Each begins in the present day with Colborne and Oliver’s final interview, and then returns to the bulk of the story, which is Oliver’s telling of the events of his fourth year. Like one of the Bard’s plays, If We Were Villains is structured in five acts. The seven primary characters are compelling, if admittedly pretentious, and the tragedy they envelope themselves in does feel rather Shakespearean. In order to bring closure to them both and with the promise that it will lay the matter to rest once and for all, Oliver agrees to tell Detective Colborne what really happened that year. Now he is being released, and the detective who investigated his case is retiring. But something happened that year, something that landed Oliver in prison with a decade-long sentence. He and his fellow Shakespearean actors had overcome the odds and stayed the course at the famously hard-core institution, and had fallen into a steady-if intense-rhythm.

Ten years ago, Oliver Marks was one of seven fourth-years at a prestigious fine arts college. When she finished it and gave it an enthusiastic five stars, I immediately requested it from the library. I was really excited to read this one (and not just so I could get the two Villains books straight in my head) because she kept talking about as she read it, telling me about minor plot points and how stressed out and excited she was at any given point. I recommended All of Us Villains, and she countered with If We Were Villains by M.L. She read The Song of Achilles because I loved it. I made her read A Darker Shade of Magic and she gave me A Lesson in Vengeance. Lately, I’ve been swapping book recommendations with a friend from work.

We are villains book