I had heard good things about the author previously, but this just wasn't my kind of thing. I don't love noir, but I did enjoy the characters. I knew nothing about that setting and found the history interesting but ultimately not the mystery.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book.
I've never really read noir & i feel like it doesn't seem like something I'd be into. the story was slow paced and felt low stakes, but i still had a good time reading it. Velvet Was the Night has a beautiful cover and a wonderfully engaging title.
Set in 1970s Mexico City, Velvet Was the Night follows Maite, a thirty year old secretary who yearns for more. She gets lost in her comics, romantic tales of love triangles with adventure, dashing heroes, and intoxicating damsels, searching for something or someone to rescue her from her mundane life. When her neighbor Leonora asks her to watch her cat, she agrees, but things get crazy when Leonora doesn't return. Teaming up with some unlikely characters, Maite soon finds herself smack dab in the middle of the adventure she always wanted, but what price will she have to pay to have it?

I don’t want to compare this to Mexican Gothic since Velvet Was The Night is noir not horror, but this didn’t quite grab me in the same way. Mexican Gothic shocked and surprised me at every turn, whereas this story followed a familiar and mostly predictable plot line, but in a different setting from the typical “white” noir genre.

I enjoyed how focused she was on the characters and the alternating POVs of Elvis and Maite in 1960s Mexico. For someone who prefers character-driven stories, I was very well fed by the deep POV of each character. There are unique touches such as references to Mexican romance comics that Maite enjoys and a fun crooner playlist for Elvis. I enjoy noir in film format more than in books but that’s personal preference. I’d love to see this film adaptation because the story is strong enough for it.

One star knocked off for the abrupt epilogue. I was hoping for a little bit more after all the buildup.

CWs: violence, torture scenes

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine/Del Rey books for the eARC.

"The Devil hath power to assume a pleasing shape. You look like a kid who dances to Presley's records and watches foreign films."

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is an absolute master of mixing genres. With 'Velvet Was the Night' she tackles political unrest in this noir and historical fiction blend. I can't complement this author enough. Every book of hers is different. In this smoky mystery we're transported back to early 1970s era Mexico City, Mexico. The music of the era becomes a character in and of itself here and sets the perfect backdrop for each scene.

Ermenegildo aka Elvis is a low level thug with a heart. He has dreams of one day rising above his current job as an enforcer. Maite Jaramillo is a daydreaming secretary and romance comic connoisseur with a penchant for thievery. Despite odd parallels between Elvis and Maite, the opening third of the book drags a bit with the two main characters going about their normal lives but stick with it. It's flush with internal dialogue and introducing characters but not much movement initially. I love quirky characters though. It's not until around the halfway point that the various political threads come together and you begin to understand what is going on. By then I was so invested in the story I couldn't stop reading. The suspense builds nicely from there to a crescendo action five star ending. If you're looking for a fast paced thriller with twists, that's not what this is but if you enjoy well written, character driven dramas, this one is fantastic.

Reading Playlist: We Gotta Get Out of this Place by The Animals, Can't Help Falling In Love - Are You Lonesome Tonight - Love Me Tender and Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley, To Be Seventeen Again by Violeta Parra, Blue Velvet by Arthur Prysock, No Me Platiques Más by Vicente Garrido, Piel Canela by Nat King Cole, Satisfaction by Los Apson, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by the Platters, Mano A Mano by Carlos Gardel, Will You Love Me Tomorrow by The Shirelles, Que viva el Rock and Roll by Three Souls in My Mind, Strangers in the Night - Fly Me to the Moon by Frank Sinatra, Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) by Nancy Sinatra, Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles, Dream a Little Dream of Me by Ella Fitzgerald, Somos Novios by Manzanero, White Room by Cream, At Last! by Etta James, The Girl From Ipanema by Antônio Carlos Jobim

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is brilliant at setting a mood and drawing me in with her brilliant slow placed style. This historical noir takes place in Mexico City during the 1970s. I fell in love with the flawed characters, especially Maite and Elvis. I have never read a book with a tone or atmosphere like Velvet Was the Night and as soon as I finished it I wanted to read it again.

Velvet Was the Night is sure to be another hit from Moreno-Garcia. It reads more like an historical fiction mystery than anything else. The character development in this book is exceptional and I enjoyed reading the story from their different perspectives. The story itself is based on the Mexican Dirty War which allows Moreno-Garcia to take that part of history and create an interesting and believable fictional story centered around the conflict. I found the book compelling and I enjoyed it tremendously.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Last year, I went outside of my comfort zone with Mexican Gothic and couldn't help but be drawn back to Silvia Moreno-Garcia for her newest book, Velvet Was the Night.

Set in Mexico City in the 1970s, this story shifts between two perspectives--Maite, the lonely secretary and Elvis, an operative amongst this secret band of men. Both are looking for a missing woman when their paths cross.

I'm unfamiliar with noir as a style but it reminded me a lot of Pulp Fiction. It is action-packed and while I expected the twist, it was a really interesting ride! I loved the infusion of music throughout and think it is so fun they included a playlist at the end.

It is very different from Mexican Gothic and closer to my wheelhouse given the historical fiction elements. It was a quick read for me because the action does keep you engaged, I can totally see this one made into a movie!

Thank you to NetGalley, Del Ray and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for an advanced copy of this and the opportunity to share my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"Often life doesn’t make sense, and if Elvis had a motto it was that: life’s a mess."

I think that I am a little bit in the minority with this one, but Velvet Was the Night ended up being a disappointing read for me.

My first introduction to Silvia Moreno-Garcia was, predictably, Mexican Gothic last year, and I really didn't like that one. Horror is not my genre, even less so when it's fantasy-based. I didn't expect to pick up another of her books after that, but when I realized that she was shifting genres and going in a completely new direction with this book, I thought maybe I'd find a winner.

As it turns out, noir is most certainly not my genre either. I found it very slow-building, lacking in action/excitement, and honestly, it was just a slog for me to get through it. It took me months to plow through Velvet Was the Night, where most books I don't want to put down and can usually finish in just a handful of days.

In keeping with my prior experience with Moreno-Garcia's work, she excels at creating a very believable setting, with regard to time and place. That was the standout feature of this book for me, with the 1970s vibes and the backdrop of political unrest in Mexico. I did enjoy this one somewhat more than Mexican Gothic, but I didn't love it.

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Thank you to Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Del Rey Books, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Velvet was the Night is the most recent novel by Mexican-Canadian author Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Mexican Gothic, The Beautiful Ones, Untamed Shore, etc.). Moreno-Garcia is the type of writer whose writing spans across genres, with her SF/F stuff hitting Romance, Magical Realism, Vampires, Coming-of-Age, Horror, etc. Nearly all of it has a Mexican spin, being generally set in Mexico (The Beautiful Ones is the sole exception I think?), and each of these books has been incredibly well done, such that I've desperately tried to read her entire bibliography - even the non SciFi/Fantasy works, like last year's Untamed Shore. And again it's all so good, so I will request anything of hers I see on NetGalley in a heartbeat.

Velvet was the Night is another non-SciFi/Fantasy novel from Garcia, being instead a noir/thriller set in 1970s Mexico City, at a time when left wing and often student led protests were being met with resistance from government (and CIA) sponsored mobs, all in the name "fighting communism". It's a fascinating novel in its two protagonists, one such goon - who fell into the role and would prefer to enjoy words and rock and roll - and a 30 year old secretary struggling to survive on her own terms in a world telling her she's too old and ungrateful to do so. The two form a fascinating contrast even though they basically never meet (this is NOT a romance) on a hunt for a missing camera and woman in the middle of this political climate, and deal with powers from multiple sides all with their own agendas.

-----------------------------------------Plot Summary----------------------------------------------
1970s Mexico City. Left-Wing Protests are growing in size, to the consternation of the government and its supporters from the CIA, afraid of the specter of communism. So the Mexican government forms a number of secret initiates to suppress these movements - such as the Hawks, a gang of goons who infiltrate the protests for the purpose of beating up protestors and journalists attempting to cover them.

Elvis didn't want to be a Hawk - he just wanted to learn words and enjoy rock and roll, and maybe find love. But the educational system rejected him and his attempt at love led him to a cult, and rock & roll got him beaten up by Hawks...although the fight he put up impressed their leader, El Mago, enough to hire him. He doesn't like fighting, and especially doesn't like the bloodthirsty members of his group, but his unit leader shares an interest in culture....until he gets shot at a protest, leaving Elvis in charge and with a new mission: find an art student who has gone missing with photographs that could incriminate the government.

That mission puts him on a crash course with Maite, a 30 year old secretary whose life seems to be going nowhere. She may have a steady job, but she has no love life, her mother and society insists she's too old now for a man and a failure, she can't afford to pay her mechanic to get her car back, and she lives practically only for stealing small things from people she meets. The only thing she lies for is the weekly romance comic Secret Romance, whose stories she devours and imagines for herself. When Maite is asked by her neighboring art student to look after the student's cat, she thinks its an opportunity to make some money and maybe to steal something else. But then the art student disappears, and Maite has to track her down to get her money, leading her into a mess of conspiracies and dangerous politics, and the attention of Elvis and his boss, the likes of which she is unprepared for.....
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Velvet was the Night is a fascinating Noir/Thriller featuring a pair of characters who are seemingly floating through life in a cruel horrifying time in modern Mexican history. A note once again: this is not a star crossed romance, and while the book seemingly puts its two protagonists on a potential collision course early, such a collision practically never occurs. Instead, this is the story of a country torn apart by foreign influences, by corrupt politicians fearful of "left" wing influence and people hunting for change, and of ordinary people caught up in and on the sidelines of it all. There's a bit of Burn After Reading in here too, in how Maite stumbles through it all, but whereas in BAR that was played for dark comedy, here it's played for bittersweet tension.

It works really because of two things: the setting being so strong (being based in real history) and the two main characters are really well done. Let's start with the characters, both of whom are similar in that they have essentially floated through life into an unsatisfactory status quo, even if those status quos are very different. Maite left her mother, even though that's not done for a single woman, she tried to get freedom through a car (which she can't afford maintenance of, so she can't actually use it), and she seems unable to settle down due to falling for a charming young man when she was young instead of a stable man who wanted her, and was left behind and lonely as a result. She's opinionated about other people, even though she keeps herself ignorant of the politics of the world, but she simply wants the freedom to want more, to enjoy music and romance, instead of a boring job with no opportunities for anything - and so the most thrills she gets are from her romance comics and petty thievery from people who give her access to their things. She didn't intend to get into this living situation, but now that she's in it, she basically can't get out....so when the neighbor's catsitting assignment turns into something more, she briefly begins to believe (although it's first about the money) that there might be something adventurous and fun out there.....

By contrast Elvis seems very different, in that he's a goon for a man in charge of a secret political organization to discredit left wing activists but really he's the same as Maite. Elvis wants to be a man of culture and intelligence, but he was kicked out of school when his dyslexia essentially made his grades problematic for a school that wanted to look good, despite his obvious intelligence. He wants to travel, he wants to enjoy his music collection of American rock, despite the government's propaganda that such music is a sign of left-wing and communist activity, and he doesn't really want to be violent...it's just there's no other job left for him. Chasing romance got him into a cult, and trying to make an earnest living got him beat up, so he's left working for a political elite in an underground violent mob movement with tie to the CIA. And so when he winds in up in charge of a team of violent people, and finding out that his boss may have betrayed the one person who he liked in his team, a man of culture, it eats away at him....but what else can he do when all his floating has left him nowhere without anywhere else to go?

Both Elvis and Maite are floating around in a Mexico City that is corrupt, that is influenced by both the KGB and the CIA, and is on the verge of atrocities in the name of avoiding change. And all these atrocities are pointless, like their lives seemingly, just for the benefit of those in power who don't really want to share that power. And for the majority of people around Mexico City, those who keep their head down and don't pay much attention, it might as well not be happening, which just allows these atrocities to go on unscathed. And so Maite and Elvis get into bloody situations, bloody scraps, and after it all, there's nothing really to come from it. It all was for nothing. Except maybe the two of them might be able to make something out of their lives.....but probably not.

It's a fascinating look at a time most American readers will not be familiar with, and Moreno-Garcia illustrates its banal horror so well. It makes this book work and makes it all worth your time as a reader. Recommended.

Based upon the Mexican Dirty War, Moreno-Garcia has created a grimy historical fiction novel. Politics and power make cringeworthy bedfellows, and this book is full of them. I knew little of the rampant corruption of this time period in Mexico. And I found the context created in this novel eye opening and detestable.

Good characterization is the benchmark of all novels in my opinion. And while Moreno-Garcia doesn’t create relatable and endearing characters here, she does hit the mark on developing quirky and unique ones. Maite is a dowdy secretary living a solitary life that’s rooted in soap opera comics rather than reality. She tells her friend about personal adventures and dates, but they are drawn from the fictional worlds she reads about rather than real life experience. Elvis is hired muscle that detests violence. His daily routine includes job enforced push-ups, reading the dictionary, and losing himself in American hit music. Both characters long for more out of life. I can’t say that I loved these characters. But they were eccentric and flawed and written in such a style that made me want to know more about them.

Moreno-Garcia adeptly weaves music into the plot, showcasing its power and significance, especially during tumultuous times. The playlist at the end of the book is worth note.

I found this book to be more temperamental than noir. Where it missed the mark on the edginess and bleakness of the Mexican Dirty War, I felt like it adeptly emanated moodiness. It felt glum and sullen rather than desolate and horrific. The storyline just never quite hit the mark of noir to me, in feel or in literary definition.

That cover. Oh how enticing and seductive! And the title of the book! So mysterious and alluring. Boy does Moreno-Garcia know how to draw us in! The cover and title deserve 5 stars for sure. But the slow burn storyline, while enjoyable, gets 3 stars.

Thank you Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Random House Publishing Group Ballantine, Del Ray, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley & Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the opportunity to read Silvia Moreno-Garcia's newest book, "Velvet Was the Night"!

This book definitely surprised me—I wasn't sure what to expect after reading the gruesome horror novel "Mexican Gothic" by Moreno-Garcia, and knew this was a noir. I absolutely LOVED it.

The characters were so well rounded, the different points of view and how the story was interwoven into each perspective really made it so enjoyable to read. I had such fun trying to solve the mystery as we learned more about each character, and the last few chapters really had me flipping to the next page in major suspense! The ending was also extremely satisfying in my opinion.

If you're looking for a gripping, fun mystery read (with a bit of real life history thrown in the mix, as well!), I cannot recommend this book enough! Definitely go purchase it on August 17th, it was truly such a great read!

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got an eGalley of this book from NetGalley to review.

Thoughts: This book follows two characters. The first is Maite who is a secretary with a somewhat lonely miserable life who absolutely lives for her romantic comics. The second is Elvis, he is an enforcer for a local government supported gang. The two end up interacting over the disappearance of one of Maite’s neighbors, Leonora.

I stopped reading this about 40% of the way through. The story just did not hold my interest at all. Both the character POVs we are reading from are fairly boring and hard to engage in. The story takes place in Mexico City in the 1970's during the Dirty War, which I thought would be intriguing. However, at 40% I still wasn’t sure what the point was. Up to the 40% mark it was a very “day in the life of” type of story with very little plot.

The cover is beautiful but that's all this really has going for it (at least as far as I read in). I have a lot of review books lined up to read and just don't have the patience for something that moves so slow and seems so wandering and pointless.

I enjoyed "Mexican Gothic" and also have "Gods of Jade and Shadow" on my shelf to read. This book is quite a bit different in subject, genre, and pacing and I didn't find it was different in a good way.

My Summary (2/5): Overall this was a book I didn’t even remotely enjoy. The characters are unlikable and hard to engage with, the plot is barely there, and the pacing is very slow. All of this made for a book I struggled to read, it was just so boring that I kept falling asleep while reading it. I still plan on reading “The Gods of Jade and Shadow” and hope that that book is more intriguing than this one was.

Velvet Was the Night is a Mystery Thriller that kept me on my toes. Even though Maite doesn't really know her neighbors she gets caught up watching her neighbor Leonora's cat while she is away. The day that Leonora is expected back Maite realizes she is not the only one looking for her. Somehow she is caught up being followed and watched while trying to find Leonora.

I loved the story. I like that even though it's a work of fiction some of it is based on fact. The author has a way of sucking you into the story. There was times that I even felt a little scared.

I just want to say thank you to Random House Publishing and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

I picked this up because I loved Mexican Gothic by Moreno-Garcia, but these two stories could not be more different. This is a noir tale straight out of true events in Mexican history whereas Mexican Gothic was a magical realism/horror story. It took awhile for me to get interested in this one because the first half was a really slow burn, but I did get better invested in the characters that way. I thoroughly enjoyed the minute details the author includes like the names of Spanish foods, drinks, or places, which I had to look up, because as a white American I am woefully ignorant of the Mexican culture and history. Finally, I also love how the main character is an older, average-looking woman that has a few personality quirks. (Not every heroine needs to be a pretty twenty-something with nice hair and body!) I would recommend this to anyone interested in noir fiction.

Full disclosure: this review is in exchange for an Advanced Readers Copy.

Another day, another genre of book that I don’t usually read. Frankly, I don’t think I’ve ever read a noir, pulp fiction type book before. But this was Silvia Moreno-Garcia and I couldn’t resist getting a review copy.

For almost a third of the book, I was bored and annoyed with the characters and just couldn’t see what was the point of everything that was happening. But then, I will not say it got terribly interesting, but I got used to the writing style and decided to quickly finish the book. The author captures the atmosphere of the times very well - the authoritarianism of the political leaders and the police; the dirty work by gangsters; the students who are fed up with the messed up situation and have become activists, but are themselves a target now; and a young woman who doesn’t care about any of this happening around her because she is too busy thinking about her drab and boring life. The author is really good at showing the murky reality of Mexico during different times in history through each of her books, and this was no exception. The story was also fast paced with quite a bit of action and suspense, with one twist towards the end that I never saw coming.

Elvis was an interesting character, trying to find the place where he can finally belong to and maybe make a name for himself. He may have been working for a gangster, but there was a naïveté about him that made him a sympathetic character. Maite on the other hand completely frustrated me - on one hand because I was annoyed by her fixation on good looking guys and making tall tales about everything to feel like something was going on in her life; on the other hand, there were some characteristics of her life that hit too close to him and I didn’t want a reality check. But I liked how both of their storylines followed each other and intersected and diverged, but never actually met. The only other character whom we get to know somewhat is Ruben but he was a typical young guy who romanticized revolution and none of his actions truly surprised me. Elvis’s teammates were also stereotypical sidekicks and didn’t leave much of an impression.

To conclude, this was a quick read, probably as expected from pulp fiction. It was also engaging enough but I don’t think it’s something I’ll remember after a while. I could have liked it more but the ending (which was quite unexpected) just felt like the whole point of the book was a waste and that left me dissatisfied. But it’s just my opinion. If 1970s Mexico at a time of student protests and government overreach, and a noir story about two completely different people whose paths collide in a twist of fate feels like something that’ll interest you, go for it.

Velvet Was the Night is a historical fiction, a mystery, a noir. If you’re looking for something super similar to Mexican Gothic, you might be a little disappointed--there’s no horror, no science-fiction, no paranormal. But if you love Moreno-Garcia’s writing, historical fiction, or mystery, you’ll love this. The whole novel gives off the vibe of a smoky, dimly lit bar in the 70s and I loved every second of it.

What was, for me, equally as great as the book itself was learning more about the actual historical events on which the novel is based. While I knew about the Dirty War, my knowledge was minimal; I had no idea that rock music was suppressed by the government as much as it was. I loved that music wasn’t just a part of the novel, but another focal point and learning opportunity. Moreno-Garcia even went so far as to put together a playlist to accompany the book. The book itself as well as the afterword were incredibly informative and I can genuinely say I came away from Velvet Was the Night having learned something. Or a lot of things.

This historical noir was an absolutely stunning read! I've never really read noir & i feel like it doesn't seem like something I'd be into. the story was slow paced and felt low stakes, but i still had a good time reading it. Velvet Was the Night has a beautiful cover and a wonderfully engaging title.
Set in 1970s Mexico City, Velvet Was the Night follows Maite, a thirty year old secretary who yearns for more. She gets lost in her comics, romantic tales of love triangles with adventure, dashing heroes, and intoxicating damsels, searching for something or someone to rescue her from her mundane life. When her neighbor Leonora asks her to watch her cat, she agrees, but things get crazy when Leonora doesn't return. Teaming up with some unlikely characters, Maite soon finds herself smack dab in the middle of the adventure she always wanted, but what price will she have to pay to have it?

Set in 1970s Mexico City, Velvet Was the Night is a historical noir which takes place during the Dirty War, a time of political turmoil, student protests, guerrilla groups, and government and police corruption.

We follow two main characters: Maite, a 30-year-old secretary who dislikes her job and lives vicariously through romance comics, and Elvis, a criminal who loves music and hates violence but works for the Hawks, an unofficial government enforcer group.

Maite’s neighbor, Leonora, asks Maite to watch her cat while she’s away and then suddenly disappears. Hoping to locate Leonora so she can get paid, Maite becomes entangled in the search for her neighbor who may have compromising photos of the Hawks, Elvis’s group. What Maite thought would be an easy task turns into an adventure full of danger, gangsters, Russian spies, and government authorities.

This novel was atmospheric, gritty, and I could feel the tension of the political climate as I read. While I think the setting was done well, the pacing was on the slow side with most of the action taking place in the last 20% of the book.

I also had a difficult time getting invested in the main characters. Maite isn’t your typical protagonist, she steals, lies, and has an overall downer mood so it was hard to root for her. Elvis was just kind of flat, sadly.

Three stars for the historical aspect, tone, and setting but I wished the story was faster paced with more action.

Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. Publication date: August 17.

“I wonder how you do it, that you can look at the world and manage to think there is a speck of fairness to it when all that the eye can see is garbage from here until forever.”

Silvia Moreno-Garcia writes novels like no one else. In this noir novel set in the 1970s Dirty War era in Mexico, we meet two protagonists: Maite and Elvis.

Maite is bland. She’s getting “old” (past marriageable age), her mother clearly doesn’t love her as much as her sister, and she often finds herself making up lies to make her life seem more interesting to her co-workers. She lives for her romantic fantasies. Until her neighbor, Leonora, asks Maite to watch her cat for a few days... which turn into more when her neighbor goes missing. It changes everything.

Elvis is a criminal… but a naive criminal who loves rock ‘n’ roll, and ends up moving up in the ranks, in charge of finding out what happened to a girl named Leonora.

Maite and Elvis’s stories interweave together in a genius perfection. The grim noir tone was done so well, and I was cheering for both Maite and Elvis the whole time. The last section of the boom was so fast-paced and twisted that I couldn’t put it down! I also loved that Moreno-Garcia provided an Afterword with information about the Dirty War. There are spot-on song references throughout the whole book, and a Spotify playlist to go along with it!

I ended up liking this quite a lot. The author refers to this as noir pulp. It's like if Dashiell Hammett wrote a novel in the 1970s and set it in Mexico. She also uses elements from history as the background of her story, so I guess it is also historical fiction. So, not only does this author not stick to a genre between novels, she sort of colors outside the lines within the novels as well. All this book needs is a space alien or two and we'd really have quite a mess (Just kidding. There's only one author I can think of that could pull that off properly.). To be honest, though, this is the first of her novels I have read. If they're all like this, I'm definitely willing to read more of them. They have received quite a lot of attention.

If you like pulp or noir, definitely give this a go. If you expect it to be like the author's other novels, however, this might not be for you.