Goodreads

“The walls speak to me. They tell me secrets. Don’t listen to them, press your hands against your ears, Noemí. There are ghosts. They’re real. You’ll see them eventually.”

Genre(s): Fiction, Gothic Horror

Publisher: Del Rey

Pages: 320

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis

Mexican Gothic is a gothic horror novel that follows Noemí, a young woman who one day receives a letter from her cousin, Catalina. Catalina is suffering from tuberculosis and requested that her cousin come to see her, but the contents of the letter are quite frantic. Shortly after Noemí shows up at High Place, only to discover that strange things are happening at Catalina’s family’s residence. And after spending so much time in a home who’s residents seemed to despise what she brought with her as an outsider, Noemí soon finds that she may never be able to leave.

Review

Mexican Gothic checks off every box when it comes to what gothic novels are all about. But one of the most important aspects (and one that Moreno-Garcia does especially well) is the development of the setting and atmosphere. High Place, as well as its entire backstory and history, creates such a sense of unease for readers. All of the descriptions of the house, from the mold on the walls to the overgrowth in the cemetery just added so much to how unsettling this book was in the beginning. The suspense came on early with the book, and by the end I was excited to be reading this book during a thunderstorm so I could enjoy my reading experience with this book even more.

I would say that most of my experience with horror is either with gothic horror or sci-fi/horror, but regardless, I love how this book escalates the suspense to full-blown horror. This book would have been great to read in one sitting (sadly I couldn’t), but even when I picked the book back up again I was instantly feeling what I was before.

The history of High Place and the family history in Mexican Gothic is so rich as well. There are other gothic novels I’ve read where, while the house obviously plays a part, you don’t get that much detail around it. But in Mexican Gothic, you slowly get more and more information, which does so much for building suspense. The progression that you learn these details is interesting as well; since you’re following Noemí’s perspective, you slowly learn what’s true and what’s not (as well as what’s partially true).

Like many gothic novels, Mexican Gothic also has a pretty heavy focus on dream sequences. And I was amazed by how absolutely seamless these scenes were. There was so much of this book where it was hard to tell what was a dream and what was reality, which is exactly what Noemí was feeling too.

There was not a single thing I didn’t like about this book. I originally reserved a book at the library, but ended up buying a copy because I knew this was one I wanted to reread. Mexican Gothic is a great fit for those that like gothic horror and all of the elements that come with it. But if you’re new to the genre, love atmospheric reads, and are interested in what makes the genre, definitely pick this one up too.