So this is the first noir I have ever read. I have conflicted feelings about this book.

At first I thought this book was pretty boring and the main character unlikeable. She has this woe is me lifestyle that got pretty annoying at times. However, I did like the character of Elvis and it was interesting to follow his life and decision making.

I think a little over halfway through the book, the action started to pick up and I became more invested in the story. I really started visualizing things and became more interested in the history on which it is based on.

I really loved the first book I read by Moreno-Garcia which was Gods of Jade and Shadow. I was disappointed in Mexican Gothic and was upset about the ending/culprit in that book. While I like how Velvet Was the Night ended, I think I was still overall a little disappointed.

The book had this old school kind of feel to it, and I kept thinking about how it might be more interested if it was a film or even a play.

I would probably still pick up the next book this author puts out, but I will be weary about it.

First off, how gorgeous is this cover?! This is my second book by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and I liked it a lot better than Mexican Gothic! They are two completely different genres so hard to compare. Both are genres I don't typically read but I love trying something new. I think historical fiction noir is more my speed than gothic horror.

Mexico City in the 1970's - Maite is a secretary, living on her own, collecting music and books that she can't really afford. When her neighbor, Leonora, asks her to watch her cat for the weekend, Maite jumps at the chance to earn some extra cash. When Leonora doesn't return, Maite gets frustrated because she wants her money and doesn't want to keep the cat so she goes looking for Leonora. Unknowingly, other, more nefarious people are also looking for Leonora and what unfolds is an engaging mystery that I couldn't put down.

Told from two points of view, that of Maite and Elvis, a member of the Hawks, a government run group created to stop student protests, the way the author wove the two storylines was perfect. This was a slow-burn plot but it fit so perfectly with the characters and dark world the author created. The ending was also very satisfying. I have a feeling these characters will stay with me for a while.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy. Opinions are my own.

This was my first book by the author and I wonder why. After reading this book I'm going to make sure that I read all her books.
I loved everything about this book. There's something magical and hypnotic in the way the author builds the world and the characters.

The story takes place in Mexico in the 1970’s and revolves around the political scenario prevalent at the time. Elvis is a member of the Hawks which is a group that unofficially works for the government.
Our other protagonist is Maite who is a thirty-year-old single woman who works as a clerk. She hates her job, loves reading romance graphic novels and loves listens to records.

Both their paths cross as they try to find Leonara. Their intentions and reasons to find her are totally different. Maite wants to find her because she’s her neighbour who promised to pay her for minding her cat. Elvis wants to find her because supposedly she has dangerous photos that can't be revealed.

Their paths cross much later in the book but throughout their parallel journeys, I was looking forward to that happening because they seemed to be made for each other.

This is a thriller with a political backdrop and yet there is so much more because it's also about these two people who are lonely and want to belong. Maite's character arc was really well defined and I felt for her so much.

I recommend this book because it really built a world where I felt I was a part of it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Velvet Was the Night is the newest novel by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, author of the bestselling horror book Mexican Gothic. Published through Del Rey, this slice of noir explores the historical significance of the horrors of 1970s Mexico at the start of the Dirty War. Using this historical framework, Moreno-Garcia introduces readers to two completely different protagonists whose lives eventually become intertwined through the disappearance of a mysterious and beautiful art student.

Noirs are character-focused narratives with action sprinkled in. What sells this simmering one is the absolute delight of Moreno-Garcia's characters. We have Maite, a 30-year secretary who lives in an apartment that is too expensive. She hates her job but it is comfortable in the life she has made for herself. She is sick of her self-described boring life and leans into her fantastical daydreams through her favorite romance comics and records. She is oblivious to the real-world politics within her city and begins to open her eyes when Leonora, her next-door neighbor disappears.  It's so easy to see one's self in Maite and to understand her character motivations.

Our other protagonist is a man named Elvis (after Elvis Presley) who works for The Hawkes, this is a paramilitary group whose work is utilized by the Mexican government to flag down protestors fighting for societal change. It is through Elvis where readers get to navigate the Dirty War. Elvis loves his rock 'n' roll music and has to keep it a secret since the government is censoring music. Rock music is said to be communist propaganda and it pains Elvis that the only solace he finds from his work is through art that he cannot share with others. He is tired of the bloodlust and the pain associated with the high turmoil within the city. Political tensions are high and his friends are constantly dying. Elvis is also a daydreamer in his own right. He seeks to leave his position in the Hawkes but doesn't know where to go or what to do. He is stranded by himself, involved on the side of politics that goes against his heart.

The drive of both of these characters makes Velvet Was the Night an addictive and quick read. As the mystery narrative picks up, multiple layers begin to unravel. Moreno-Garcia's pacing is methodical with her cookie crumbs approach to finding Leonora. New characters slowly work their way into both Maite and Elvis's lives. We meet fully fleshed out unique people like Rubén, an ex-boyfriend of Leonora who becomes an amateur detective alongside Maite.  It is with him we see Maite come out of her shell and witness her understanding of the world through new eyes.

In addition to the wonderfully written and interesting characters, the writing is smooth and lyrical often times reflecting the importance of music within the characters. The luscious writing is what sells the atmosphere. It's like the words embody a wispy smoke surrounding the sad, lonely world of people attempting to make connections with others. The pacing is much slower but when the action does arise, it strikes with precision. I felt myself wanting to simply keep reading Moreno-Garcia's writing is captivating to read.

Velvet Was the Night is a must-read novel. Wrapped in this noir is the valuable historical context for the Dirty War in 1970s Mexico which Moreno-Garcia carefully explains and provides readers in an easy and accessible way, including an afterword further explaining the history. With daydreaming and lonely characters with a knack for solving mysteries, this genre novel leaves you wanting to encounter a mystery of your own.

Velvet Was the Night was 100% my cup of tea. I loved how the setting was smothered in dimness with a heavy sense of danger lurking in the background. I enjoy sunny stories with blue skies and laughter from time to time. Who doesn’t? However, being engrossed in a slow burn mystery while drenching myself in inky vibes brings me tons of reading joy. I want to feel like I am somewhere different. I read to learn, to escape, to bear emotions that are different from those in my own life. Moreno-Garcia invited me somewhere tense and unsettled while occupying my mind with an absorbing tale. I just adore when my reading expectations are met.

Maite and Elvis’ are not polished or shining brightly through the pages for that matter. In all honesty though, sparkly characters are not the ones who rock my literary world. I prefer the dreamers, the characters with jagged edges. While I was wildly entertained with a weary secretary suddenly getting involved in such threatening affairs, I was also thrilled to be engaged in a setting/time period that opened my eyes to a part of history I knew very little about. Lastly, Moreno-Garcia brings on the noir, lonely hearts and political “riff” with an incredible nod to vinyl and good old fashion rock n’ roll. Authors who braid in the love of music (forbidden music in this case), always win me over.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

Velvet Was the Night is very much a genre pivot for Silvia Moreno-Garcia; even keeping in mind that she doesn’t write the same book twice, this one is drastically different in being a noir/historical mystery-thriller, with no speculative or fantastical elements whatsoever. But like she does with every project, she fully embraces the style of what she wants to do, diving headfirst and commuting to it.

Moreno-Garcia’s atmospheric writing is once again a highlight here. She captures the tense, politically fraught period of Mexican perfectly. And while noir as a genre is generally more internal/psychological than your mainstream mystery/thriller, and I do admit that resulted in a slower pace that took a bit more time to become invested in. However, once I got to the real “meat” of the story, I was invested and found myself understanding where Moreno-Garcia was going with it more, while still anticipating each twist and turn.

Both Elvis and Maite are compelling and layered, with a common thread of loneliness connecting them. I liked how their experiences complemented each other, both in relation to their personal lives and their connections to the question around Leonora’s whereabouts.

I enjoyed this effort from Moreno-Garcia, and am excited to see what genre or style she’ll tackle next (and as I did like her take on noir, I’m pleased to find out there’s a small-press title that she released last year that is similar in style!) While I’m not sure what others among Moreno-Garcia’s established readership will think about the book, I do think it’s worth trying, as long as you go in with the right expectations.

Thanks to Random House and Netgalley for this ARC!
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I’m not usually one for crime noir stories and while this isn’t my favorite from Silvia Moreno-Garcia, I still really had a good time reading this one. We see this story unfold by following a couple of characters, Elvis and Maite. I don’t feel super connected to Elvis but I ADORE Maite. She doesn’t love her job and it feels like she’s just getting by and that really endeared me to her. Her love for comics and her humor really resonated with me and I just wanted everything to work out for her. Her relationship with her mother and sister is strained and I am such a fan of characters like that. I also really like the commentary on Mexican politics at the time and the way colonialism plays into what is happening. The protest elements really added something to this crime noir that I haven’t seen often. There are romance elements in this story and while they aren’t ever the focus, I found myself really drawn to the chapters that explored that. Lastly, the ending was really interesting. I can’t say anything without spoiling it, of course but my reaction was very much “wow okay!”
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There were some places that felt a little repetitive and slow but I think it’s definitely worth it to see all of the action at the end. Pick this one up August 17!

Thanks to Netgalley & Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey for this ARC!

I love the way SMG does a slow burn. Once I got more into Maite's chapters I really got into it. I will admit I found myself waiting for Elvis' chapters to be over most of the time, it was hard for me to get with the dialogue there. The descriptions of the setting and the symbolism was done very well and the ENDING. I love endings like this one (that is all I will say so I don't spoil it).

Another win for me from Silvia Moreno-Garcia and will once again be waiting to see what comes next!

Moreno-Garcia does it again! I don't always love period pieces, for lack of a better word, but this was so good. It is a slow burn that is well worth the pay off, and I hope many readers check this out. Even if Mexican Gothic wasn't your thing, this is different enough that it is worth a try!

Not for me. Silvia Moreno-Garcia blew me away with Mexican Gothic, and this book I was deeply looking forward to. The beginning of the book leaned to heavily on info dumping and character setup with a "tell but not show" attitude, So much of the book was characters letting us know exactly who they are and what their motivations are...yet we don't get to truly know them.

Comparing it with Mexican Gothic, which was a long-form mystery that we were able to uncover, where the main and side characters rarely show their hand and we learn about them through their journey.

I loved the setting AND the period in which it is set though. In this book, the setting is infinitely more important than the characters who live in it. The way she sets up the political and social tensions in Mexico feel very real, and act as a "character in the story.

I wish I had more thoughts on this one, but mostly I was a little disappointed.

Befor beginning Velvet Was the Night, I was so intrigued by this historical fiction noir setting. Set during the 1970s in Mexico City, after finishing, the setting has to be one of my favorite elements of the story. Not only is Moreno-Garcia able to capture the intrigue of the murder mystery, but it's so firmly grounded in the setting. Unable to be transported anywhere else, there are deliberate details that keep you reminded of where you are. From the music to the food to the fashion, everything felt so realized and descriptive.

Another element of Velvet Was the Night which I enjoyed were the characters and specifically Elvis. Intially I thought I would like Maite more, but I felt like she showed less character development, in my opinion, than Elvis. I deeply empathized with the way that society is consistenyl trying to put Maite into a box, and how she struggles with that (especially with her family), but I found myself frustrated with her character development. On the other hand, Elvis was fascinating to me in the ways his passions and loyalty so fiercely conflicted with his job.

I love Silvia Morena-Garcia. This book feels like such a departure, and yet it is just as well done as, say, Mexican Gothic. Yes, as a noir, it is slower, but I felt so invested in the characters--especially Maite, a secretary who is just bored with her life and therefore gets sucked into this dangerous investigation. And I would have to disagree with those who say the stakes are low. The backdrop of the novel is a Mexico City rife with tensions over politics, and those tensions are leading to violence and more. The novel features secret police, scary men trained to threaten, intimidate and harm, and more. The stakes are certainly different than in other books I've read by Morena-Garcia, but not lower. I really enjoyed this read!

Maite is living a quite life as a secretary when her neighbor, Leonora, asks her to watch her cat for a few days. But Leonora never comes back. What happened to Leonora? Is she coming back? Where is she? Maite isn't the only one looking for Leonora either...

You know what I love about the movie Inception? That the ending isn't exactly clear. Many have debated if the main character was just dreaming or did he actually make it back home. Velvet Was The Night also had that open ending which really elevated this book to spectacular status. This book also felt unique in terms of the writing style, mixing in a bit of Spanish and Mexican history. Moreno-Garcia perfectly nailed some of the family relationships. I loved where the mother would call up her daughter and always find something to complain about and let her know that her other daughter was so vastly better. There is also a parakeet in this book, owned by Maite. Wow! What a beautiful use of symbolism! The bird sits in its cage all day, and it is capable of speaking but never does.

Now that I essentially just wrote a review about how Velvet Was the Night is the greatest thing since sliced bread, I will mention that the book was pretty slow at times. The book is focused on trying to find Leonora, but I think the characters spend way too much time on, "I don't know where she is. Do you?" Given the storyline, the book should have been trimmed down a bit.

Overall, a very satisfying book that will stay with me for months and possibly years to come! If you are looking for a unique read, look no further!

*Thank you, NetGalley, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and honest opinion.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a wonderful writer who deeply immerses her readers in a world and its characters. This novel set in 1970s Mexico does just that. But the author herself said: "This is a noir, not a thriller. Both genres get confused. The stakes in noirs are smaller." In this case, smaller stakes meant a slower pace and a lot of loose ends that, to me, didn't get resolved. A lot of the story felt unfulfilled, especially around the book's MacGuffin. I will be reading more from Moreno-Garcia, but this book just fell short for me.

Velvet Was the Night would make an amazing movie or TV series. The book felt cinematic as I read. Moreno-Garcia paints pictures and moods so beautifully I could see them play out in my head. I don’t usually see books in my head. On top of that, Moreno-Garcia has created a Spotify playlist to listen to while reading. It is excellent.

It’s June, 1971 in Mexico City. The Mexican Dirty War is just starting. President Echeverria is suppressing rock and roll. After a couple of years of releasing dissidents from jail and allowing them to return from exile, he’s starting to crack down of students and activists.

Elvis was seen as one of the stupid kids because his letter came out wrong when he wrote and he was poor. He got kicked out of school and fell in with a gang of local boys. Elvis falls in with people, a cult because he was recruited by a pretty girl, and now the Hawks, because El Mago saw the potential for violence in him. He doesn’t really like to beat up people. He would rather read and listen to rock and roll. He likes Bobby Darin and the Beatles along with Elvis. Elvis is loyal to El Mago and his team members, but doesn’t care about the politics surrounding him. His personal loyalty drags him into the mess of the Corpus Christi Massacre, it’s aftermath, and the shadows of Maite’s life.

Maite loves romance comics and yearns for an exciting life full of love and music. Instead she works as a secretary at a law firm in Mexico City, and lives above her means. She is uncurious about the world and just wants to read her comics and listen to her American records. She likes Bobby Darin too. Maite is unhappy – dissatisfied and petty. She’s a thief and a liar who wants more from life, but doesn’t like change, so she’s likely going to stay dissatisfied and petty. Even so, she’s struggling in her own way against the confines of her life. When she steals some rolls of film form her missing neighbor, she becomes embroiled in the politics she doesn’t care about.

Neither Maite or Elvis are likeable, but they are compelling and ultimately sympathetic. Velvet Was the Night burns slowly with pops of violence and terror. Maite and Elvis are small people caught in something big, but the story stays on them, alternating between their points of view.

I enjoyed this so much. It was a rich book, inviting tangents and rabbit hole explorations. Like Elvis, I feel my words bunching up in my head. So I’ll leave it here – this was a good read.

I received this as an advance reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this historical fiction noir set in Mexico from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings . . .

This be the eighth book have read by the author and me eighth five star read.  Her writing floats me boat.  I have said before that what I find amazing about all of the author's books is that they feel so different from each other. I don't even read blurbs for her books anymore. 

I don't really read noir so should have disliked this book but as always her writing is evocative and I was completely engrossed by this story.  Of particular interest in this novel were the historical elements about Mexico that were (sadly) new to me including the Dirty War, suppression of rock music, and romance comic books.  The two main characters are rather unlikeable and yet I was rooting for them anyway.  Seriously I loved the writing.  The only slightly negative thing was that the ending was perfect from a plot standpoint but I still wanted to know what happened to the characters next.

I love Silvia Moreno-Garcia and want more of her books.  Arrr!

Velvet Was the Night follows Maite, a thirty-year old secretary whose neighbor asks her to cat sit while she is out of town, and Elvis, one of the men hired to track down that neighbor when it becomes clear that she left town because she had politically-sensitive information the government doesn't want getting out. Maite is deeply unhappy in her life and escapes through music, romance comics, and petty theft. Elvis is also something of a romantic and shares Maite's taste in music. As their paths cross and recross, both trying to track down Maite's neighbor, Maite starts to experience a more exciting life than usual and Elvis becomes more and more fascinated by Maite while his professional life starts to unravel. If this synopsis is confusing, that is because this is a hard book to summarize!

This book is very different from the last Moreno-Garcia book I read, being noir instead of sci-fi horror. The split narrative made it a little harder to get invested in the characters, but made for an interesting narrative structure that helped build the suspense. I found myself identifying with Maite - not the most comfortable character recognition - and liking Elvis more. The look at 1970s Mexico was very interesting for me - it isn't a time period or location I am that familiar with, so Velvet Was the Night was interesting for the setting as well as the plot.

Thank you to Random House - Ballentine and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read Velvet Was the Night early in exchange for an honest review! I look forward to more from Silvia Moreno-Garcia!

I couldn't get into this book. Finally after setting it aside for awhile at 14% in I decided I should just review what I had read so far. Written okay, wanted to get into it, but couldn't. Not my cup of tea. Thanks for the opportunity.

Velvet Was The Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Mexico City in the 1970s was a hotbed of political intrigue, as rival factions struggled for control of the nation. Elvis is a young man recruited to The Hawks, one of the right-wing paramilitary groups sent to infiltrate student organizations suspected of communist leanings. He’s good at his job, though has a strong distaste for the violence that several others in his unit seem to revel in. Personally, he doesn’t really care about politics: he’s just glad for employment. Work prospects have been dim since he came to the city from his rural hometown, and he’s grateful to his boss, El Mago, for giving him the opportunity. Plus he admires how El Mago is a man of wealth and taste, and aspires to be just like him one day.

Maite is a secretary, on the verge of turning thirty and desperately longing for a life of romance and adventure. She’s addicted to the romance comics she buys from the newspaper vendor, to the exclusion of almost anything else. Politics certainly holds no interest for her, even when headlines blare about recent clashes in her own city:

QUOTE
The papers were all talking about the confrontation that had taken place on Thursday. “The president is willing to listen to everyone,” declared <i>Excélsior</i>. She hardly paid attention to the headlines. Sure, she’d heard chatter about the student demonstration, but politics seemed terribly dull.

Love, frail as gossamer, stitched together from a thousand songs and a thousand comic books, made of the dialogue spoken in films and the posters designed by ad agencies: love was what she lived for.
END QUOTE

If only love was more for her than a story she reads in comic books! Maite fears aging and loneliness and poverty, but she doesn’t really know what to do about coming to terms with or preventing any of those things. At least on the money front, she makes a little extra income pet sitting animals in her apartment building when their owners go away. That’s how she gets acquainted with Leonora, the glamorous student living across the hallway from her.

Leonora hires her for a weekend, promising to be back by Monday at the latest, but when Leonora suddenly calls asking Maite to bring her cat and a box to a certain address, Maite agrees, if less than graciously. To Maite’s dismay, Leonora never shows up for their rendezvous. Maite tries asking around after her and unwittingly gets swept up in the very political chaos she’s never had time for before.

Meanwhile, Elvis has been tasked with finding Leonora and retrieving a camera with incriminating photographs. As he investigates her disappearance, he can’t help noticing the prim, spinsterish secretary whose path keeps crossing his. But men like him don’t have time for romance, not if they want to stay alive in a treacherous world of quasi-legal maneuverings and double-crosses. It doesn’t help that he operates in a virtual alphabet soup of agencies:

QUOTE
Ears were a dime a dozen. Justo had been sniffing around Asterisk for the DGIPS, and this bozo had been talking to Anaya, and there was some Russian fucker too, and for all Elvis knew the CIA and Santa Claus also had spies in that little commie nest. Overkill and a lack of coordination. That was the problem. The DFS hated the DGIPS thinking they were hicks, and the DGIPS thought DFS agents were stuffy pricks.
END QUOTE

Velvet Was The Night is a remarkably evocative noir novel set against the backdrop of one of the most turbulent political times in Mexico’s recent history. Silvia Moreno-Garcia deftly maneuvers our two almost-anti-heroes through a dance of revolutionaries, reactionaries and misdeeds, setting them to chase down the MacGuffin of Leonora’s photographs while each longing for a better life. More importantly, both Maite and Elvis struggle to come to terms with the faults in their own expectations, even as the reader grows to sympathize with these flawed but relatable leads. It’s not quite a romance novel, but it does feel deeply romantic, with a truly wonderful ending.

I do not have a lot of knowledge of noir. I do not have a lot of knowledge of The Dirty War in Mexico in the 1970's. My knowledge of Silvia Moreno-Garcia is limited to her last novel, Mexican Gothic, but that was enough to send me scurrying to NetGalley in the hopes of gaining access to her latest work. I'm so glad I did, because this was wonderful. I don't often get terribly excited over covers, but this one absolutely nails the feeling of the book and is gorgeous. And the prose contained within was exceptional. This is a gritty story, a bit more than I would normally take on, but the violence isn't gratuitous and is necessary within the context of events. The story grabs on right away and moves quickly, barely allowing the reader to catch a breath. Overall an excellent story and another triumph for the author. Well done.

I was provided an advance copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. My thanks to Ms. Moreno-Garcia, Del Rey, and NetGalley for the opportunity.