Mexican Gothic

4.5 stars. I was lucky enough to win a copy of this book thru a Goodreads contest. I was so very excited to get it in the mail, I could barely wait to crack it open! Normally physical books are just harder for me to get to these days and audiobooks are my go to, but from the very first time I started reading I just wanted to keep going, so finding time was a bit easier than it might have been otherwise (it helped also that we’re in full summer break mode).

The first couple of chapters were the slowest, but they weren’t boring. We meet Noemí Taboada and learn about her breezy socialite life. She’s completely indulged in almost every area, and comes across as charming, but quite spoiled. When her father tells her about the troubling letter he received from her cousin, it’s pretty clear that the only reason she is interested in paying a visit is because Catalina is closer to a sister to her than a cousin.

Noemí makes the trip to the far away High Place and meets the Doyle family and find out what exactly is going on. The Doyle lifestyle is radically different from her own, and their house is in a tragic state of disrepair. Her initial discomfort at the surface differences quickly gives way to a growing sense of unease and suspicion that malevolent forces are at work. The more she looks into the Doyles, the more secretive and mysterious they all seem. The only friendly one among them is Francis, and he seems to be trying to warn her and get her to leave.

Her loyalty to Catalina keeps her there, however, because her cousin obviously needs help - the Doyles insist she has tuberculosis and simply needs rest, but she is completely changed from the Catalina that Noemí grew up with and loves dearly.

The story get steadily weirder as the chapters progress, and the reveal of the truth behind the family was actually beyond what I had expected. Things got really creepy, really fast, and then it wouldn’t let up until just about the end. It was paced a bit like a movie, where I could anticipate a few of the plot points, but the story itself was still interesting, as well as quite horrifying.

It was an immersive, enjoyable read, nothing gratuitous or unnecessary. The end was satisfying, and Noemí showed herself to be intelligent, resourceful, and thoughtful, a true heroine to be admired. ( )

Noemi has no choice. Her father makes a request for her to go to a mansion to help her cousin who is not well. She is told that no one returns from the mansion. The house is big and gothic. Noemi has to figure out at what expense it is to stay and save her beloved cousin or leave and disappoint her father when she discovers that something isn't right there.

The book is a page turner and fun as it's different from all other books. The author pulls you into a cold environment and mansion house that feels haunted. I enjoyed it. ( )

Here is a classic gothic romance, in a twisty world where mushrooms are bad and cigarettes are good. Recommended for all libraries. ( )

Creative horror with the right gothic tone

Am I the only one who couldn’t stop thinking about Star Trek Discovery while reading this? If you know what I'm talking about, let's just say that the author has found a different and spooky twist to put on the mycelial network. As my son harasses me while writing this, he mentions Minecraft. Who knew?

Regardless of my weird connects to other pieces of pop culture, I found this to be imaginative and entertaining. If this were to become a movie, I’d suggest the Doyles, the family that owns the sinister house in Mexico, to be played by the Skaarsgards.

The first half of the book is slow, but it sets the tone with some thought provoking asides to the inherent racisms that the world still deals with to this day. Noemi is a well chosen heroine for this story. ( )

This book has a very literal name. At least it delivers on that title. There is a sprawling, aging house on a mountain always shrouded by mist and a woman who lives there is seeing ghosts. The hook is great and to be completely honest the story is fine too. But the book is a little shoddily written. A lot of character exposition takes place. The language of the book is extremely direct, to the point of being simplistic (also why this is a very quick read), and the eerie atmosphere of the house never really makes it out of the pages.
As is the norm for this genre, the last 30 or so pages reduce to an action thriller, which is perhaps the weakest portion of the entire story. For once, I would like to read a horror book whose author is brave enough to forego writing painfully clunky action scenes in favor of something more appropriate for the preceding book.
If the "ghosts" can be defeated by guns and knives it's not a very good ghost story is it? ( )