Diavola

By: Jennifer Thorne

Narrated by: Andi Arndt

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

The eerie Italy vibes!

What a fresh read! I’m not one to read books where the plots are abroad but man can I say this one was great! I’ve never travelled but reading/listening to this I felt as if I was there! Such creepy, foreign vibes and it was amazing. I could not STAND the main characters family but I think that was the point. The ending was a tad underwhelming only because I would’ve loved to hear about more of her families unraveling (I wanted the satisfaction of their suffering lol) but other than that I love this book! Read itttt

Narrator and setting

Way too much disfuncional family bantering and not enough scare!
I had to fast forward many times.

Family vacations are always scary

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️’s! I feel like this would be a great book for someone just getting into horror. I loved that the horror came more so from a sense of foreboding and the descriptions of the entities rather than actual jump scares. Honestly, I think the scariest part of the book was how the main character’s family treated her like such a burden😅

Cover art drew me in

It was darker than I expected, but it was an interesting experience even if a bit too long.

Overall - a nice good scare

Okay! This is an old school scare with ghosts and curses and all the scary feels. Anna is the black sheep of the family but they include her on this fabulous vacation to Tuscany, Italy where her parents have rented a beautiful villa for all of them to stay in. Immediately, Anna starts having thoughts and feelings about the place. Because, of course, she had to google it before she left. It has a history, a very dark history. I enjoyed this one. I connected with Anna and my heart hurt for her, Four stars though because some parts of the book seemed to drag a bit.

It’s alright

The authors writing style is pretty good but the story is long and more focused on the family than the actual horror.

Hooked

I was not expecting to like this story and ended up loving it! I stayed up late and woke early to keep listening! It was captivating for me. The story never gets slow. The narrator is great. Thoroughly entertaining.

How absolutely strange

And weird this book is. I did actually enjoy it. It was so totally unique

better than predicted

this book kept my attention and thats hard with a horror novel. it is well written.

Family get together from hell!

The hard to believe scapegoating of Anna for everything even when it made no sense based on what was occurring or had occurred. Some of it yes but the author did not make a good enough case for all of it.