The Villa: A Novel
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!
"Hawkins weaves an engrossing tale about betrayal, sisterhood, and the power of telling your own story. Captivating!" —People
"Hawkins is the reigning queen of suspense." —Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author
The bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs returns with a brilliant new gothic suspense set at an Italian villa with a dark history.
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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What Bookclubbers are saying about this book
✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI
Readers say *The Villa* by Rachel Hawkins features richly drawn characters and a dual-timeline narrative set in an atmospheric Italian villa. Many app...
This is a psychological thriller novel layered with a suspenseful dual story and timeline. We are a story within a story told decades apart.
The two timelines intertwine and get more interesting when Emily begins to find secrets and clues inside the villa about the murder that took place there in the past. These discoveries lead up to an unexpected turn and a few surprise twists in the story.
The Book is largely told from Mari’s perspective in the past, and Emily’s perspective in the present. Both Mari and Emily are effective narrators in very different circumstances. In 1974, a time famous for sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll, Mari knows she’s in a bit over her head. She is staying with her stepsister and three grown men in a secluded Villa. Emily, on the other hand, knows she’s directionless. After coming to terms with her pending divorce, financial difficulties, and the pressure to finish her upcoming book. Both find inspiration at the Villa to escape their pasts and the shadow of the men in their lives. Emily begins to read about Mari and the Villa Rosato Horror. Emily suspects that this was more complicated than people were led to think…
Overall, was a dual narrator that was easy to follow, and suspenseful! It’s about friendship/sisterhood and it makes you think about the lengths you might go for that certain bond. This was another great one by Rachel Hawkins. I love The Wife Upstairs, Reckless Girls and now…The Villa.
I had the "mystery" figured out pretty early on (#MassiveMysteryReaderProblems), but I could not stop reading!
Wonderfully done, but DAMN IT the ending. Feeling anger and frustration...but still loved it. Ha!
Emily and Chess have friends since elementary school and are both now writers. When Chess suggests a girl's trip to Villa Aestas, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her friend and jump start her stalled book series. When they arrive, Emily discovers the villa was actually the location of a murder in the 1970's when a group of 5 artsy, musicians stay at the villa to create new music. Emily is intrigued into the mysteries of the villa and begins searching for more clues as to what really happened and why. I had a hard time keeping the characters from the '70's straight and honestly just didn't find the story all that interesting. I hated reading about Emily's murder mystery series characters and Mari's story Lilith Rising. Too many stories in a book. Very slow burn...
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