A Book A Week

"Music and comic books. Why couldn't that be life! Why was life so dull, so gray, so bereft of any surprises?" 

Last summer author Silvia Moreno-Garcia's novel Mexican Gothic seemed to be the talk of the bookish community. I quickly procured a copy of the book for myself to see what all the fuss was about. Then, like too many of the other hyped "must-read" books that I buy, I never got around to actually reading it. So much time has passed, in fact, that Moreno-Garcia has already released another novel. I didn't want to miss out on her work again, so when her publisher offered me a copy of Velvet Was the Night, I was happy to accept it. 

The year is 1970. The place, Mexico City. Young Elvis is a bit odd for a man of his generation. He loves to watch classic movies and listen to old rock 'n' roll. Heck, even his chosen name is inspired by the King of Rock himself. Elvis isn't a bad guy, at least not in his own eyes, but the man he works for is a different story. Who is this mysterious figure? As the novel opens, we're not exactly sure. All we know is that this boss has tasked Elvis and the other members of his goon squad with disrupting the political activism that is threatening to overtake the Mexican government's status quo. 

Maite's life is about as far from action and excitement as you could possibly imagine. The young secretary diligently works her mundane job each day and spends most of her off time at her apartment reading the latest installment of Secret Romance. She fantasizes about being a character in those serialized stories, finding a hunky man to sweep her off her feet as she endures daring adventures each week. Alas, a life of romance and intrigue is not in the cards. The most adventure she'll have today is feeding her neighbor's cat in the apartment next door. But here is where things begin to get interesting. You see, Elvis has been tasked with keeping an eye on none other than Maite. Why? Well, let's just say that Maite is about to fall into a conspiracy even wilder than the stories she reads. 

Like the great noir novels that seem to have inspired it, Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a quick little thriller with plenty of twists and turns to keep the pages turning. The cat and mouse aspect between the two main characters propel the plot forward while also revealing little details that deepen our understanding of them.  The ordinariness of Maite, in particular, served as a nice foil to the outrageous action that was unfolding around her. Despite all these positives, I couldn't help but feel like something was missing from the book. The disparate elements of political activism, a budding romance, and an unlikely hero's journey were fun to read about at the moment, but I didn't feel a true sense of arrival or completion when I finished the final page. Velvet Was the Night ended up reading more like the serialized stories that Maite read. I had fun breezing through the pages, but the story didn't move me beyond the entertainment of reading it. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that, so I hesitate to say I didn't like the book. Like Maite at the start of the story, I think I was probably just hyping myself up for something more than was being offered. 

For more information visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2021, 29)