The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby by Ellery Lloyd: Book Review

The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby by Ellery Lloyd
A complex mystery that promises more than it delivers

Synopsis: The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby

In this gorgeously layered historical thriller, Ellery Lloyd delivers a compelling mystery that stretches across continents and decades. When two Cambridge students in the 1980s uncover evidence that the tragic death of Juliette Willoughby—an heiress-turned-artist—was no accident, they ignite a chilling chain of revelations that echoes all the way to a shocking murder in modern-day Dubai.

Juliette, long believed to have perished in a 1938 Paris fire alongside her cryptic painting Self Portrait As Sphinx, becomes more than just a faded name in an art history textbook—she becomes the key to a conspiracy drenched in family secrets, ambition, and perhaps even a curse. As the story shifts between timelines and narrators, it slowly peels back the layers of Juliette’s life, daring readers to ask: who decides what becomes of a woman’s legacy?

Review: The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby

A complex mystery that promises more than it delivers

The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby is a multi-timeline, multi-perspective thriller from Ellery Lloyd—a pseudonym for writing duo Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos. It’s a novel that should tick all the boxes for fans of art-themed mysteries, long-buried secrets, and intergenerational intrigue. And in some ways, it does. But while the premise is strong, the execution stumbles.

The story begins in 1938, with the tragic death of young heiress and painter Juliette Willoughby in a fire that seemingly destroys her only masterpiece. Fast-forward 52 years to Cambridge, where two undergraduates begin to question the official narrative. And then, in the present day, a man is found brutally murdered in Dubai. What connects these timelines is a missing painting, a photographer who dies under mysterious circumstances, and a tangled web of deceit stretching back generations.

On paper, this novel has everything:

• A mysterious death
• A lost work of art
• Privilege, power, and long-held secrets
• A cursed family legacy

But for all its potential, the story takes far too long to hit its stride. The first half feels bogged down with exposition, making it difficult to fully invest in the plot or characters early on. While the structure demands some setup, the pacing feels uneven, delaying the moment when the reader truly sinks into the narrative.

One of the biggest challenges lies in the characters themselves. Aside from Juliette—whose voice comes through vividly in diary entries—many of the others feel underdeveloped or interchangeable. Their motivations are murky, and their personalities often blur into one another, which dilutes the emotional stakes of the mystery.

That said, the plot itself is cleverly constructed. The weaving of timelines, while occasionally confusing, does result in a satisfying narrative puzzle by the end. And thematically, the book offers interesting commentary on how women, especially artists like Juliette, are written out of history—and what it takes to reclaim their stories.

Conclusion

The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby is a novel that will likely appeal to fans of slow-burn literary mysteries and dual-timeline thrillers. But readers looking for fully fleshed-out characters or a faster-paced narrative might be better served elsewhere. For the right reader, though, the core mystery—and Juliette herself—may just be enough.

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