What readers think of If We Were Villains, plus links to write your own review.

This isn't your ordinary murder mystery. This is so cleverly done, even as you read the last page, you're saying, "Wait! WHAAAAT?" I learned a few things from this book. For instance, I never knew there were college kids who majored in Shakespearean drama and who could carry on entire conversations in Shakespearean English. I never knew kids could become obsessed with Shakespeare at 11 years of age. This book was engaging from the jump and kept you wondering until (and past) the end. I would've given it 5 stars except I'm not sure everyone would enjoy the Shakespearean quotes which are on practically every page. If you're into the Bard, then you've hit the jackpot. If you like a good mystery, a good story, then you, too, will enjoy this book.

Shakespeare comes to life in this suspense novel that takes place at an elite arts college. The story moves back and forth between the events at the school and ten years forward. The novel centers on seven fourth year theater students and the murder of one of them. The school year is organized around the performance of several of Shakespeare's plays. The students are so immersed in the playwright that they often speak to each other using quotes from the plays. They become actors in the drama. As the horrible events take place the group becomes detached from reality. Sometimes it seemed that they thought they were in a play rather than experiencing real life. There's excessive drug and alcohol use as well as a lot of violence. I recommend this book if you like suspense and Shakespeare. I am not that familiar with all of his plays, so at times I found it hard to follow some of the dialogue.

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book tells the story of a group of fourth year theater students attending Dellecher Classical Conservatory, an elite college for the arts that has a slightly unorthodox approach to advancement. Each year only certain students are allowed to advance to the next year's level, which for this particular story resulted in a group of 7 unusually close senior year theater students. In this particular group, the line between friend and enemy is continually blurred and tensions reach new heights. The story is narrated by one of these seven students, Oliver Marks, who when we first meet him is at the end of his 10 year prison sentence. We meet him as he begins to tell the story of what actually happened a decade ago to Detective Colborne, his arresting officer. Colborne has been haunted by this case the past ten years because he never believed that Oliver was actually the killer. And as the story of that year unfolds, there are many layers to be peeled back before the truth can be uncovered. There are heroes and damsels, tragedy and comedy, lovers and friends. And in the end, there is more than one villain.
Overall I really liked this book a lot. I thought it was so different and so interesting. As the theater student's curriculum centers mostly around Shakespeare, there were many different passages from his various works woven into the story line and the conversations, and I just loved it. You could feel how young the group of them were, even though they were dealing with such intense adult problems. And Oliver was perhaps the most innocent of them all, and seeing the story through his eyes added that extra layer of naivete. After the murder Oliver and his remaining friends fall to pieces, each of them dealing with their own feelings of guilt and responsibility in different ways. Centered within Oliver's story is his best friend, James, and his love interest, Meredith. The roles here even are oftentimes blurred, as Oliver's feelings for James are not so easily categorized into the label of "friends." That was one of the things I loved most about this book was how well it portrayed that love and hate are on the same spectrum of emotion, and if you feel one it is very easily turned to the other side of the spectrum when a person is pushed to their limit. I also thought the character development in this novel was really well done, I could feel everything that Oliver felt with such strength that I felt sucked into the story itself. The story was heart-warming and heart-breaking all in one and while I was a little surprised at the ending I really just enjoyed this book so much. I would most definitely recommend and I can't wait to see more from this author in the future!

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts" - Shakespeare. This book is divided into Acts and Scenes rather than chapters to emphasize this point and Shakespeare's words have become a language that the student actors speak to each other in daily life rather than simply on the stage. Shakespeare is quoted extensively as the group performs Macbeth and King Lear. (Shakespeare's Edmund speaks the book title in King Lear.) If you read carefully, you will guess the resolution. There is one more twist at the end. St. Elmo's Fire, A Little Life-minus the abuse, and The Lacuna provide the patchwork around Shakespeare's words forming the story. "Much is the force of heaven-bred poesy".

At the end of 40 pages, I was thinking of dumping this book and not finishing it, that it was not my kind of book. But I kept on reading and ultimately, the immersion of the characters in their love of Shakespeare's dramas, in their love of the art of acting, and in their day-to-day living and using Shakespeare's language, won me over, and I found myself unable to stop reading. The solution to the mystery surprised me, and reminded me of the quote about man's inhumanity to man. I have already recommended this book to a friend who enjoys reading Shakespeare

Here is a multidimensional story that hits all the right keys in the dramatic arsenal. And that is no surprise, given it is populated by a cast of Shakespearean actors. Creative arts-focused book groups take note! Here is a novel that will excite your discussion with its many layered references to the classics, the art of theater, and the coming of age of a group of earnest and dedicated young actors. The young thespians take a dark turn as they reach the end of their college training and their impassioned rivalries take on renewed vigor. Fueled by lust for success, each other and a drug and alcohol haze, the actors' personal ambitions, loyalty to each other and devotion to art all lay exposed. Omniscient narrator Oliver takes his time unfolding the action and the reader's patience may be tested by the fourth years' dramatics. Will they lose themselves in the personas of their roles or will their essential characters rise above the artifice of theater? M.L. Rio's story pays homage to Lord of the Flies, Donna Tartt's Secret History, an endless loop of Midsomer Mysteries and, of course, Dostoyevsky.

This is an easy book to get into and stay with, as long as you pay attention to the characters in the beginning. There is certainly plenty of drama in the plot, but as with any good drama, the characters drive the story. It is an interesting setup - theater students putting on plays, living their lives as dramatically and tragically as the characters they portray, often speaking in Shakespearean English when conversing with each other offstage, finding the Bard's words preferable to their own, or maybe just so very immersed in their studies, or perhaps showing off a little. A Shakespeare aficionado would really have a good time with this book, and those of us with passing knowledge and interest may find it entertaining and once in a while a little tiring - the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars. And be prepared for real tragedy. I look forward to Rio's next effort.

A third of the way into this book I was still struggling and sure I was never going to finish it and really hate it; but all of a sudden, I was captured.

The story of a group of fourth year Shakespearean actor-in-training students, wearing their art, love, sex, drama, hate and egos on their chests and even talking to each other in dialogue was almost too much. And then I cared about them and why everything happened.

I am sure this will be compared to Donna Tartt's The Secret History but it also bears a stylist resemblance to Liane Moriarty's books, where we are in the present but looking back at what did or did not happen that fateful time.