A review by nmcannon
Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

After loving Mexican Gothic, I was eager to sink my teeth into more of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s work. A vampire neo-noir hits MANY of my buttons, and I devoured Certain Dark Things in twenty-four hours.

Mexico City is a thriving cultural hub–for rich humans. Outside the sealed city walls, vampires and God knows what else roam the rainforests and scrubland valleys. Or so they say. Atl’s vampire family was living in peace until the human forces attacked, and now this rich heiress is on the run for her life. Injured and hoping to lose her pursuers, she smuggles herself into Mexico City and meets Domingo, a young, cheerful trash-collector. With his know-how of the city’s underbelly (and body full of blood), Atl stands a chance…but is she willing to trust Domingo, and pay the price of being known?

Do you ever just [clenches fist] find a book that is so good, on a craft level? Certain Dark Things has good pacing, compelling characters, genre-perfect mood, interesting world-building, and a realistic romance between Atl and Domingo. Moreno-Garcia indulges in Mexican folklore and vampiric and noir tropes with a tasteful seriousness. I was about glued to the audiobook. Domingo is the member of the poorest of the poor, but it’s that upbringing that makes him such a kind human and asset to Atl. My only real critique is the ending.

While I understand the noir trope is that the lovers separate (usually with the femme fatale dying), Atl leaving Domingo behind seemed abrupt and out of character. Atl spends the whole book learning to trust Domingo and unlearning her classist assumptions about him. Then, suddenly, she cites that their life spans are too different and leaves him behind, saying he’ll have a better life as a human. It’s like a back-track on her whole character arc, for the sake of checking the trope box. A garbage collector’s lifespan is not long, especially after Domingo burned nearly every bridge to save Atl. He wants to go with Atl. Yeah, his life was fulfilling before, but he wants his life to be fulfilled in a different way. Why is she denying his choice, after a novel spent recognizing him as a person?

Certain Dark Things is a fantastical neo-noir vampire tale. Though the ending seemed a cop-out, I highly recommend it to anyone who likes those genres.