A review by evamalou
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

3.0

If I hadn't read 'the Secret History', I might have liked this book better. Honestly, it just felt like a rip off, switch the Greek tragedies with Shakespeare's tradegies and you've got this book. Only difference, The Secret History is worth 5 stars. The story was gripping at the beginning. Richard's physical and emotional abuse gave the story a lot of suspension. I kept asking myself, when will someone give this jerk what he deserves! But... Richard's actual death and this book felt the same to me. A strong built up, but eventually an enormous anti-climax. I didn't really care for who killed him, because I wasn't even fully aware he was actually killed until the last 100 pages (maybe my own fault for not catching on earlier), I mean, there were some hints of people hiding things about what happened that night, but everything that happened after Richard's death just felt like a drag. I would have liked to see more of their guilt and the way it ate them up, but they just kinda went on with their lives (and their Shakespeare plays which surprised me because, a (theater) student just died??). The ending (with James 'letter') did suprise me in a good way, it was one final plot twist. On the other hand, it felt a bit unnecessary, there were only like 5 pages left to read. Overall, 2,5 (biased) stars (because I just cannot not compare If We Were Villains with The Secret History).