#77 in Thriller
If We Were Villains
- 368
- Pages
- about 7 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“If We Were Villains” sets a murder among final-year students at a Shakespeare conservatory and thrives on its hothouse atmosphere. Friendships and rivalries drive this debut, and readers who fall for it speak of real tension and an ending that stays with them. Others find it pretentious, the twist easy to guess and the women thinly written. A fondness for theatre helps, though it is not required.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
If We Were Villains is the debut novel of American author M. L. Rio, first published in 2017 by Flatiron Books. The novel concerns a murder mystery surrounding Oliver Marks, a former actor at the fictional Dellecher Shakespeare conservatory and primarily takes place during his fourth and final year at the conservatory. A series adaptation of the novel is in development.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.8 across 704 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 83% of the weight and the score stays at 7.8 — the Thriller average of 7.6 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.6 | 24 | 3% |
| Hardcover | 7.8 | 680 | 97% |
Frequently asked
How long is If We Were Villains?
It has 368 pages — shorter than 66% of the ranked books in Thriller.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Thriller — with scores between 7.6 and 7.8, closest to this book.
