Name: Velvet Was the Night
ISBN: 9780593356821

Silvia Moreno-Garcia

From the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic comes a riveting noir about a daydreaming secretary, a lonesome thug, and the mystery of the missing woman that brings them together. 1970s Mexico City. Maite is a secretary who lives for one thing: the latest issue of Secret Romance. While student protests and political unrest consume the city, Maite escapes into stories of passion and danger. Her next-door neighbor, Leonora, a beautiful art student, seems to live a life of intrigue and romance that Maite envies. When Leonora disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite finds herself searching for the missing woman--and journeying deeper into Leonora's secret life of student radicals and dissidents. Meanwhile, someone else is also looking for Leonora at the behest of his boss, a shadowy figure who commands goon squads dedicated to squashing political activists. Elvis is an eccentric thug who longs to escape his own life: He loathes violence and loves old movies and rock 'n' roll. But as Elvis searches for the missing woman, he comes to observe Maite from a distance--and grows more and more obsessed with this woman who shares his love of music, and the unspoken loneliness of his heart. Now as Maite and Elvis come closer to discovering the secrets behind Leonora's disappearance, they can no longer escape the danger that threatens to consume their lives, with hitmen, government agents, and Russian spies aiming to protect Leonora's secrets--at gunpoint. Their lives become more colorful than comics, more passionate than a pop song, and stranger than pulp fiction.

Velvet Was the Night

Victoria Justice

1970s Mexico City: while student protests and political unrest consume the city, Maite seeks escape from her humdrum life in the stories of passion and danger filling the latest issue of Secret Romance. She is deeply envious of her neighbour, a beautiful art student apparently living the life of excitement and intrigue Maite craves - so when Leonora disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite finds herself searching for the missing woman, journeying deep into Leonora's secret life of student radicals and dissidents. But someone else is also looking for Leonora, at the behest of his boss, a shadowy figure who commands goon squads dedicated to squashing political activists. Elvis is an eccentric criminal who longs to escape his own life: he loathes violence and loves old movies and rock 'n' roll. Watching Maite from a distance, he comes to see her as a kindred spirit who shares his love of music and the unspoken loneliness of his heart. As Maite and Elvis come closer to discovering the truth behind Leonora's disappearance, they can no longer escape the dangers threatening to consume their lives, with hitmen, government agents and Russian spies all aiming to find or protect Leonora's secrets - at gunpoint. Velvet Was the Night: an edgy, simmering historical novel for lovers of smoky noirs and anti-heroes.

Deepika Ramesh

What Silvia Moreno-Garcia does in Velvet was the Night is intriguing — her main characters are unlikeable, they lack the main-character energy, and they commit murders and dislike cats. But she makes me accept them, and in time, she makes me love them and root for them even if they steal trinkets, even if they send screwdrivers into people’s necks. I am okay until the part she makes me root for them. She doesn’t stop there. She writes a smooth, smooth epilogue, giving a fairytale beginning for them, and making me long for a story that starts at the end. I will listen to the book’s playlist on Spotify and use my imagination; the unwritten story might unspool. 

If more noirs were written by women, I would have more of the genre.

the e-arc provided by netgalley in exchange of honest review

honestly when i decided to read velvet was the night i had no idea what will i gotten into. as i dove into the story the understanding came in: this was a story about the disappearance of a young, twenty one years old leonora with the important camera films. it was a time when activists and protestors were being the target of violence and prosecuted by polices and mexican government. 

the main characters itself were interesting. the dual pov did really a good job for portraying character with vastly different job and lives yet they’re almost identical inside—lonely, brokenhearted, and having a passion on books and musics. i can relate to some of elvis and maite thoughts about lives, but mostly maite’s thoughts. she’s not your typical female main character, and i liked her for that. she’s so human. and there was a red thread that connecting these two characters together. the epilogue was hands down, a nice conclusion on the story. it was realistic. 

the writings kind of hard to get into in the beginning, not to mention with the foreign atmosphere and setting, but i managed to pick bits of information and stored on my mind. it’s nice to learn something from this.

mystery surroundings the disappearance of leonora and the most wanted photo files was one of the thing keeping me intrigued. it would keep you wondering, which one of the characters closest to her lead her to her vanishing and what was the photos are about. the plot twist was pretty shocking for me. 

overall, velvet was the night is a good read, 3/5.

Hooked. Absolutely hooked from the beginning and all through out. 

Gisela Ayala 

Colleen

4 Stars
 
*A moody twist on Noir filled with morally grey characters and interesting historical details*

ARC provided by Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine / Del Rey via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.


I am always excited for Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s books. She is such an eclectic and creative writer! The older I get, the more I appreciate authors who are able to vary their style and content rather than writing slight variations of the same story over and over. Moreno-Garcia is so adept at taking standard tropes and putting her own spin on them as well as tying in Mexican culture and setting. So I was squeal-out-loud thrilled when I got approved for an advanced copy of Velvet Was the Night. That description? Gimme that gem right now! And that cover? Oh, I hate smoking, but the cover captures that Noir vibe so perfectly!

Noir and Historical Fiction are totally my jam, so I was eager to see if this author could provide a creative spin on Noir the way she did for Gothic. And the answer was, “YES!” Of course.

The story focuses on two characters: a bored, daydreaming secretary named Maite and a street kid turned government enforcer named Elvis who longs for a better life. They both become tangled up in the disappearance of Maite’s neighbor, Leonora.

There is a lot of great historical detail in this novel. From the suppression of music and pop culture to the government corruption, the story blended in well to actual events. I’ll admit, I don’t know much about the Dirty War, but it was good to have a fictional story to lay the foundation for further forays into learning. Fiction is a great way to spark interest in topics when handled well. And Moreno-Garcia is great at weaving in historical facts in an interesting way without ever turning it into info-dumps. 

Despite being intrigued by the setting and premise, the story had a very slow start, and my attention wasn't riveted for the first 20% of the story. This is the main reason the story only gets four stars from me. However, once the plot gained some momentum, I became much more invested in the story. From there, it was fairly fast-paced till the end. I sped through the latter 80% faster than the first 20%. Seriously, I stalled through the first few chapters over a week but finished the rest of the book in two days. Once the story got rolling, I couldn’t put it down.

The other reason I wasn’t totally in love with this story was that I didn't care for Maite much. While there were sympathetic aspects to her life (such as her obnoxious family, unfulfilling job, and dealing with sexism), her personality made it so hard to empathize with her. She was vain and vapid. In addition, she was a pathological liar and kleptomaniac. It was tedious to read the peeks into her inner mind regarding her plans to lie to people for attention or the many, many musings about what items she wanted to steal from everyone she met. She also had an almost Bridget Jones's Diary level of neurotic insecurity and body shaming of both herself and others. She also maintained a frustrating level of willful ignorance regarding political events despite being tangled up in dangerous events. I had a hard time connecting with her portions of the story particularly in the beginning. 


  “Maite understood little, but she grasped this: that beneath banal phrases and appeals to the good of the nation something dangerous simmered.”
 
I will pause for a moment to say that recent fans of Moreno-Garcia who've only read Mexican Gothic will probably be surprised by the difference in style. If you’ve read multiple books by this author, you know her style varies as much as her topics. So DO NOT go into this one expecting it to be like Mexican Gothic! They’re both great but in vastly different! Actually, the style of Velvet Was the Night reminded me much more of Certain Dark Things but, you know, with the vampire cartels replaced by corrupt government goons. In fact, Elvis even reminded me a lot of Domingo. I mean, how many tough yet naively optimistic street kids are there? 


  “Love, frail as gossamer, stitched together from a thousand songs and a thousand comic books, made of the dialogue spoken in films and the posters designed by ad agencies: love was what she lived for.”

The story could have leaned into the noir atmosphere even more, but I did like the ambiance. The story painted a believable picture of people just hoping for a better life becoming caught up in events far bigger than them. As I hoped, it took the Noir hallmarks and put a different twist on them. As I mentioned, once the plot gained momentum, the story became gripping. I can’t say much about the plot without spoiling things, but this is a great story if you want a classic Noir feel with more diversity.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 5 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 4 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 4 Stars
Level of Captivation: 4 Stars
Originality: 5 Stars

a great way to sum this up is to paraphrase its own author: this book is a noir, a pulp fiction (and a great one, at that), but it stems from very real horror. this is a great fictionalised introduction to the horrors Mexicans (and all Latin Americans by that time) lived during the 60's-80's. 

I think it was a bold choice of Moreno-García to have both narrators be the people they are: a Hawk, part of the repressive parapolicial group that targeted "communists", and an "apolitical" secretary who wants nothing more than to be the heroine of her own romantic comic. it was hard to empathise with both (especially me being from a Latin American country which has undergone pretty similar dark times of repression and censorship) and I think that's what makes the book interesting; it was, however, really interesting to see both their stories intertwine and their character development throughout the book. I feel for both (for Elvis because he didn't know better, for Maite because sometimes it is way easier to just ignore reality), but none were necessarily constructed as heroes, or even anti-heroes, rather than pawns in a bigger game. what was also really interesting about them is that the reader can gather information about the whole story through both POVS, and the reader knows more than the characters since it's a combination of both their discoveries.

the fact that it's written in English did take me out of the narrative; I KNOW I could've picked the book in Spanish, but I have a policy of reading books in their original language whenever it's possible so I can grasp the author's writing style. so reading the phrase "XXX barely understood English" was a little off-putting, but that may be just me.

a fantastic book, a true horror show, with a distinct noir voice that does a wonderful job at portraying the cruelty of Latin American dictatorships, but also leaves a small keyhole through which you can glimpse the soothing possibility of a better future ahead, in which loyalty and love can lead you somewhere brighter.

Kristen Claiborn

There have been many times that I have admonished myself for not writing the review for a book right as soon as I finish the book. I still wish I did that, but for a whole bunch of reasons, I don’t. So I’m writing this review almost a full month after I finished this book, and the honest truth is: I don’t remember it all that much. That is the sign of a not great book. I picked this one up because it was a Good Morning America Buzzpick at some point, and I REALLY enjoyed the first book of hers that I read, but this book is absolutely nothing like Mexican Gothic, at all. This book also fell into the “everybody has read it but me” category, so I figured it was time to give it a go. Sigh. That is 287 pages of reading I can’t un-read. 
	Maite has a pretty ho-hum life, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. I, too, lead a pretty dull existence. I couldn’t figure out why Maite ended up in the mess she ended up in. She could have easily stayed out if it, but she didn’t. I feel like if she needed excitement or adventure, she probably could have gone zip-lining in the jungle and not get caught up in some weird anti-government situation. Truly, it made zero sense to me. I didn’t like any of the rest of the characters enough to remember anything about them, except Elvis, who is just a terrible human. And Leonora came across as selfish. And that’s about all I can remember. A non-memorable book is just as tragic as a bad book.

The setting/premise seemed intriguing but sadly I found the POV characters insufferable.

Jessica Smith

From the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic comes a riveting noir thriller about a daydreaming secretary and a lonely enforcer - and the missing woman they are both seeking. 1970s Mexico City: while student protests and political unrest consume the city, Maite escapes from her humdrum life in the stories of passion and danger that fill the latest issue of Secret Romance. She is deeply envious of her neighbour, Leonora, a beautiful art student who lives the life of excitement and intrigue Maite craves - so when she disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite jumps at the chance to uncover Leonora's secrets. Maite is not the only one searching for the missing girl. Elvis, a goon-for-hire who is longing to escape his violent life, has been assigned to find the student. Like Maite, he loves old movies, comics and rock 'n' roll . . . and he's beginning to be interested in the mousy secretary who is fast becoming involved in a world of political intrigue. As Maite and Elvis follow Leonora's trail, they journey deeper into a world of student radicals, hitmen, government agents and Russian spies, who are all determined to unearth Leonora's secrets- at gunpoint. Velvet was the Night is an explosive combination of such classic '70s thrillers as Three Days of the Condor and contemporary Mexican noir like Yuri Herrera's celebrated Signs Preceding the End of the World.

Dee B. 

Silvia Moreno Garcia has a special talent for writing female main characters that you instantly sympathize with. Quite early on in the novel, I felt Maite's deep sadness at the fact that her life had not turned out exactly how she had imagined it would be at this point in her life. Her every interaction is layered with a tone of melancholy that cannot be ignored.

Velvet Was the Night is refreshingly different from Mexican Gothic's fever dream-esque setting and, unlike Noemi who had an inkling of what she was walking into, Maite unwittingly gets dragged into a political espionage plot. Maitie had previously believed that she was simply trying to find her absconded neighbour to get the money she was owed, and so she never had all of the tools that one would need when trying to solve such a case. Her lack of forewarning is clear as we watch her fumble her way through tracking down time-sensitive, valuable information.

Plot wise, I did enjoy Maite's searching more than I enjoyed Elvis' sections simply because I really didn't care about his inner monologue in the least, even though it was an interesting and necessary addition. I only wish it had been delivered differently. (Plus, I did not buy into his infatuation with Maite at all but I do agree with his assessment of her nature.) 

This book felt like both a literary novel filled with character introspection as well as a crime novel, done well, especially towards the end. I really wish that Maite got more out of it than she did. It felt like she risked so much for a woman she barely knew and ended up with not much to show for it.

I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Garcia's special brand of slow burn and Mexican history

Jordan /

Very surprised that I enjoyed as much as I did! A little hard to track the change of POV and how they all interacted with each other.

Emily Perkovich

This was sooooo much better than Mexican Gothic. All of the culture that that book was lacking was in this.

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • From the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic comes a “delicious, twisted treat for lovers of noir”* about a daydreaming secretary, a lonesome enforcer, and the mystery of a missing woman they’re both desperate to find. *Simone St. James, New York Times bestselling author of The Sun Down Motel 1970s, Mexico City. Maite is a secretary who lives for one thing: the latest issue of Secret Romance. While student protests and political unrest consume the city, Maite escapes into stories of passion and danger. Her next-door neighbor, Leonora, a beautiful art student, seems to live a life of intrigue and romance that Maite envies. When Leonora disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite finds herself searching for the missing woman—and journeying deeper into Leonora’s secret life of student radicals and dissidents. Meanwhile, someone else is also looking for Leonora at the behest of his boss, a shadowy figure who commands goon squads dedicated to squashing political activists. Elvis is an eccentric criminal who longs to escape his own life: He loathes violence and loves old movies and rock ’n’ roll. But as Elvis searches for the missing woman, he watches Maite from a distance—and comes to regard her as a kindred spirit who shares his love of music and the unspoken loneliness of his heart. Now as Maite and Elvis come closer to discovering the truth behind Leonora’s disappearance, they can no longer escape the danger that threatens to consume their lives, with hitmen, government agents, and Russian spies all aiming to protect Leonora’s secrets—at gunpoint. Velvet Was the Night is an edgy, simmering historical novel for lovers of smoky noirs and anti-heroes.

Fraser Simons

Moreno-Garcia is always good at setting and theme, but I almost always never connect fully with the characters or how the plot is handled, nor the pacing. I come away luke warm, always hoping the next one I try will provoke the reaction so many others seem to have to her work.

Madhuri Sridhara

I'm apparently a sucker for the covers of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's books because that's one of the main reasons I requested this. I mean look at that gorgeousness!

But this really was great! I'm new to noir and was afraid I might not like it but SMG pulls you in from page 1. The story is told from two characters' POV, El Elvis and Maite whose heads you can't help get lost in. 

Thanks to Net Galley and Quercus books for the e-ARC!

3.5/5

In 1970s Mexico city, where political unrest and student protests consume the city, Maite and Elvis find their lives unexpectedly intertwined as they are both forced to search for Leonanora for differing reasons.

The setting for this book held so much importance and was brilliant at portraying the importance of.this time in Mexican history. However i just felt no connection to the main characters, and to be honest, found Maite to be frustratingly annoying at times.

The writing was great, with a lot of little sentences reading almost like poetry. And the plot twist at the ending completely caught me by surprise.

All in all, this book was greatly enjoyable, but i just didnt find myself immersed intp its pages as much as I expected to.

Alyssa North

3.5⭐️ I know I rounded down, but I didn’t feel this was a 4 star read. I found myself hooked enough to wanting to know what happens in the end, but also not completely devoured in the story and was easily distracted after a couple of pages. I merely picked this book up because I loved the cover and since I read it I am still going to display it front facing on my book shelf. That being said, it didn’t end how I wanted it to end. I also learned something I never knew before… did you know the Mexican president in the 70s banned rock music for immorality? Anyways, lesson learned - don’t do any favors for your neighbors.

Brian Walborn

Well-written novel by a terrific novelist. To be honest, this wasn't my favorite SMG novel, but anything by SMG is a cut above the rest.

Carol

This is the second book I've read by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - Like many, I was introduced to her work when I read and fell in love with Mexican Gothic. This piece definitely has a different feel and direction, but I can't get enough of her beautiful writing! 

I was a big fan of film noir growing up, so this was definitely a fun story for me. The compelling cast of characters felt truly alive, I definitely have a soft spot for Elvis! Mexico City was so vivid and the tone and atmosphere was truly reminiscent of classic 60s/70s cinema. My only issue was that the surveillance element got a bit repetitive in the middle of the book, but I enjoy Moreno-Garcia's work so much that I don't mind the slower pace. 

Will definitely pick up more from this author in the future.

Karen Shimek

Sahi K

Another day, another genre of book that I don’t usually read. Frankly, I don’t think I’ve ever read a noir, pulp fiction type book before. But this was Silvia Moreno-Garcia and I couldn’t resist getting a review copy. 

For almost a third of the book, I was bored and annoyed with the characters and just couldn’t see what was the point of everything that was happening. But then, I will not say it got terribly interesting, but I got used to the writing style and decided to quickly finish the book. The author captures the atmosphere of the times very well - the authoritarianism of the political leaders and the police; the dirty work by gangsters; the students who are fed up with the messed up situation and have become activists, but are themselves a target now; and a young woman who doesn’t care about any of this happening around her because she is too busy thinking about her drab and boring life. The author is really good at showing the murky reality of Mexico during different times in history through each of her books, and this was no exception. The story was also fast paced with quite a bit of action and suspense, with one twist towards the end that I never saw coming. 

Elvis was an interesting character, trying to find the place where he can finally belong to and maybe make a name for himself. He may have been working for a gangster, but there was a naïveté about him that made him a sympathetic character. Maite on the other hand completely frustrated me - on one hand because I was annoyed by her fixation on good looking guys and making tall tales about everything to feel like something was going on in her life; on the other hand, there were some characteristics of her life that hit too close to him and I didn’t want a reality check. But I liked how both of their storylines followed each other and intersected and diverged, but never actually met. The only other character whom we get to know somewhat is Ruben but he was a typical young guy who romanticized revolution and none of his actions truly surprised me. Elvis’s teammates were also stereotypical sidekicks and didn’t leave much of an impression. 

To conclude, this was a quick read, probably as expected from pulp fiction. It was also engaging enough but I don’t think it’s something I’ll remember after a while. I could have liked it more but the ending (which was quite unexpected) just felt like the whole point of the book was a waste and that left me dissatisfied. But it’s just my opinion. If 1970s Mexico at a time of student protests and government overreach, and a noir story about two completely different people whose paths collide in a twist of fate feels like something that’ll interest you, go for it.

Rina

Reading about the political unrest in 1970s Mexico was interesting, I liked the writing, setting, and atmosphere but I didn’t much care about the characters, unfortunately.

Kristina Masone

Silvia is now someone I would consider an auto-buy author. I grabbed this book without knowing a single thing about it, and yet it did not disappoint! I love Silva's way of storytelling.

Jelke Lenaerts

I received a galley of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

This book has content warnings for the use of the g-slur, and the use of the f-slur.

This book sounded really interesting but sadly it just fell a bit flat for me. It already started off on a negative not for me. I was just super confused in the beginning. Absolutely nothing was making sense and it took me a while to put everything together. Even though the confusion cleared up I still didn't like this much more. I just never really attached to the characters. I did quite like Maite's perspective more than Elvis' but that's just because it had me less confused and I just think the mystery aspect of this book just developed better in there. Every single character in this book felt pretty one dimensional to me and I sometimes had a hard time keeping certain characters apart. I wasn't as engaged into the mystery as I wanted to and I think the ending of this book was extremely anti-climactic. However, this story does take place in an interesting setting and brings some interesting ideas to the forefront, so it isn't all bad. I'll probably read more by this author in the future as well.

Abby Hoggatt

The last 50 pages were the best part of this book, and I almost want to give it a 4 just for that!

Salam Kabbani

2.5/5

This book was awkward. I gave it 2.5 stars because I think Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a talented writer, and her books flow very very well regardless of the content, but the book itself was just weird. I often found myself wondering "what is the point of this book". And then all the action happened at the end. Personally, I like small doses consistently sprinkled throughout the novel, whether that's new information, romance, a twist, etc, and so that made it really hard for me to enjoy this book.