Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for access to this audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review. These opinions are my own.

**Cover & Title**
The colors of the cover fit so well with the Miami setting of Blood in the Cut, and the image works perfectly for this story! I’m unsure how I feel about the lettering taking over the whole page: I think it risks feeling a bit generic and obscuring the art under it, but clearly it worked on me since I was initially drawn in by the cover & title as I was scrolling through NetGalley.


**Audiobook Format**
I loved the music at the beginning of the audiobook. It’s a sound design detail that I always notice and appreciate, and it definitely sets the tone for the reader going in.

Danny Pino, the narrator, did an amazing job!!! His performance capitalizes on the immersive language, believable dialogue, and realistic characters to elevate this layered story. The way he switches voices and accents is incredible!!! They felt so real and fitting to the characters we meet along the way.

He seamlessly incorporates the Spanish phrases throughout. I loved this aspect of the writing; it’s so true to how multilingual people think and speak to each other—it adds both dimension and believability. I think it translated extremely well to the audiobook.

I absolutely recommend choosing this format for this story!!


**What I Loved! Writing, Themes, Setting, Premise**

I read this book in a DAY lmao I kept telling myself “one more chapter!” and then it was 1am & I had finished the entire thing😅. Well. I’m not mad about it!!

I absolutely recommend this book (especially as an audiobook). The writing throughout is memorable, immersive, authentic, humorous, poignant, believable, and absolutely worth experiencing. It flows effectively and morphs to fit the energy of each moment—blunt, violent, gory, tense, desperate, ominous, emotional, delicate, hopeful. I was IMMERSED in this story—I could feel it allll.

The recurring imagery of meat, rain, café, and stars somewhat encapsulate the vibes. There are some very detailed descriptions throughout—namely with respect to meat & butchering, the everglades, and cars—and I devoured every word. I’ve seen some reviews that didn’t appreciate this as much, but our lived experiences are highly detailed and the way these scenes are written added to the realism for me. I loved reading such complete moments, and I think they worked very interestingly within the pacing of the story.

Alejandro Nodarse does Miami and the Everglades justice; the setting is vibrant, complex, and fascinating. I LOVED the rich infusion of Miami-Cuban identity and culture through details—for instance, the emphasis on café and mention of stud earrings, Hialeah-red hair, local art and graffiti, etc—as well as explicit character thoughts & conversations.

The characters are compelling and well-fleshed-out (see next section for exceptions tho😅). I loved following Iggy through this story, reading about the people around him and his neighborhood in the face of gentrification and spaces lost. The moral/ethical questions he faces as he decides how to navigate the world after prison are interesting and complicated.

Blood in the Cut skillfully explores themes of family, sacrifice, power & control, resentment, guilt, home, change, grief, anger & blame, community, pride, identity, faith & the loss thereof, nature, wilderness, revenge, justice, survival. What does it mean to be a “good son”? What are you willing to do to survive? to help your family survive? How do we preserve spaces and communities? What happens when you do the wrong thing for the right reason?


**What Didn’t Work As Well for Me :/ Sophie, The Final Scenes**

Toward the end of the book, there were a few things that didn’t work for me.

Not every excellent story (or story in general) needs to include or be about women, but I do think that if you include female characters (especially if you claim them to be important to the main characters/story), then they both deserve and require depth, complexity, and individuality. The women we see in this story by name are Iggy’s mother (through their memories of her), the wife of Iggy’s former boss, and Sophie.

I noticed this early on but didn’t have an issue with it; characters who only exist in the minds of other characters will necessarily be warped by nostalgia and memory, so it can make sense why they’re one-dimensional. Which is why Iggy never discussing specifics about Sophie in his thoughts was fine. By the end, though, I was bothered by Sophie’s character. She really never says anything with more substance than “I know” “What are you doing?” “I know you” “Cool party” “Sorry about your mom”, which to me are all very generic. I love the side of Iggy we see in the context of Sophie, but at the same time, it doesn’t make much sense to me because we don’t see anything to establish their previous relationship. If we had scenes—actions and dialogue in the past or present—establishing Sophie as an individual and Iggy’s connection to her, I don’t think I would be as frustrated about her character😅; if her physical presence had been eliminated from the narrative or kept to just the first couple of scenes with her, I think it would have strengthened the plot. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll just say that her presence in the end felt contrived and unnecessary to me, and I think the final chapters would have been stronger without it.

In terms of the plot itself, I will admit, I did actually see all of the final revelations and many of the last events coming, but I'm not really upset about that. I enjoyed this book for the journey, and I can absolutely see myself rereading it in the future.

That said, I think the ending felt a bit abrupt/not quite like a full conclusion. I think if it had been written slightly differently or if we had an extra scene, I may have felt more closure and deeper emotions about the end perhaps? But also keep in mind I read this whole book in a day, so this could absolutely be because of that 😅.

There are two other points (another character/event + a plotline resolution) with respect to which I’m unsure how I feel, but I think they are both too spoilery to add in here now.


**Overall Thoughts! TLDR**

Ultimately, I DEVOURED Blood in the Cut. The writing was evocative and versatile; the characters felt vivid and real. I absolutely loved the setting and the exploration of Cuban-American identity.

I did have issues with Sophie’s character and wish the ending was structured slightly differently/wish I felt more of a concluding vibe (again this could be just me). BUT these points in no way overshadow how much I enjoyed reading this story. Again — I inhaled it in a DAY 😩

I absolutely recommend this book, and I’m excited to talk about it with other readers!!


**A Few Teaser Quotes <3**
Please note that I listened to the audiobook, so all punctuation is a guesstimate.

“Good guys are a lie like Santa Claus and god. […] Your hands don’t get to be clean.”

“The city was haunted, and no matter where Iggy turned something was being taken from him or some specter was waiting to drag the past back into his path”

“It was the smell of earth exhaling, of the moon returning puddles to the clouds”

“The continuous contraction and expansion of the landscape felt like breathing, and Iggy wondered if this was what a clean conscience felt like.”

“Each man turned away to let the other weep silently into his hands.”

3.5 rounded up
I love that other cultures are writing now

Best line ever:
When they dress and act like one of us until that reality becomes inconvenient and then switch back to white when their done
if only that trick worked in reverse 👏 🙌🏾

Iggy has just been released from prison. His mother passed away just before his release. His father is still pissed at him for doing what he did to get locked up. His father doesn't even want him to live inside the house. Iggy is determined to make a mend to everyone and fix what he messed up. He gets a job at his father's butcher shop. Iggy starts seeing a lot of sketchy things taking place. Starting with a blogger speaking about the killing and selling of horse meat
Aside from his father being mean towards Iggy, he is also acting strange as well. The books don't line up with the money, and now Iggys dad has been arrested
Can Iggy save the family business and try to make everything right now that he is home from prison

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the free audiobook in exchange for my honest review. This is narrated by Danny Pino who does a great job!

Iggy has just been released from prison and has returned home to a bitter father and a family in crisis. Iggy stole and sold pills from his mother's pharmacy and was sent away. Paroled and back at home, he has to deal with his mother's death, his father's bitterness and the impending loss of his family's butcher shop.

Based in Miami and told with latin cultural intensity, I found this to be a solid mystery. Many have mentioned the butcher shop and the cutting of meat being over the top. For this type of genre, I found that it added to the overall story of family ties, latin culture and the art of revenge.

4 stars!