Silvia Moreno-Garcia has done it again.

I’ve read and reviewed several of Moreno-Garcia’s novels, but I think this one might be my new favorite? It is vastly different from her other works and is definitely a slow burn, but I promise it is worth it. I absolutely LOVED the atmospheric undertones surrounding this plot. And the way Moreno-Garcia builds 1970s Mexico City is *chefs kiss*

In many ways, Velvet is the Night is also a timely reflection on the current state of our own world? Loneliness and corruption are major themes throughout this book. Given the current state of our world, in which government corruption, disease, and isolation abound, this novel seems particularly timely. I really related to the sense of isolation that our two main characters experience throughout the novel

One thing I want to be clear on: this book does not have any science fiction or fantasy elements. It is a historical noir. Do not go into this expecting something with the supernatural elements of Mexican Gothic, Gods of Jade and Shadow, or the Beautiful Ones. It is disappointing to see so many poor reviews complaining that this novel lacks the fantasy elements contained in the author’s prior work.

All in all, this book is fantastic. Definitely will be buying myself a physical copy when it is released.

For me, Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia ranked in the middle. It took me a while to get into it, but once I did, it was excellent. I enjoyed it. Although it takes some time to get into the narrative and lore, this was an enjoyable read. I found it to be intriguing and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

A Review of “Velvet Was the Night” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Full Disclosure I was provided a NetGalley copy of this book, however, have voluntarily chosen to write a review. All opinions are my own.

Velvet Was the Night is scheduled for an August 17, 2021 release

When dreams and reality collide

Maite Jaramillo is a mousy woman living vicariously through the heroines in her romance periodicals. A bit of a “Walter Mitty” type, she has been known to spin tales of romance and intrigue to the other women in her secretary pool at work. When Maite finds herself approached by her neighbor Leonora to watch her cat for the weekend, she sees this as an opportunity to peek into the life of the beautiful and mysterious art student. But when the days, turn into weeks Maite joins with Leonora’s colleagues to find her before it’s too late. For the woman that once only dreamed of a life of action and mystery, she now finds herself deeply involved with radicals, dodging hitmen and Russians in a race to find Leonora before the bad guys do.

Set in the summer of 1971, Mexico City is undergoing a time of unrest; where radical students stage protests and government-funded teams of strong-armed thugs seek to quash their spirit in addition to any media presence. Elvis is one of those thugs. As part of El Mago’s “Hawks” Elvis and his counterparts are tasked to locate and retrieve a potentially volatile series of photos from the young art student Leonora. But with the team engaging in a series of stakeouts that all bring them back to following the nondescript secretary, Elvis cannot help but wonder how this person fits into the big picture or why he feels so drawn to her.

“Velvet Was the Night” is the first book I have read by author Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Being a fan of the noir genre, I figured I would give it a try, however, not being familiar with her style of writing, it took me quite a long time to really start to get interested and invested in the characters. That is not to say that this was a bad story at all, but rather a ‘slow burn’ of a narrative that I started reading in the car line after school while waiting to pick up my daughter and finished by sitting up into the late hours of the evening to see what would happen next.
Maite’s character, on the surface, seemed shallow but as the story progresses she realizes that she is a better person than the box her overbearing mother has placed her into. Elvis, on the other hand, while technically one of the “bad guys” was still probably one of my favorite characters. It was interesting to watch his transformation from a “star-struck” street thug learning a new word daily in an effort to rise to the level of his mentor El Mago, to a person who has faced some hard shocking truths but has come out the other end stronger for it. How these two ever were even in the same orbit so to speak is an entirely different story which Moreno-Garcia has done well to weave. If you are a fan of crime fiction, historical fiction, noir, or gritty action novels I would recommend Velvet Was the Night.

This is not one of the suspenseful gothic novels that this author has become so renown for - it’s pure historical/crime noir. And I’m in the minority here because this book just didn’t click for me.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is one of my favorite authors and I went into this book expecting to find the same type of fast-paced, mysterious and suspenseful plot that features the same type of unconventional characters and impeccable settings that grace the pages of her other novels. While the incredible writing, unique characters, and flawlessly-presented setting and time period were all present in ‘Velvet was the Night,’ it was a slow-paced book that took a long time to unfurl. I’ve tried and tried to get into the noir genre, but I think I’m going to have to chalk it up as something that’s just not for me.

I'm going to be in the minority who didn't particularly enjoy this novel (but I rounded up). Velvet Was the Night ultimately didn't meet most of the expectations that I had for it. I expected intrigue and mystery, mixed with some quirky characters, and a fast-paced story. However, aside from the characters having some quirks I felt pretty let down. The pacing was a lot slower than I thought it was going to be and the two main characters didn't come together early enough to keep my interest. I kept hoping that they would come together and join their investigations in the next chapter, because I honestly thought they would be fun together, but it just didn't work out that way.

Overall, I would recommend this for fans of slower-paced books, Cold War espionage vibes, naive characters, and historical noir novels (though I would personally be hard pressed to name another one). I look forward to reading another novel by Silvia Moreno-Garcia in the future, but ultimately this one just didn't work so well for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey for providing me with an eARC of this novel. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

This particular story took me a little while to get into truly only because of the pacing, but once the story picks up it has no intention of stopping. I love this author and how she has the talent to transport you into a different setting and in this case, a different time completely. The imagery and interludes of music in the story are magical. Pick it up and read if you are looking for something different and intriguing.

*Thanks to NetGalley for access to this ARC*

Step into a smoky, sepia-toned 1970s Mexico City as bored secretary Maite gets wrapped up in a brutal game of cat and mouse. After her neighbor Leonora goes missing, record-loving, romance-reading, self-conscious Maite becomes a critical link to the case. Thugs are watching her every move, there's violence and gunfire all around, and the dangerous life of Russian spies, government agents, hitmen and student protesters all culminate into one explosive ending.

This was a slow burn of a novel, at times I was completely invested and other times I was wishing it would be over soon. Silvia Moreno-Garcia does a fantastic job at transporting you to the time period, with a vivid sense of place. The characters were fairly one-dimensional and didn't really develop much, even after all that they went through but all in all I highly recommend this book! Also, I am completely obsessed with the Spotify playlist that she created to really set the mood. I could see Quinten Tarantino opting this one for film!

*Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia for a DRC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.*

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-arc!

4.5 stars. This book was so fun! It’s always interesting to see authors write in various genres. I used to watch a lot of old cartoons and always love the noir episodes (and the noire aesthetic in general) but I haven’t read a proper noir book before. I enjoyed the writing on a prose level and plot wise. There were a lot of characters, but I think it was paired down enough so it wasn’t hard to keep track of who was who when reading. I liked both of the POVs in here: third person from Maite and third person from Elvis. They’re both interesting characters, and their flaws and their good characteristics are on display in the story. I liked that; the characters are flawed in realistic and interesting ways.

There’s also an air of romance through everything, especially because Maite loves reading romance, and I like the way she romanticizes parts of her life and the story. Elvis sometimes does the same, and keeps a more romantic view of certain things even though he lives a more violent life. I didn’t want the book to end, I loved reading through their POVs.

This is based around real historical events that took place in Mexico, though I do not know enough about them to comment on accuracy or how they were worked in the narrative.

My main complaint (though it’s not quite a complaint) is that I do wish the story had lingered some more near the end of the book. I would have liked to see some more of the wind down. Also, I don’t really get why this book was titled “Velvet was the Night” as a lot of plot points actually seem to happen during the daytime.

All in all, I really enjoyed this. It was a fun read, and I’m looking forward to reading more from this author, as I’ve liked her books from multiple genres.

I'm a fan of Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and was very excited to receive an ARC of her latest novel. It did not disappoint! Action with a little bit of mystery kept me flipping page after page.

This book has all the moody vibes, and I loved it! I simply loved it.

What I Loved🌿

✨Can we start by talking about this cover? The minute I saw it, I knew I had to read this book.

✨This is historical noir which is not a genre I’ve read before, but I loved the moody slow burn of it all. The author states in her afterword: "My novel is noir, pulp fiction, but it's based on a real horror story." Which brings me to my next point.

✨The setting. It’s 1971 in Mexico City, and the Dirty War is just beginning. There is political unrest, confusion, misinformation, conspiracy theories and plenty of blame to go around. Sound familiar? It was impossible not to compare the political climate of our book with that of the US today.

✨The music. The author has stated that music is important to this novel because at the time our story takes place, “the Mexican government was engaged in the suppression of rock music in Mexico at the same time it was attacking students and activists.” (Author’s Goodreads review). It only takes one listen of “Blue Velvet” to understand the book title. Most unique to this book is the inclusion of a Spotify playlist at the end. You can access it by copying and pasting Randomhousebooks.com/VelvetWasTheNightPlaylist into your browser.

I’ll end by telling you that after having read the galley, I will definitely be buying my own copy. I think you’ll want to as well. Four stars.

My thanks to @NetGalley and @RandomHouse for the opportunity to read this book before its August 17 publication date.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is one of the most versatile authors writing today. She’s written historical, horror, paranormal and now a mystery/thriller that takes place in the early 70s. It’s very different from her previous works and Mexican Gothic was one of my favorite books of 2020 and I really enjoyed this book as well.

I don’t want to give to much away because I think people should absolutely read this and get sucked in like I did. Just know that the writing is exquisite and the suspense she created really kept me on the edge of my seat. You absolutely will not get bored and if this is your first book by this author you should absolutely check out her backlist. You won’t be disappointed.

Velvet is the Night is clearly intended to be a flash back to noir fiction. Garcia definitely captures the atmosphere and tone of a noir novel. There is so many great things here such as a complex heroine, the right balance of suspense and political intrigue, and humorous moments that don't shift the tone. If only the ending lived up to its tremendous build up. I felt not only disappointed, but cheated.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is an atmospheric writer who pulls you into the underbelly of political unrest of Mexico City in the 70's. Maite is a lonely young woman who lives out an exciting imaginary life through the romance serials she loves but that is far away from the life she lives in her real life. She agrees to help a neighbor but when Leonora disappears, Maite as well as some dangerous people begin to search for her and Maite discovers there is much more to Leonora than meets the eye. Another lonely soul, Elvis is also searching for Leonora. He and Maite bond over their love of music and the search for what happened to Leonora. Set firmly in crime noir, this story explores loneliness and longing mixed with protest, politics and violence. The author included a playlist at the end which adds much to setting the tone of the book. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

Maite is a lonely secretary in Mexico City who leads a boring life and lives for the latest Secret Romance comic books and her record albums. Her beautiful neighbor Leonora asks Maite to feed her cat while she is out of town for a couple of days. Then Leonora disappears and Maite looks for her so she can get paid for taking care of the cat. Along the way, Maite discovers Leonora's connection to the student protesters that the Mexican government is trying to stifle. Several others are also seeking Leonora and the photos she says she has that will bring down some powerful people. Elvis works for one of those powerful people. As he attempts, sometimes violently, to locate Leonora and the photos, he is intrigued by the lonely secretary who shares his love of music and has become entangled in the disappearance of Leonora.

This is the second book I've read by Moreno-Garcia. The other book, Mexican Gothic, was a fantasy. This book does not contain any elements of fantasy, but it is still written in the same gorgeous slow-burn style. Velvet Was the Night would fall more into the categories of edgy noir and historical fiction. It takes place in the early 1970s of a Mexico that was rife with student protests. I learned some history of Mexico that I was not aware of, while enjoying the stories of Maite and Elvis.

If you are looking for action adventure or a fast-paced thriller, this is not the book for you. It took a bit for the characters and the story to grip me. But it did and I would recommend this book to any readers looking for a well-told story of two lonely people from different worlds, who connect over their mutual love of music. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the ARC of this novel.

This is historical (political) noir fiction. I picked this one up knowing while the story was fiction the event it is centered around was indeed real. (and most interesting!)

We follow the sad story of several individuals, who aren't connected but will cross paths in an unfortunate way. The way the story unfolds has enough mystery and intrigue to keep you reading. This isn't a fast action, it is fast paced but the action is small and centered.

This isn't a genre for everyone and if you don't like noir, and are expecting something like Moreno-Garcia's other novels, you'll be sorely disappointed. If you do enjoy noir, this one will be right up your alley.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I did find it lacking at times but it's only my wanting things to fall in place quicker, I'm impatient.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Del Rey for the advanced review copy.

1970's Mexico City is not for everyone. Students protest amid political unrest, while others just try to live their lives and keep going in an environment that is hardly stable. Maite is a secretary obsessed with romance comic books and records. She also tends to try to spice up her own life by stealing small items from apartments she house sits for. Her next door neighbor, Leonora, is everything Maite wants to be. She's beautiful and seems to live a life of intrigue. Then Leonora goes missing, leaving Maite to watch after her cat.   Soon, Maite finds herself delving into the mystery of her missing neighbor herself, and finds her way into Leonora's life.  Elvis' boss is also looking for Leonora. The hired goon hates violence, loves old rock n' roll and just wants to watch old movies and find someone else who understands him.  And y'all, that's before things get crazy. We've got Russian spies, shady government representatives, students with hidden agendas, hit men, and antique dealers who are not what they seem. 

If you want vivid characters, fun story telling, and a fascinating look at the political unrest in Mexico in the 1970s, Velvet Was the Night is the book for you. I'm a huge fan of Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and I feel like her books just keep getting better and better. This novel is noir (no supernatural this round) and captivating.  I didn't want to put it down.



Velvet Was the Night is available August 17, 2021.

Political intrigue and captivating noir, Silvia Moreno-Garcia can tackle any genre. Masterful storytelling, atmospheric with rich, multidimensional characters. A page turner with an ending you won't see coming. Overall a solid read.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

Is there any genre that Silvia Moreno-Garcia cannot write? I remember being glued to my Kindle last summer as I anxiously read Mexican Gothic, captivated by the mysterious gothic horror fantasy. This time she had me hooked with the historical noir novel that I did not know I needed. 

Set in 1970s Mexico City, an unassuming secretary finds herself caught in the middle of intense political unrest. If only she hadn’t agreed to watch her neighbor’s cat. Maite is an endearing and relatable protagonist — all she wants to do is go home, listen to a playlist of the best 1960s records, and get swept away in her favorite romance graphic novel Secret Romance. Those tales of romance and intrigue, in part, fuel her own foray into the mystery unfolding across the hall from her apartment. 

You see, her neighbor, Lenora — who Maite barely knows —  has gotten herself embroiled in some serious political intrigue that Maite finds herself pulled into when Lenora ups and vanishes. 

Maite isn’t the only protagonist whose point of view brings Velvet Was the Night to life. Elsewhere in Mexico City, Elvis grapples with the violent lifestyle he has chosen for himself. He has had a series of bad hands dealt to him, which led him into the employment of the Hawks — the violent paramilitary group who also happen to be looking for Lenora. Elvis has serious issues with the violence that his job involves and, as his fellow Hawks refer to him, he’s a bit of a marshmallow. His idea of a good time is listening to his favorite record and smoking a nice cigarette, not punching someone in the kidney. 

I knew next to nothing about the real-world events unfolding around Maite and Elvis, but Moreno-Garcia masterfully explained the complex historical elements without making anyone feel silly for not knowing about The Corpus Christi Massacre or the Mexican Dirty War. 

While Velvet Was the Night is wholly unlike Moreno-Garcia’s previous novels, it possesses all of the key components that make her books such a wondrous experience. Maite and Elvis both feel like hopeless romantics, caught in the depths of a familiar loneliness as they look for love in all the wrong places. Through their dual points of view, we see threads of commonality in not only their music taste but their personalities.

These threads are interwoven masterfully throughout the conflict and strife as the mystery unravels around them. Moreno-Garcia’s characters always feel like real people that could walk through the door at any moment. You learn so much about their likes and dislikes, flaws and perfections, that by the time you reach the last page you mourn the profound loss of their voices on the page. 

The best part of Velvet Was the Night? Penguin Random House has a playlist on their Spotify for this book and it is… simply perfection. I listened to it while I read the novel, shuffling to the right songs as they were mentioned in the text. It brought the story to life like the soundtrack of a gritty noir film.

Velvet Was the Night is set in the 1970s in Mexico City during the Dirty War. The Mexican government, aided by the CIA, was attacking student protesters in effort to combat communism and suppress dissent, resulting in political persecution, tragic loss of life, and a ripple of other consequences. In the afterword, Moreno-Garcia writes that her novel is "noir, pulp fiction, but it's based on a real horror story."

Moreno-Garcia is such a masterful writer that she can bounce around genres and continually surprise readers with fresh, beautiful stories. I don't think your feeling about her previous novels will necessarily inform how you feel about this one, since it's a totally different genre and style. I loved it, as I have loved her previous works, and I think what draws me to Moreno-Garcia consistently is her smart and transportive writing that meaningfully integrates race, class, and gender into historical fiction with utterly unique, complex characters.

Here's what I loved about this one:
-A slow burn 🔥 that is a quick read
-Period details that bring to life the corruption, violence, and macro level politics during a complicated time in Mexico's history (I learned a lot 🤔)
-Flawed, alienated main characters who you don't think you'll like but you end up rooting for (especially Elvis! 📣)
-The noir tone was spot on 👌a grim, downward spiral that ratchets up the tension (but then SMG leaves us on a hopeful note, which I needed and appreciated ❤)

Velvet Was the Night will be published on August 17th this summer. I highly recommend it if any of this piques your interest!