First published in 2016 before being re-released in 2021 by Jo Fletcher Books (in the UK – Tor Nightfire in the US), Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s vampire-noir novel Certain Dark Things confidently blends style with substance to deliver a darkly compelling tale of undead cartels, ancient alliances and unlikely friendship on the streets of Mexico City. Young, street-smart but a little naive, Domingo makes his living picking garbage and daydreaming about the vampires he reads about in the comics. When he crosses paths with Atl, the last remaining vampire of her family, he finds himself drawn to her, mesmerised by her mystery and beauty. Alone (apart from her dog, Cualli), afraid and hunted by both a rival clan and a gang of vampire-hating criminals, Atl is desperate to find a way out of the city, and begrudgingly accepts Domingo’s help, despite what she knows it will mean. As Domingo learns what vampires are really like – not necessarily how the comics portray them – so Atl gets a glimpse of the human way of life.
A beguiling mixture of supernatural noir and brutal cartel saga, this is a sharp and tightly-plotted book that balances gritty, violent vampire horror with a rather sweet, naive friendship. In this alternative real-world ten wildly divergent vampire clans are known to exist, tolerated to varying degrees in different countries. Moreno-Garcia’s vampires are brutal and stylish, horrifying, fascinating and flawed, but also rooted in history, each clan with its own powers and tendencies reflecting their historical, geographic and cultural origins. Set to this brilliantly constructed backdrop are two unlikely companions – Domingo is a romantic and an optimist, despite what life has thrown at him, while Atl is young (for a vampire), pampered, scared and full of self-loathing…but still a vampire, with her own terrifying abilities. Theirs is a friendship that shouldn’t work but somehow does, and the shifting dynamic between the two of them – and how it changes each of them – is as much a draw for the book as the smart world building and the gripping, pacy plot.
While this might be compact (at 240 pages in hardback, excluding a fascinating ‘Encyclopaedia Vampirica’ at the end), it also manages to include no fewer than five points of view, with the two main characters joined by tired, undervalued detective Ana and a pair of antagonists from a rival vampire clan – reckless young vampire Nick Godoy and resourceful, well-connected human helper Rodrigo. The rotating POVs help push the plot onwards and offer an interesting range of perspectives on what it’s like to live in a world where vampires exist, cleverly expanding the setting and adding variety without ever taking away from Domingo and Atl as the driving force of the book. Crucially though, they’re not just there to serve the plot – Ana in particular is a fantastic character in her own right and would make a great protagonist in other circumstances, while Nick and Rodrigo feel utterly believable, loathsome though they may be.
Knowing Moreno-Garcia’s tendency to tackle a different genre with each book it seems unlikely that she’ll revisit this world, which is a shame as it’s ripe with potential for further storytelling. If she does return she’s set herself up perfectly with an incredible amount of world building that’s brought to life brilliantly here but is just begging for further exploration – not just the different vampire clans themselves and their abilities, weaknesses (the idea of anxious, compulsive vampires definitely deserves more air time), hierarchies and power structures, but human-vampire dynamics too and the broader impact of vampires on a recognisably modern world. As a standalone story though, this is a gripping page-turner with a memorable cast of characters and an inspired approach to vampires and the supernatural that gives otherwise familiar tropes a new lease of life. In other words it’s a typical Moreno-Garcia book – different to everything else she’s done, but as always beautifully written and difficult to put down.
Review copy provided by the publisher
See also: all of the other Silvia Moreno-Garcia reviews on Track of Words
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