Book review: 'Mexican Gothic' by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Mexican Gothic is set in late fifties Mexico and our heroine is a socialite college student Noemí Taboada. Her father receives a distressing letter from her cousin who is the newly wedded wife of an Englishman who lives in the family mansion, High Place.

Asked by her father to investigate, Noemi travels to an unknown region to investigate her cousin’s claims of paranoia and delusions. Is it her new husband a stranger to the family and the whirlwind courtship? Denying all outsiders to visit Noemi is reluctantly admitted.

The traditional gothic atmosphere of the family cemetery, dark stories of death, a nearby village that looks away when asked about High Place, and the family who has outlandish rules and confinement dress this story. A secretive and suffocating life ruled by the creepy older Uncle at High Place. What is the family hiding?

Halfway through the story, the truth hits. Combining V.C. Andrews, Stephen King, and the collective forces of the Bronte sisters the story turns into a hidden unbelievable horror.

This is a story well told and the ride to the end will leave you breathless and fearing sleep.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

The book is available at the Gibson Memorial Library