at the end and of course there were far too many coincidences for my taste but overall worth reading provided you are relatively forgiving.