Certain Dark Things (ARC) by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Certain Dark Things was originally published in 2016, and is being rebooted through Tor Nightfire this coming September! I want to thank them for the digital ARC via NetGalley for review purposes! All opinions are my own.

Bookish Quick Facts:

• Title: Certain Dark Things
• Series: N/A
• Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Publisher & Release: Tor Nightfire, 9/7/21
• Length: 341pg
• Rate & Recommend: 🌟🌟🌟✨ yes for fans of the genre! (See below)

Here is the synopsis from GoodReads:

From the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic comes a pulse-pounding neo-noir that reimagines vampire lore.

Welcome to Mexico City, an oasis in a sea of vampires. Domingo, a lonely garbage-collecting street kid, is just trying to survive its heavily policed streets when a jaded vampire on the run swoops into his life. Atl, the descendant of Aztec blood drinkers, is smart, beautiful, and dangerous. Domingo is mesmerized.

Atl needs to quickly escape the city, far from the rival narco-vampire clan relentlessly pursuing her. Her plan doesn’t include Domingo, but little by little, Atl finds herself warming up to the scrappy young man and his undeniable charm. As the trail of corpses stretches behind her, local cops and crime bosses both start closing in.

Vampires, humans, cops, and criminals collide in the dark streets of Mexico City. Do Atl and Domingo even stand a chance of making it out alive? Or will the city devour them all?

I think one of my favorite things about this book is how hard it is to pin down. The vampire lore is briefly explored and there are types of vampires featured from all over the world, from different mythologies, but there is also a brief sci-fi element, some fantasy, that whole noir-horror-punk overlay, and also an underlying theme of Mexican socioeconomic movement!

It moved so quickly too that I never had the chance to be bored. Atl is on the run and Domingo meets her on the subway, and the Book flies from there. We learn about vampire drug cartels, rival gangs, and how vampires aren’t even allowed in Mexico City anymore so their presence is a big deal with local law enforcement.

We aren’t meant to get attached to the characters, but they are a nice mix of interesting, sarcastic, and horrifying. Rodrigo was probably my favorite point of view. I think the less you know about the characters going in, the better, but Moreno-Garcia had wanted to explore the (sometimes questionable) choices that some Mexicans make to better their situations, and she succeeded there in Rodrigo and Domingo.

One thing I unfortunately don’t think she succeeded in was making Mexico City itself a character – there is too much else going on for the setting to truly permeate in most places. I will say though that the settings are well described, vibrant, and generally very well done. There is a glossary in the back with more information about the types of vampires and lore, which is helpful to give background without creating an info dump in the story.

Definitely recommend for those who would like a fast paced, fresh take on vampires from a very plot and action driven book!