The story opens with Oliver Marks being released from prison after a decade. He’s served time for a murder he may or may not have committed. In exchange for his freedom, he finally tells the truth to the one detective who never believed he was guilty. The narrative then flashes back to Oliver’s final year at Dellecher Classical Conservatory, a secluded, intense drama school where fourth-year students live and breathe Shakespeare. When a rivalry among seven close-knit actors turns deadly, the line between performance and reality blurs until it shatters.
(The Tyrant): The dominant, often abusive alpha of the group who eventually becomes the victim.
The story follows Oliver Marks, who has just finished serving a ten-year prison sentence. Upon his release, he is met by Detective Colborne, the man who put him away. Colborne is retiring and wants the one thing he never got: the truth about what actually happened a decade ago at Dellecher Classical Conservatory. If We Were Villains
The group is defined by specific archetypes they play both on and off stage:
For some readers, this might seem pretentious. However, Rio uses the Shakespearean references to elevate the narrative from a simple whodunit to a Greek tragedy. The students are performing Julius Caesar during the fall semester, a play about conspiracy, betrayal, and the death of a tyrant. It is no coincidence that the group dynamic mirrors the play: a paranoid leader (Richard/Caesar) and a group of conspirators who feel they have no choice but to strike. The story opens with Oliver Marks being released
However, Rio diverges in a crucial way. The Secret History is a novel about aesthetics —about beauty so pure it corrupts. If We Were Villains is a novel about language . Tartt’s characters kill because they are bored. Rio’s characters kill because they have forgotten the difference between "to be" and "not to be."
It’s unavoidable. Both books feature an elite, isolated group, a murder, and a narrator looking back in guilt. Rio’s novel is more theatrical and less psychological than Tartt’s. If you demand the sprawling, glacial, intellectual density of Tartt, you might find Villains a little too neat. If you want something more propulsive and emotionally raw, you’ll prefer Rio. The narrative then flashes back to Oliver’s final
The novel is a staple of this genre, exploring obsession, elite isolation, and the moral consequences of a life devoted to art.