A review by ronnieb
The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Trigger Warning: Chronic Sickness, Death of a Child, Drug Abuse

I did not expect this book to work for me as much as it did. After liking “The Wife Upstairs” a lot and being really disappointed by “Reckless Girls” I was not even going to give this one a try. I did not pay attention to the plot at all so when I was looking for a quick audiobook and it was available at my library I decided to just try. Looking into I probably would have found it interesting because it has tropes I love. Friends taking a trip to a secluded location, multiple timelines, those timelines overlapping. These are all classic tropes that get me all the time. 

The back-and-forth tension between the timelines was so exciting and kept me hooked. The frenemy of the Emily/Chess relationship that mirrored the rocky Mari/Laura was a solid narrative choice that keeps the reader engaged but both timelines were distinct enough to not get lost in which POV you were in. The chapters were long and would move back and forth a lot which using the audiobook was easy to track but when reading physically I dislike long chapters so that is something to note that could affect the enjoyment level one may feel. I think the thriller/mystery elements were maybe obvious but added to the tension because you could feel these large confrontations coming it was just a matter of when and what would blow the lid for everything. 

Overall, I loved this. Is it the best, most shocking, well-written mystery-thriller novel? No, but it is fun and quick which will be perfect for Summer beach reads or a quick afternoon read. 

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