The Villa - Rachel Hawkins
She read
The Villa - Rachel Hawkins
Release Date: Jan. 3, 2023
Chess and Emily have been friends since childhood. Chess is a richly successful writer of self help books. Emily is the moderately successful author of cosy mysteries, but her life is a bit upside down as she is getting divorced from a vengeful husband and has suffered from a mysterious illness. When Chess invites her to spend the summer in a villa in Orvieto, Italy, she accepts despite some tension in their friendship. Emily discovers that in the 1970s, the villa was the scene of a gruesome murder involving drugs, sex, rock and roll and a writer. A parallel storyline tells of that fatal summer.
As noted, there are two time/storylines here plus a book within a book and snippets from other fictional nonfiction books, a podcast, and a blog. All of that could be confusing, but they are clearly demarcated. There is an acknowledgment by the publisher that the setting/theme pays tribute to the events surrounding Mary Shelley’s penning of Frankenstein.
Much of the story, except for one big twist, was very predictable and I enjoyed the contemporary story more than the past one. Yet, I thought it a creative, engrossing read. I would characterize this story more as women’s fiction than a mystery or thriller. I’m sure it will be another best seller.
Thanks to #netgalley and #stmartinspress for the ARC
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