Silvia Moreno Garcia is branching out. Like many talented authors do. I’ve just read her high fantasy novella and now this, in her own words, a noir novel. Which made me reconsider my definition of noir. According to Wikipedia…in its modern form, noir has come to denote a marked darkness in theme and subject matter, generally featuring a disturbing mixture of sex and violence. But the thing is that pretty much describes a lot of novels and most crime fiction. And the author’s no stranger to straight up crime fiction, check out her excellent Untamed Shore. And, of course, dark fiction is her specialty, though traditionally in my much preferred blend of horrific/gothic themes her earlier books featured. Those were terrific, so good in fact that it takes a while to quit missing them and get into whatever the author dreams up next. Which in this case is a crime drama inspired by the real life political unrest in Mexico in the early 1970s.
I like historical fiction, especially given a chance to learn something new, so this book definitely worked for me on that front. Like most Latin American countries, Mexico went through some brutal regime changes which brought severe social limitations and a pervasive culture of paranoia. That provides that noir required darkness…a time of tragedy, time of spies, time of government agencies competing for control of an increasingly restless society. And on this stage the author plays out a sad and strange version of a boy meets girl story. The girl is Maite, a lonely secretary about to turn 30, whose only excitement in life comes from the romantic comics she buys and collects and obsesses over. Now an especially likeable or nice character, especially not for a lead, but it works out. The boy is Elvis, or so he calls himself. A gangster in the making working for a small organization with direct involvement in controlling the protests in universities, among other things. Elvis is a much more charismatic lead, something of a self made man in progress, a criminal by profession more so than by nature. Like Maite he is a music lover and finds himself inexplicably drawn to her, though his job leads him to investigate and follow her. All of this is over Maite’s gorgeous wealthy neighbor who disappears one day and turns out have a secret worth killing for. So this provides plenty of suspense and some mystery for the thriller fans. Though really it’s just as much if not more of a crime drama. The thing is, no matter the genre, I love More Garcia’s writing too much not to check it out. Even if the genre really doesn’t work for me, like with her high fantasy venture. She’s just so talented and her books come to life when you read them and play out just like the best of movies, vividly, excitingly. Admittedly, this one wasn’t a personal favorite, admittedly I still miss her supernatural scarier stories. But this was still a very good read. It’s worth reading just for how spectacular of a job she did representing the time and place, the creeping claustrophobia of it all, the desperation of people trying to make a difference and devastation of the naïve (like Maite who spends her time avoiding news) when the real world hits them. In the end though Maite gets more of an adventure than she might have ever expected or hoped for outside of her comic book pages, awakening to the real world. Which somewhat redeems an initially unlikeable character. And Elvis…well, he’s got his own road to redemption to travel. And irrespective of however much you don’t or do like them, both of their journeys are still compelling enough to draw you in. So yeah, all in all, definitely good. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.
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