Velvet Was the Night works from a thrilling and poignant premise of political noir. The diabolical machinations of infiltrating young idealists' communities and collectives give the novel textures of tension and critique that transcend the more conventional criminals and motives driving noir narratives. The novel also makes for a fascinating follow up to Mexican Gothic, as it shows Moreno-Garcia's capacity to swivel through diverse genre stylings and innovations.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the digital ARC

I requested “Velvet Was the Night” for many reasons—I love noir, the cover is to die for and I’m a fan of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s writing. I can say, without a doubt, this is one of my most treasured reads so far this year. It had everything I expected from noir fiction—corruption, quick dialogue, an unforgettable anti-hero, fatalistic views, violence, mystery and more. Maite is one of the main characters who lives a quiet life lost within the pages of her comic romances, music records and dreams of a life other than her own. After agreeing to watch her neighbor Leonora’s cat, she quickly gets caught up with student activists involved in Mexico’s Dirty War when Leonora goes missing. Meanwhile Elvis is a part of the Hawks, a paramilitary group meant to attack protesters, led by El Mago. Like Maite, Elvis is hunting for Leonora but he too wants to escape his life and finds comfort in movies and music. Filled with violence and corruption, this is ultimately a mystery with an epic twist that will leave your jaw on the floor. I usually dislike cliffhanger endings and it almost took this to a four star, however when looking at noir, I remembered we shouldn’t expect the happy ending. What we did get was a hopeful end and that was enough for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy of Velvet Was the Night, due out in August. Set against the events of the early days of Mexico’s “Dirty War” in the 1970’s, Maite is just getting by, unable to afford to retrieve her car from a mechanic, and lives in a self-proclaimed boring existence consisting of her day job as a secretary in a law office and her spare time spent with her bird, her music and her books. She lives vicariously through her fantasy/romance comics. When she’s asked to pet sit the cat of her glamorous neighbor, Leonora, who subsequently disappears, she finds herself unwittingly thrust into in the dangerous world of political activists, government agencies, connected gangs. Leonora has been working to expose the government’s activities to stop demonstrators from their protests with photographic evidence. It’s the cat and mouse search for those photos than ensnarls Maite and, eventually, turns deadly.

The main characters are well-drawn and the story well-crafted. I would have been helped in keeping some of the factions straight by reading the Afterword before the book as a Preface. The pacing could have been a little faster--a 3.5 for me.

A bonus is an extensive playlist provided of the music that provides the “soundtrack” of the book.

A fast paced page turning noir novel that bounces between the stories of two main characters. A young man pulled into gang life in 1970’s Mexico who adopts the name Elvis from his singing idol Elvis Presley, and Maite who has just turned 30 and lives vicariously through the characters in the pages of her favorite romance comics. They are both thrown into a dangerous situation involving the governments of Mexico and Russia. Maite finds herself thrown into an espionage plot simply by accident. While cat sitting for a neighbor, she finds herself in possession of something very valuable to the parties involved. Elvis is assigned by his gang boss to watch Maite and to get the valuable item. What follows is a story that will keep you hooked until the very last page.

The perfect historical fiction by Moreno Garcia, and it kept me on my toes the whole time. I love that Moreno-Grace did not have to resort to “cheap” tactics such as gore or extremes violence in order to create suspense, instead creating a situation of high stakes which makes you want to read more.

The characters of Elvis and Maite were such a joy to read and watch. I felt for Maite and Elvis, and their loneliness even when surrounded by people, and how they both sought out something other than their lives. Maite sometimes came off as annoying/ cruel, but I don’t consider this criticism of the book, as it helped to create a three dimensional character rather than a loving protagonist.

Additionally, the historical context of the book is so unique and fun, while also being so enlightening! I did not know a wink about The Dirty War in Mexico, but this book made me seek out articles and explanations of the event, and I was just shocked. The book is fiction, but the events and the subsequent grimness, are very real.

Overall, I recommend this book to anyone who loves historical fiction, old school rock and roll, an old school mystery, and an inkling of romance all wrapped into one.

Velvet Was the Night is a tale told by its two main characters, Elvis and Maite, in alternating narratives. They come from opposite ends of the spectrum, character-wise, but both get embroiled in the same mystery. As the mystery unfolds, their narratives start overlapping and the book gets much harder to put down. Yes, it's another book by Moreno-Garcia set in a historical era of Mexico, but structure-wise, plot-wise, and character-wise, it couldn't be more different than her previous work, Mexican Gothic (which I did enjoy reading). This time, Moreno-Garcia adds some historical context at the end of the book regarding this time period in Mexico, which added very nicely to the reading experience. I would like to go on about how wonderful this book is, but I am so worried about giving way plot developments. (I received a free ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.)

Sorry, but i am extremely frustrated. Velvet was the night was a BIG LET DOWN. If you are like me who became a fan of silvia's work after mexican gothic you will be even more disappointed.
This is a book, a BOOK, there are so many cuss words in just the first few pages of the book. i understand cuss words are used to portray frustration but roughly about more than 12 cuss words in just the beginning pages of the book is TOO MUCH. In real life and movies we have enough of this bad language, we certainly DO NOT need that in books, we do not need AN OVERUSAGE/EXAGGERATION. it was stupid and senseless, there i said it. the plot and the story was overshadowed by violence and unstructured characters, it was fast paced i guess. i tried giving the story many chances, but the dialogue delivery was honestly very NOT GOOD. I skimmed through the book, it was a waste of time. i did not enjoy anything in the book.

i wish she had used less cuss words and focused more on the plot, story and proper dialogue delivery. violence and disruptions that made me skip and skim most of the book,

2.5 stars

Oh, the seductive cover; the promise of something new and different or old and familiar. Velvet Was the Night has a beautiful cover and a wonderfully engaging title. Offered up as a noir, the title and the cover both draw on that feeling — and they deliver. (Though I have no idea what the title means in relation to the story I read, nor who that woman on the front could possibly be.) Unfortunately, the story itself did not quite manage that.

Velvet Was the Night missed the mark and instead felt mostly like a book that was trying really hard to be noir — like a young Simba who still needs to work on his roar. Without all the earmarks and tropes typical of a noir, this ended up feeling distant and boring. No femme fatale, no murders, hardly any sex, a bit more violence than sex, and, the hardest one to miss, two protagonists who never felt as though they were tragically flawed.

Maite, a frumpy, moody secretary who is unhappy with her life and stuck in reading comic serial romances — wishing real life were more like her issues of Secret Romance, is thrown into the middle of something bigger when her neighbor, Leonora, asks her to care for her cat because she has to unexpectedly go out of town. Elvis (not his real name), is a member of the Hawks, a black operations group created to repress demonstrations and prevent other large popular movements. Neither narrator, Maite or Elvis, despite his current position with the Hawks, ever felt like an anti-hero with questionable morals. Both of them, in fact, felt completely redeemable the entire way through. And neither of them did much changing at all, being the same characters but just in a better mood by the end.

Now, if I disregard the noir attempt, the outline of the book itself was moderately interesting. Historical interest with the framework of the Mexican Dirty War, the 1970's setting, and the injections of pop culture as garnish. But Maite and Elvis both lacked in character development, which was not aided by the use of third-person, and the fact that the story felt as if it was unfurling with each page turn, rather than having already happened and utilizing the feel of relaying the events after the fact — but that's headed back into the noir arena. The protagonists/narrators don't even meet until near the end of the book — and the book's pacing didn't even feel settled until around 75%. Before that point, the tone was so removed as to not only make me feel uninterested and uninvested, but also giving me the distinct impression that the novel itself was neither interested nor invested in its own story.

Elvis filled the role of the person leading the search in the novel itself, but Maite was reluctant to become involved. While that did fit with her character, it only leeched into my mind and made me feel reluctant to continue the story. I ended up just pushing through because it was a galley — which is a shame because the last twenty-five percent was actually enjoyable . . . not wholly or enough to make up for the rest, but enough to make me wish the rest of the book had been similarly delivered.

This is one of those reviews where I begin by saying, "It's me, not you"! I just did not care much for this book. It was dark and violent.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this advanced readers copy. This book is scheduled to release in August 2021.

Velvet was the Night is a noir novel about Maite, a woman in her thirties living in Mexico City in the 1970s who is sucked into the conflict between revolutionary university students and the various government groups attempting to suppress them when her neighbor goes missing. Maite’s neighbor Leonora asks Maite to watch her cat while she does on vacation. However, Leonora does not return as promised, and when Maite tries to track Leonora down to give her back her cat, Maite discovers that Leonora is on the run after taking photos of an attack that occurred during a recent protest. Maite does not know that she is being trailed by Elvis, a young man who works for a thug group called the Hawks, as Elvis is also trying to find Leonora and her photos. However, while Elvis follows the clues left behind after Leonora’s disappearance, he begins to doubt the value he holds for the Hawks and the role he plays for them.

With the two unrelated narrators – Maite and Elvis – I was concerned at first that the book would drag, or feel too stretched out. However, both narratives ran parallel to one another in a way that held my interest quite well. Maite and Elvis live in dramatically different worlds and have very different goals, but the mystery of Leonora’s disappearance tied the two stories together well enough, and the characters have enough action in their own lives to make each perspective interesting in its own way.

One of the most interesting things about Velvet Was the Night was that there weren’t really any terribly likeable characters, or anyone that I wanted to root for, and yet I still was invested in the story and the mystery. Maite starts out full of self-hatred, her life is a little boring, and she acts selfishly with little thought to the consequences of her actions, but her goal to find Leonora is admirable, and that was enough to push through until she picked up enough character growth to become more likeable. Elvis does some despicable things, but his motives are not bad, and he shows enough growth early in the story to help me root for him, if not for his organization. I was quite impressed that the author managed to keep me invested in the story despite the corruption of the characters and the world in which they live.

In all, I’ll give Velvet Was the Night an 8 out of 10. Most readers will enjoy the mystery at the heart of Velvet Was the Night, and the world of 1970s Mexico provides a fascinating setting that historical fiction readers will enjoy.

This was my first approved ARC from NetGalley and I literally screamed when I saw it was approved. Not just because of the fact that it's my first ARC that wasn't an automatic giveaway, but I've really enjoyed other books I've read by SMG so I was stoked to be able to read this one prior to its release.

Velvet Was the Night is a historical noir the takes place in 1970's Mexico City in the midst of a tense political climate. The story is told from the viewpoints of Maite and Elvis. Maite is an incredibly average secretary who lives for Secret Romance comics, vinyl records, and stealing mundane things from people for no understandable reason. Elvis is part of an anti-communist political group, the Hawks, and loves rock n' roll and old movies. The two storylines begin to merge as they both become involved in the search into the whereabouts of Leonora, an art student with links to a communist art collective who has potentially damning evidence against the government.

I'm not terribly familiar with the noir genre when it comes to books, however, if this is an example of what the genre is like, I'm here for it. The story starts out with a bit of a slow build and it took a bit for the actual story to begin to take shape. I was not familiar with the political history of Mexico during that time and I think having a base knowledge of that would have been helpful with some of the references. That being said I really liked this book a lot. The character development was fantastic, even with the secondary characters and I loved how all they were all intertwined as the storylines slowly came together. There are so many references to music integrated throughout the story that it's almost like you can hear the soundtrack to the book as you're reading. SMG created a playlist specifically for the book that I highly recommend listening to as you read along to fully immerse yourself.

Between the Mexican covers of 60's rock and roll and the brutal fight scenes, I think this would be an amazing movie adaptation, especially if Robert Rodriguez got his hands on it. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a slow-burn mystery and characters with a touch of hopeless romanticism, or anyone interested in diving into the noir genre of books.

**SIDE NOTE** Towards the beginning of the story Maite is asked to watch Leonora's cat and I was convinced something bad was going to happen to it. Nothing does, so if you're someone like me that can have a book ruined by the death of an animal, you're safe.

Strong start but a muddled middle...

VELVET WAS THE NIGHT is a noir set during political unrest in 1970s Mexico. There are two points of view: Maite, a young secretary whose neighbor goes missing; and Elvis, who has been hired to squash resistance among students and protestors.

I went in expecting a mystery, which led to disappointment as the missing neighbor isn't a huge part of the plot. Once I realized VWTN was more of a historical character study, I found it more satisfying.

Thank you Random House and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for this review.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review Velvet was the Night. Due to her recent tweets about reviewers I cannot review this book in an unbiased manner.

This is a slow book, and I wasn’t entirely in the mood to read it, but I do genuinely love everything SMG writes and will have to come back to it when I’m needing a historical noir.

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review.
I like anything that Silvia Moreno-Garcia writes. She never misses!! She can never do wrong and this story is an example of that. I loved it and will definitely be reading anything else she releases!

3.5 stars
This book is one I had to read slowly, I couldn’t binge it. I have not read Mexican Gothic yet and I heard SOOO many people tell me how amazing that book was, so I was very excited to try this one and possibly put too much hype on it.
I enjoyed Velvet Was the Night but I’m not sure it was totally my kind of book. There is a lot of cursing, and violence which isn’t 100% my thing unless it’s wrapped in fantasy. However I really enjoyed the writing style and the nuances of the different voices. I also really loved the noir feel! That was perfectly executed!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. And thank you to SMG for being a writer.

Absolutely phenomenal as always. Silvia Moreno-Garcia is always great. I loved her other books set in Mexico and Mexico City- her ability to craft the world is incredible and makes me forget that I have no lived in Mexico City, especially during the 20s or 70s (as this book was). I am not as big of a fan of noir books, but anything she writes is always going to be so good.

SMG is in my top three favorite living authors, but I gave up reading this book a third of the way through. The pacing was slow and I just wasn't particularly invested in where it went. Others may still enjoy it, but it was not for me.

Worth it for the gorgeous cover! Does the 1970s count as historical fiction? I guess it does and this book takes you right there. I felt like the stakes were a little low for a suspense novel but that doesn't mean it wasn't an enjoyable ride. I felt like I learned about Mexico in the 1970s which was an added bonus.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. This was a DNF for me. I had high hopes with it being by the same author as Mexican Gothic, but I just couldn't lose myself in the story.