Synopsis:
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau and Mexican Gothic comes Silver Nitrate, a fabulous meld of Mexican horror movies and Nazi occultism: a dark thriller about the curse that haunts a legendary lost film–and awakens one woman’s hidden powers.
Montserrat has always been overlooked. She’s a talented sound editor, but she’s left out of the boys’ club running the film industry in ’90s Mexico City. And she’s all but invisible to her best friend, Tristán, a charming if faded soap opera star, though she’s been in love with him since childhood.
Then Tristán discovers his new neighbor is the cult horror director Abel Urueta, and the legendary auteur claims he can change their lives—even if his tale of a Nazi occultist imbuing magic into highly volatile silver nitrate stock sounds like sheer fantasy. The magic film was never finished, which is why, Urueta swears, his career vanished overnight. He is cursed.
Now the director wants Montserrat and Tristán to help him shoot the missing scene and lift the curse . . . but Montserrat soon notices a dark presence following her, and Tristán begins seeing the ghost of his ex-girlfriend.
As they work together to unravel the mystery of the film and the obscure occultist who once roamed their city, Montserrat and Tristán may find that sorcerers and magic are not only the stuff of movies.
Awards/Nominations:
- Locus Award Nominee for Horror (2024)
- OLA Evergreen Award Nominee (2024)
- Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Horror (2023)
My Edition:
E-ARC provided by Net Galley
My Thoughts:
I think what I love most about Silver Nitrate is its main character. Montserrat (called Momo throughout, and so shall she be from here out) is a delight. She is a sound engineer, which in Mexico (like America, and I’d wager just about everywhere else) is a male dominated field. And you can tell she works in a field where she is the sole female voice – it comes through in her character. She is tough, forthright, and not particularly interested in allowing herself to be talked over or otherwise railroaded. You know, all the things women have to put up with day in and day out in professional environments, and even outside of them. And I think her best friend Tristán is the perfect counterpoint to Momo. Tristán is a hopeless romantic. A serial dater. A vain, self-absorbed soap opera actor on the wane. But he is also a wonderful, if sometimes clueless friend to Momo. I think without Momo to bump up against, I would have hated Tristán – but as it is, I think he’s wonderful.
Silver Nitrate is set in Mexico City in 1993, but the story doesn’t feel dated at all. Yes, there are references which will remind you of its timeframe, but I also think that without it, the story would still work perfectly. The narrative feels timeless, is what I’m trying to say. I think the insanity of the Nazi obsession with esoterica is also a fairly timeless bit of interest. It’s WILD the things Hitler and his cronies thought would help them win the war and Make Humanity Great Again (I’m paraphrasing here).
Although Silver Nitrate is clearly a horror story, I think at heart it is mostly a mystery. Momo and Tristán must solve the mystery of the curse in order to save themselves. I am consistently in awe of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s ability to weave history and storytelling together – she crafts some of the most compelling stories I think I’ve ever read. In fact, you can check out some of my other reviews of her work here. Clearly, I am a big fan, so I won’t waste your time by telling you how great I think she is. Clearly I do. But I will say this – Mexican Gothic is my favorite of her works, but Silver Nitrate got SO close to edging it out. I think this story is so compulsively readable that I was hard-pressed to put it down.
Rating:
The mix of Mexican film-making history and Nazi occultism was so incredibly entertaining. Not to mention that I didn’t find it at all out of the realm of possibilities. We all know that Nazis fled to the far corners of the Earth after the fall of their stupid Reich, so…I’m just saying, this could have all conceivably happened.
Also, find the author’s playlist for the book here. I love that she does these.
Silver Nitrate
By Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Del Rey
Published: July 18, 2023
ISBN: 9780593355367
Hardcover, Paperback, E-book, Audio
323 Pages
Author's Website
