A review by saguaros
The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

4.0

As in my previous review for this author’s first thriller The Wife Upstairs, it’s hard for me to say if this is actually a good thriller or not, as I’ve not read enough of them. I can say that I enjoyed this one a lot, even more than The Wife Upstairs. I think it’s a popcorn thriller—fast paced, easy read—and honestly I mean that positively. Sometimes that’s just what one needs. I enjoyed both timelines in the book: the present day where 2 writer friends stay at the villa and the 1974 past that was clearly a mix of Fleetwood Mac rock and roll messiness and the year without a summer where Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. I also always enjoy where there are some epistolary pieces in a story, in this case newspaper articles, interviews, podcast transcripts, song lyrics, and novel excerpts. I do think the ending lacked some bite and I was kinda disappointed with the lack of… violence? I guess? It felt like it was building towards something more explosive. Nevertheless, I still liked it and there’s something unnerving about the ending all the same. I’ve already started another thriller of hers.