Blodeuedd's Monday Review: Diavola by Jennifer Thorne

Format: 336 pages, Paperback

Published: March 26, 2024 by Titan Books

Horror/borrowed

I enjoyed this one. A haunted house and a dysfunctional family.

Anna is going to Tuscany with her family. They all think she will cause some kind of disaster. They do seem to blame her for everything. They will gaslight her too.

Everything seems pretty nice at first. Sure there are some issues with her brother´s new boyfriend, and her sister can at least be calmed with wine. But doors open, there is scratching, the locals avoid the place. Is the house haunted?

Things are getting creepier. Her family is so toxic and drives me crazy. Like please stop blaming Anna for everything!!

I honestly could not put it down after a while. I had to know!

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.