...then If We Were Villains is not just worth reading; it is essential reading.
If you are looking for a comprehensive breakdown of M.L. Rio’s If We Were Villains
The narrative centers on Oliver Marks, a man who has just been released from prison after serving ten years for a crime he may or may not have committed. He is met at the gates by the detective who originally put him away, an eager listener for the true story of what happened during their fourth year at Dellecher Classical Conservatory.
In the landscape of modern dark academia, few novels have carved out a space as hallowed—and as bloody—as M.L. Rio’s 2017 debut, If We Were Villains . While the genre is often defined by the cold, calculating privilege of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History , Rio offers something far more visceral and romantic. It is a story not just about murder, but about the blurring lines between performance and reality, and the terrifying beauty of loving someone who is destined to destroy you. If We Were Villains
4.5/5 stars. For fans of dark academia, Shakespearean tragedy, and morally complex characters.
(The Femme Fatale): Stunning and talented, often involved in complex romantic dynamics with Richard and Oliver.
He’s not the most interesting person in the room—by design. He’s the loyal observer, the one who loves too late and acts too hesitantly. His unreliability is subtle but crucial. You’ll finish the book questioning not just who did what, but whether Oliver has been performing for us all along. He is met at the gates by the
: The narrator and "sidekick" who sees himself as a secondary character in others' stories. James Fane
Rio’s background is telling; she holds a Master’s degree in Shakespeare Studies from King’s College London and has worked as a actor and playwright. You feel the sweat of the rehearsal room. You smell the greasepaint and the stale coffee. Unlike The Secret History , which focuses on the intellectual vanity of Greek, If We Were Villains focuses on the physical, bloody violence of the stage.
From that first line, the reader is transported into a world of obsession. But to dismiss If We Were Villains as merely a college thriller is to miss the Shakespearean tragedy at its heart. It is a story about seven young actors, one dead body, and the roles we play to survive. While the genre is often defined by the
Furthermore, Rio delivers something Tartt famously denied her readers: a definitive, emotional resolution. The Secret History ends in ambiguous decay. If We Were Villains ends with a last line that has reduced thousands of readers to tears. Without spoiling it, the final chapter re-contextualizes the entire novel. The murder mystery is actually a love story—a deeply tragic, codependent, Shakespearean love story that borders on the religious.
For the uninitiated, the fear of reading If We Were Villains is often the Shakespeare. Do you need a Folio guide to understand it? No. Rio is a genius of contextual integration. The characters speak in modern English, but when emotion peaks—rage, lust, grief, betrayal—the dialogue snaps into perfect iambic pentameter. It feels organic, as natural to these characters as breathing.