Mexican Gothic
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
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I was looking for a spooky read for the Halloween season, and Mexican Gothic fit the bill pretty well. In the story, a young woman from Mexico City, Noemí, gets a letter from her cousin, who has married into a wealthy English family and is living in their mansion. The letter is full of fear and madness, and Noemí sets out to investigate. Of course, she uncovers disturbing secrets in the scary moldy old house and has to save herself from being trapped there as well.
From that setup, the horror comes from both the racist and misogynist attitudes of the patriarch of the house, and the let’s say unconventional biological methods (read: gross body horror stuff) that he’s employed to extend his family and wealth.
It’s a fun book to read, but I was slightly dissatisfied with how the some of the secrets were revealed through dreams and hallucinations. I always prefer protagonists to take an active role in finding out the truth, rather than having it just beamed into their brains.