If We Were Villains

“...violence has to come from a place of violent feeling or the audience won't believe it.”

For a genre I rarely read about plays I've never watched/read, this was incredibly engaging. Oliver is part of a group of fourth year drama students who were very good friends, up until they very much weren't. We're taken along with this group as they navigate their final year at Dellecher Classical Conservatory and get to know them as they work on studying for various roles. One of them turns up dead, however, and the group starts to fall apart in dramatic fashion.

I liked the dual viewpoints of this book especially. It's from the point of view of Oliver looking back on events with a detective who worked the case, so we get present day scenes with Oliver and Detective Colbourne and past events with Oliver and his friend group. Oliver was imprisoned for the murder and was just released as the book opens, but did he do it?

The book is a bit of a slow burn, but I appreciated getting to know these students and having them matter to me before the murder occurs. The inclusion of lines from plays and dramas was fitting for the setting, and I thought were really well done and chosen. The ending was almost a miss for me, but the rest of the book was such a trip that anything else was just an incredibly minor point.

I've never been a drama student and don't derive pleasure from Shakespeare, but that didn't stop me from really enjoying this book. Highly recommend if you're looking for a well written character drama/thriller.