The Villa: A Novel
The Villa: A Novel by Rachel Hawkins
Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Mystery & Thrillers
Format: Kindle
No. of Pages: 283
Date of US Publication: 3 January 2023
My Rating: 4 Stars
My Thoughts
Oh holy shit - this book!! The Villa pulled me in immediately, demanding my attention and time due to the writing and the terrific pacing of the story.
This is two stories in one book, a dual timeline and both timelines are equally compelling. I am notoriously picky when it comes to books like this, and I so very greatly enjoyed my reading of this that I am wholeheartedly recommending it, and hoping you like it as much as I did. Because, wow - I didn’t want to stop reading this one and kept thinking about it when I wasn’t reading it. I finished this over a weekend and really just can’t say enough about it. It was a seriously fun domestic drama.
Okay, Em and Chess’s ending? It fell a bit flat for me, which was a little disappointing but I stand by my absolute recommendation of this one because it’s compulsively readable.
eARC kindly provided by St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley. Opinions shared are my own.
Description
From New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins comes a deliciously wicked gothic suspense, set at an Italian villa with a dark history, for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware.
As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable. But by their 30s, their bond has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girls trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend.
Villa Aestas in Orvieto is a high-end holiday home now, but in 1974, it was known as Villa Rosato, and rented for the summer by a notorious rock star, Noel Gordon. In an attempt to reignite his creative spark, Noel invites up-and-coming musician, Pierce Sheldon to join him, as well as Pierce’s girlfriend, Mari, and her stepsister, Lara. But he also sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Mari writing one of the greatest horror novels of all time, Lara composing a platinum album––and ends in Pierce’s brutal murder.
As Emily digs into the villa’s complicated history, she begins to think there might be more to the story of that fateful summer in 1974. That perhaps Pierce’s murder wasn’t just a tale of sex, drugs, and rock & roll gone wrong, but that something more sinister might have occurred––and that there might be clues hidden in the now-iconic works that Mari and Lara left behind.
Yet the closer that Emily gets to the truth, the more tension she feels developing between her and Chess. As secrets from the past come to light, equally dangerous betrayals from the present also emerge––and it begins to look like the villa will claim another victim before the summer ends.
Inspired by Fleetwood Mac, the Manson murders, and the infamous summer Percy and Mary Shelley spent with Lord Byron at a Lake Geneva castle––the birthplace of Frankenstein––The Villa welcomes you into its deadly legacy.
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