She Treads Softly: The Unraveling of Julia

Friday, July 4, 2025

The Unraveling of Julia

The Unraveling of Julia by Lisa Scottoline
7/15/25; 400 pages
Grand Central Publishing

The Unraveling of Julia by Lisa Scottoline is a highly recommended Gothic thriller and paranormal mystery.

Julia Pritzker's husband Mike was murdered protecting her and she has become withdrawn in her grief. When an Italian attorney contacts Julia informing her that she has inherited millions of dollars along with a Tuscan villa and vineyard from the estate of Emilia Rossi, she is shocked. Julia was adopted and her adoptive parents have passed away. She has no idea how she is related to Rossi or why she would be chosen to inherit her estate. Julia travels to Tuscany to meet with the lawyer and view the villa.

The inheritance is legitimate, but the villa is a wreck. Caretakers Anna Mattia Vesta and Piero Fano have been doing what they were allowed to, but apparently Rossi was a paranoid recluse and didn't want things repaired. They claimed she burned all her possessions before she died, so Julia has nothing with DNA on it to test. Julia also learned that Rossi believed herself to be a descendant of Duchess Caterina Sforza.Then everything begins to take a strange, sinister turn.

There is no doubt that this is a well-written page turner. Within the plot there end up being multiple mysteries, including, in part, who murdered Mike, what is Rossi's connection to Julia, and why are there men following Julia. It held my complete attention, except when it focuses on Julia's horoscope, astrology and the paranormal, which I skimmed over. Although the hallucinatory nightmares are explained, they were still off-putting and required me to set a good dose of disbelief aside.

The setting and Scottoline's love of Tuscany comes to life in the descriptive narrative. The setting becomes another character in the plot. Julia is an interesting, sympathetic character but you will question her sanity at times. Expect several twists along the way. I'm still unsure about the love story aspects. The plot is a bit over-the-top, but it is well-written and held my complete attention.

The Unraveling of Julia would be a good choice for those who enjoy mysteries that include astrology and the paranormal. Thanks to Grand Central Publishing for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.