Diavola

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...

Jennifer Thorne skewers all-too-familiar family dynamics in this sly, wickedly funny vacation-Gothic. Beautifully unhinged and deeply satisfying, Diavola is a sharp twist on the classic haunted house story, exploring loneliness, belonging, and the seemingly inescapable bonds of family mythology.

(Warning: May invoke feelings of irritation, dread, and despair that come with large family gatherings.)

©2024 Jennifer Thorne (P)2024 Dreamscape Media

Great story and fantastic narration

Her family is just unbearable. Not a good one in the bunch. Hard to understand the relationship they have with Anna. Not much backstory on that. More than just a black sheep. They seem to resent/hate her. I had a little trouble with that so I guess the character development was good individually but not as a family? Not a lighthearted listen but still really good. Narrator did a fantastic job.

The Devil

A story that makes you think twice about taking a trip to Italy. A good thing to remember when traveling anywhere, if the locals avoid a place like the plague, you should too. Obviously this is a fictional story, but I stand by that theory. The hotdog illustration from chapter 42 made me laugh. IYKYK

Really outstanding contemporary horror

I really enjoyed this book. I love that the author combined a very Gothic Italian villa setting with a modern day family, complete with their iPhones and laptops. And it was pretty scary, as well. I’m a horror aficionado, and I’m picky. But this book really surprised me, coming from a relatively unknown author. I think Miss Thorne will go far. There were areas that probably could’ve been condensed (around 2/3 of the way through). But by the end, I wasn’t sorry that I stuck with it, because the payoff was there. And it captures the dysfunction of a family really well. Great story, great ambience, great characters, great narrator. Highly recommend.

Soooo good! Fantastic

Highly recommend! I don’t give 5 stars lightly AT ALL, very rare for me but this was a really good one and great narrator!

Love it

I really enjoyed this. It was perfectly creepy! Favorite quote “I’m not a lost lamb, I’m the black sheep!”