Rio does a good job of nailing the camaraderie developed within a theatre company and the clashes of personality. All of the characters are pretty much fit a caricature, and I didn’t really connect with anyone other than our main character Oliver. The book largely focuses on the daily lives of the seven fourth-year acting students at their elite performing arts university. I think this is a book people will either love or hate I should have DNF’d it early on to save myself the frustration but I was curious about the mystery (but on that front was left largely wanting.) So many friends spoke so highly of it that I went in with tough-to-meet expectations, and unfortunately, they were not met. Click here for more info.Īs a former Thespian and lifelong lover of Shakespeare, If We Were Villains is a book I should have loved. This post uses affiliate links and I may receive a small commission for purchases made through my links at no additional cost to you. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless.

But when the casting changes, and the secondary characters usurp the stars, the plays spill dangerously over into life, and one of them is found dead. Detective Colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happened a decade ago.Īs one of seven young actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra. On the day he’s released, he’s greeted by the man who put him in prison.

Oliver Marks has just served ten years in jail – for a murder he may or may not have committed.

If we were villains book 2