His debut novel, Down the Rabbit Hole, was published by And Other Stories in 2011 and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award 2011.

He has worked in market research and published travel stories, as well as literary and film criticism.

[citation needed] Villalobos's first book, Fiesta en la madriguera,[2] has been translated into Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Romanian, Dutch and English.

[8] Villalobos has said that his first book was inspired by Nellie Campobello's Cartucho, a collection of short stories set during the Mexican Revolution.

"[10] His book Fiesta en la madriguera has been called "a disillusioned domestic tale from the dark heartland of Latin American machismo".