If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio – Review

Published: April 11, 2017

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Series: N/A

Genre: Fiction, Mystery

Pages: 370 (Kindle)

My Rating: 4 Stars

Synopsis:
On the day Oliver Marks is released from jail, the man who put him there is waiting at the door. Detective Colborne wants to know the truth, and after ten years, Oliver is finally ready to tell it.

A decade ago: Oliver is one of seven young Shakespearean actors at Dellecher Classical Conservatory, a place of keen ambition and fierce competition. In this secluded world of firelight and leather-bound books, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingénue, extras.

But in their fourth and final year, good-natured rivalries turn ugly, and on opening night real violence invades the students’ world of make-believe. In the morning, the fourth-years find themselves facing their very own tragedy, and their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, each other, and themselves that they are innocent.

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Those damn theater kids have really done it this time! If We Were Villains follows a group of seven seniors in the theater program at a prestigious and highly competitive conservatory. It’s so competitive that cuts are made each year and those who are underperforming won’t make it through. Just imagine the mindset these seven people are in by the time they reach their final year and you will understand how they might crack from the pressure.

If We Were Villains is narrated by Oliver in the present day (2007) and begins as he is about to be released from prison after a ten year sentence. He is finally telling the true story about what happened during his senior year in 1997 to the cop responsible for the investigation that ultimately ended with Oliver convicted. What follows is an incredible tale of extremely dramatized interpersonal relationships and how seven close people ultimately break.

Oliver tells of the entirety of their senior year, including going through classroom scenes with their teachers Gwendolyn, Frederick, and Camilo. These seem to be mostly to set the tone, though I enjoyed them. Because these are theater students, the majority of If We Were Villains focuses on the rehearsal and then performance of the Shakespearean tragedies they’re assigned to perform. My very favorite scene is the Halloween production of Hamlet – it’s atmospheric as hell and I would LOVE to see a performance like that! This is also where much of the drama and tension begins because Richard, used to being the leading man, is assigned a *gasp* secondary role. The roles are secretly assigned and none of the group practice with one another, so he doesn’t know who did get the role he thought he deserved until the night of the performance. He spends so much of his time after this getting drunk and also trying to get his petty vengeance against his former friends. Added on to this is a beaucoup of relationship drama – Meredith (Richard’s girlfriend) keeps hitting on Oliver, James is in love with Wren, Oliver and James might also be in love but not know it yet. You see how complicated this gets?

I had a really great time reading If We Were Villains and I can see why it’s gotten the love it’s received over the years. After the death occurs right before Thanksgiving break, the six remaining actors begin to crumble from the guilt and stress and everything unravels horribly during the spring semester. Everyone began acting so strangely that I began to wonder if my theory about who committed the crime was correct, though to be fair, I already had two suspects in mind.  This was a suitably dramatic and atmospheric story, though I admit I found the continuous Shakespeare quotations to be tedious. Overall, If We Were Villains was a solid dark academia story.