The Villa
The Villa
By: Rachel Hawkins
[This was on my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2023]
[This book was nominated for the ‘Best Mystery/Thriller’ category of the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards Reading Challenge ]
“She hadn’t thought that perhaps houses hold on to the bad with the good, just as people do.”
My first thought while reading this book was that it was reminiscent of the Netflix movie ‘The Weekend Away’: two friends get away together in a foreign country, one is responsible and going through a rough patch in marriage, the other is an unreliable free spirit with love problems. Something bad happens and the main protagonist (the responsible one) has to figure out what’s going on. (And a couple more things that would be spoilers)
One thing that made this book different than The Weekend Away is that the Italian (rather than Croatian) villa Emily and her friend, Chess, are staying in has a haunted past. Decades ago a high profile murder occurred in that very house.
The first line of the book is “Houses remember.”
It’s telling.
Emily is an unhappy author, tired of writing cozy mysteries with characters based on her life that’s currently falling apart, and finally, in Croatia, is inspired to write about what happened in the house all those years ago. Her discoveries reveal hidden secrets, both old and new, and the house may claim another victim.
The book goes back and forth between past and present.
Present: Emily and Chess navigate their complicated friendship as they each invest time in writing their own books, intrigued by the horrors of the past.
“How is it that someone can bring out the very best and the very worst of you all at once?”
Past: Writer Mari, her musician boyfriend Pierce, and musician stepsister Lara, are invited by famous musician Noel Gordon to his luxurious villa in Italy. A summer of music, sex, and drugs result in one murder and two artistic masterpieces.
The story goes: “A musician beaten to death by some lowlife, in an argument that got out of control because everyone involved was high out of their minds.”
But what really happened?
First, in case I’ve given you the wrong impression— this is not a paranormal book. The house is not its an active and haunting entity.
Second, I had a good deal of it figured out, mostly because I had just watched that movie (which is completely unrelated, btw).
Third, the ‘past’ timeline is light on music and heavy on the sex and drugs. There is also a lot of language.
Fourth, it’s possible it’s just my digital copy, but the flow was a little confusing at times with jumping back and forth, plus there are excerpts from the book Mari was writing during her timeline. So parts of it felt disjointed.
Fifth, the characters were largely unlikable. Maybe some like Mari, but she was kinda a home-wrecker and blind not to see that her boyfriend was a selfish douche. Chess is the wild friend trope that annoys me and gives me anxiety. Of all the characters Emily is the most likable, but she’s got her own issues too.
It’s one of those thrillers that’s mysterious because it’s dysfunctional.
Of all the things, the third thing holds the most weight for me. The first thing is a positive. The second thing lowers my rating a little bit but I liked that there was a ‘mystery’ in both timelines and I’m not sure if the ‘answers’ were obvious or if I just got lucky with my recent movie choice.— plus I liked the ending. The fourth and fifth things aren’t major problems in terms of mystery and suspense but takes down the ‘pleasure’ aspect of reading it.
Recommendation
This was a highly anticipated book for 2023. I have not read Hawkins before. I may read another one of hers. Her book The Wife Upstairs was nominated for best mystery/thriller in 2021. But if all of her books have 100 f-words, I won’t be reading any more.
This is one that’s hard for me to give a recommendation on.
I think there are people who will really like it, but there’s some content that will put others off. I guess if you’re on the fence about it, I would say to just skip it. There’s plenty of books to read out there, better not to waste your time if you’re not sure.
[Content Advisory: 100 f-words, 53 s-words, a couple c-words, implied sex, including a threesome]
**Received an ARC via NetGalley**
This book releases January, 2023. You can order a copy using my affiliate link below.
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