Review: ‘The Unraveling of Julia’ by Lisa Scottoline
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The Unraveling of Julia
by Lisa ScottolinePublished by Grand Central Publishing on July 8, 2025
SubGenres: Psychological Thriller, Thriller
Format: AudioBook
Narrator: Maria Marquis
Length: 10 Hours And 28 Minutes
Source: Library - Libby
Audience: 18+/Adult
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From a #1 international bestselling author, a gothic, suspenseful tale in which a young widow inherits a Tuscan estate from a mysterious benefactor and finds herself thrust into the crosshairs of a dangerous conspiracy—a “compelling thriller with dashes of romance and excellent twists!” (Karin Slaughter, New York Times bestselling author).
Lately, Julia Pritzker is beginning to think she’s cursed. She’s lost her adoptive parents, then her husband is murdered. When she realizes that her horoscope essentially foretold his death, she begins to spiral. She fears her fate is written in the stars, not held in her own hands.
Then a letter arrives out of the blue, informing her that she has inherited a Tuscan villa and vineyard —but her benefactor is a total stranger named Emilia Rossi. Julia has no information about her biological family, so she wonders if Rossi could be a blood relative. Bewildered, she heads to Tuscany for answers.
There, Julia is horrified to discover that Rossi was a paranoid recluse, who believed herself to be a descendent of Duchess Caterina Sforza, a legendary Renaissance ruler. Stunned by her uncanny resemblance to Rossi, and even to Caterina, Julia is further unnerved when she unearths eerie parallels between them, including an obsession with astrology.
Before long, Julia suspects she’s being followed, and strange things begin to happen. Not even a chance meeting with a handsome Florentine can ease her troubled mind. When events turn deadly, Julia’s harrowing struggle becomes a search for her identity, a race to save her sanity, and ultimately, a question of her very survival.
Twisty, transportive, and haunting—this is suspense with a passport.
The Unraveling of Julia is the first book I’ve read from author Lisa Scottoline. It’s a psychological thriller that definitely makes you question the sanity of the narrator of the story, and in this case, Julia Pritzker, who has some awful and questionable things happen in her life. Her husband is murdered in front of her, and she then ends up inheriting a Tuscan estate from a family member that she’s never met, since she was adopted. She ends up going to the estate, but when she gets there, she has no way of finding out if the person who left her the estate was actually related to her due to what the person did to all their belongings, and the people who took care of the estate are unreliable, too.
As Julia investigates her possible relatives and the estate, she realizes she could be in danger. Even her friend back home urges her to sell and leave. Julia forms a new friendship with someone willing to help uncover the truth. However, she must find out who is after her while discovering why her family left her the estate.
This psychological thriller kept me on my toes, with Julia narrating her experience. I couldn’t guess who wanted her off the estate; some seemingly friendly characters were not what they appeared to be. There’s also a romantic subplot, which felt odd after Julia’s loss, but the focus remains on her search for family ties and the threats against her.
Julia’s belief in astrology is unique in the story, but it sometimes pulled me out of the story. Repetition was the main issue I noticed while reading the book, but overall, I enjoyed the story. Julia is an interesting character, and ultimately, everything came together as she uncovers the truth about who is after her, finds her family, and why they gave her up in the first place.
Overall, I give this book 3.5 stars and plan to read more by Lisa Scottoline. I also want to make more time for thrillers in 2026 because I definitely enjoy reading them.
Would I recommend this book? Yes. I recommend this book to those who enjoy reading psychological and suspenseful thrillers.
About Lisa Scottoline
Lisa Scottoline is a #1 bestselling and Edgar award-winning author of 33 novels. Her books are book-club favorites, and Lisa and her daughter Francesca Serritella have hosted an annual Big Book Club Party for over a thousand readers at her Pennsylvania farm, for the past twelve years. Lisa has served as President of Mystery Writers of America, and her reviews of fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Philadelphia Inquirer. She also writes a weekly column with her daughter for the Philadelphia Inquirer entitled Chick Wit, a witty take on life from a woman’s perspective, which have been collected in a bestselling series of humorous memoirs. Lisa graduated magna cum laude in three years from the University of Pennsylvania, with a B.A. in English, and cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she taught Justice and Fiction. Lisa has over 30 million copies of her books in print and is published in over 35 countries. She lives in the Philadelphia area with an array of disobedient pets and wouldn’t have it any other way.
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