If We Were Villains is a 2017 novel written by M. L. Rio. It tells the story of Oliver Marks, a former Shakespearian actor at the Dellecher conservatory, and the murder mystery that surrounds his fourth and final year at the conservatory. Oliver has been convicted for the death of one of his classmates. 10 years later, Oliver is approached by the former police chief who investigated his case, asking him to tell him the truth about what really happened. Oliver agrees, on the condition that the retired police officer does not act on the revelations.
In his fourth year at the elitist conservatory, Oliver lives with his six classmates, the only ones remaining after the regular "purge" of the underperforming students. They all seemingly play their respective parts as the hero, the villain, the tyrant, the temptress... but everything changes when the roles are shaken up.
If We Were Villains contains examples of:
- Ambiguous Ending: Did James survive?
- Asshole Victim: Richard becomes truly despicable and gets into conflicts with most characters before he's killed.
- Beta Couple: Colin and Alexander develop a fairly stable relationship, compared to the rest of the cast's constant drama.
- Black-and-Gray Morality: Richard was an abusive bully, while the others are all flawed people who decided to let him die. They seem like decent enough people otherwise.
- Boarding School: Dellecher conservatory is a boarding school in the middle of nowhere, and the 4th year drama students live in a castle.
- Chekhov's Classroom: In the fourth years' class about tragedies: "What is more important - that Caesar is assassinated or that he is assassinated by his intimate friends?" Richard is cast as Caesar. Draw your own conclusions.
- Chekhov's Gag: When Richard is complaining about how much work he had to do last year while cast in two plays, Filippa tells him not to worry because he's cast as Caesar this year and he dies in Act 3, so he's not got as many lines to learn. The book is structured like a play, and split into acts. Again, draw your own conclusions.
- Cruel Twist Ending: In true Shakespearean fashion, the ending reveals that James died while Oliver was in prison.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: ...But then, his body was never found.
- Even the Girls Want Her: Meredith is so beautiful, even Alexander, who's gay, admits he'd sleep with her if she offered.
- Everyone Has Standards: When it looked like Richard had hit his head and fallen into the water by mistake, Meredith was willing to let him drown, since he was horrible to everyone. However, when she found out James killed him, that changed everything, and she called the cops.
- False Confession: Oliver confesses to killing Richard despite being innocent.
- Genre Throwback: To Shakespeare's tragedies, naturally.
- Good Counterpart: Colin is considered to be the third-years' equivalent to Richard; a handsome, talented powerhouse who gets cast in some of the best roles. However, after getting to know him better, Oliver says that that's where the similarities end. Colin doesn't have Richard's ego, temper, or cruelty, and is much easier to be around.
- If It's You, It's Okay:
- Played for Laughs by Alexander, who's gay, but says he could be "sexually aphibious" for Meredith. Meredith is so gorgeous that most people agree all you really need to be attracted to her is a pulse.
- Oliver never identifies himself as gay, straight, or bisexual, but says that his attraction for James supercedes gender. It's pretty obvious that James is the only man he's ever loved.
- Jack of All Trades: Oliver and Filippa are the only ones to not have a specific role that is always attributed to them. They are able to perform most roles decently.
- A Lighter Shade of Grey: The 7 main characters are interwoven in a conflict where it seems that no one is truly wrong or right.
- Love Dodecahedron: Oh, Christ...
- At the start of the novel, Meredith and Richard are dating, but Meredith was previously interested in James. She still is, on some level, and he is implied to be at least slightly attracted to her.
- Oliver and Meredith are also into each other, and get together just before Richard dies. After Oliver gets out of prison, they rekindle their relationship.
- James has feelings for Wren, who seems to return them.
- Oliver realizes he's in love with James, and it's heavily implied that James loved him, too.
- Mysterious Past: Filippa's family and her backstory are a complete mystery to the other characters. She does eventually reveal her dad's in prison, and has been since she was a young teen.
- Never Found the Body: James. The story leaves it ambiguous as to whether he's actually alive.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Oliver gets extremely creeped out at the Lear cast party when he finds James blind drunk, standing on the ledge of the library window, darkly reciting Shakespeare.
- Scholarship Student: Oliver pays his final semester tuition through loans, scholarship money, and work-study.
- Shakespearian Actors: Yes, you're all Shakespearian actors, we know, we get it.
- Sliding Scale of Free Will vs. Fate: This is the meaning of the title quote. Were the seven students destined to fall apart the way they did because society perceived them as their typecast roles and they got lost in them, or was it their own fault?
- Speaks in Shout-Outs: All the main characters frequently speak in Shakespeare quotes. In the book's acknowledgements, the author credits her university classmates for confirming that there really are people who can hold conversations in nothing but the Bard's verses.
- There Is Only One Bed: When James comes to visit Oliver in the middle of the night, they end up sharing a bed in Oliver's bedroom so they don't wake Oliver's family up.
- Token Evil Teammate: Of the fourth years, only Richard is a truly bad person.
- Unreliable Narrator: We only get Oliver's version of the story, which might be twisted to "protect" some of his friends.
- Villain Has a Point: Okay, so maybe Richard is not the nicest of guys, but he is kind of right in that if James and Oliver had gotten a grip and admitted their feelings earlier, Oliver wouldn't have slept with Meredith and Richard wouldn't have been angry enough to try and shove James around at the lake, leading to his death and the rest of their problems.
- Wham Line: There's plenty.
- "James was in love with Wren, and I was blindly, savagely jealous."
- The boat hook reveal.
- "...his body was never found."
- Who Murdered the Asshole: As the investigation goes on, the main investigator is more and more suspicious that most characters resented Richard before his death and had a reason to kill him.
- Will They or Won't They?: There is tension between Oliver and several other main characters. So... did they?
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Most characters, at one point or another, telling Oliver that he isn't as bland or "just decent" as he thinks he is.
