Review – Diavola by Jennifer Thorne (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Paranormal/Horror
Length: 296 pages
Publisher: Tor Nightfire
Release Date: March 26, 2024
ASIN: B0C1X7ZSN4
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Borrowed eBook from Kindle Unlimited
Rating: 4 stars
“Anna has two rules for the annual Pace family destination vacations: Tread lightly and survive.
It isn’t easy when she’s the only one in the family who doesn’t quite fit in. Her twin brother, Benny, goes with the flow so much he’s practically dissolved, and her older sister, Nicole, is so used to everyone—including her blandly docile husband and two kids—falling in line that Anna often ends up in trouble for simply asking a question. Mom seizes every opportunity to question her life choices, and Dad, when not reminding everyone who paid for this vacation, just wants some peace and quiet.
The gorgeous, remote villa in tiny Monteperso seems like a perfect place to endure so much family togetherness, until things start going off the rails—the strange noises at night, the unsettling warnings from the local villagers, and the dark, violent past of the villa itself.”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this on ebook from Kindle Unlimited.
Thoughts: This was a well done creepy ghost story. I enjoyed the Italian setting and the main character Anna. This gets pretty gory at points and wins full creepy points for the way the haunting plays out.
Anna’s family always blames her for any misfortune (stemming from an incident with the school guinea pig when she was young). They want her to be someone she’s not, but also want her to be happy at their family gathering, despite their constant insults and implications. This year, the family gathering is in Italy at an old estate, and Anna’s family is determined to make it a happy event. When Anna starts to notice things aren’t quite right, her family starts to blame her for making the vacation go wrong. Then people start getting hurt.
This starts out as a somewhat typical haunted house story and then becomes something quite a bit darker. I enjoyed the weird happenings in the estate and also enjoyed Anna working to unravel the history and mystery behind this estate. Things take a darker turn halfway through, and I enjoyed the creepiness of this.
The weak point of this book for me was the characters. They are all completely unlikable and hard to read. All of the characters, even Anna, are incredibly flawed individuals, and generally, the whole family is a hot mess. I am not a huge fan of reading about people who are constantly picking at each other and cruel. However, it does work pretty well for this story.
Anna is the most sympathetic of the bunch (we hear from her POV, so of course she is). I found it frustrating that she constantly puts herself in bad situations. For example, why did she even agree to try meeting with her family for vacation when she knew how they were going to be? Why did she stay with them when she figured out what was happening? Is this supposed to make her a sort of hero that she stays to be a punching bag for her family and to help save them from danger? Lastly, and most frustrating to me, why did she act the way she did when she returned home to New York? It feels like she just accepted what was going on for so long rather than actually do anything about.
This was well written and easy to read. The story is very engaging and is definitely a page turner. I struggled to stop reading it and always wanted to know what was going to happen on the next page. Did I enjoy it? I am happy I finally read this, and it is an excellent haunting story. However, I didn’t really enjoy it. This is definitely a horror book in more ways than one; the family here is horrible and honestly deserved more than they got.
My Summary (4/5): Overall this was a well done ghost/horror story. I liked the Italian setting and the mystery behind the manor. The haunting, especially in the second half of the book, was incredibly creepy. I did not like the characters; they were honestly a bunch of jerks, but they kind of worked for the story. Anna is the most sympathetic of the characters, but the way she constantly put herself in harm’s way and didn’t take action to try and stop things that were happening were very frustrating to me. This is an excellent creepy read and great for the fall season. Will I seek out more books by Throne? Probably not, but I am happy to have finally read this.
