Velvet was the Night: President Obama's Summer Reading List 2022 pick

Product Information

As the narrative evolves the two strangers begin to orbit closer and closer together, but will they collide?

My sincerest appreciation to Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Del Rey, and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy. All opinions included herein are my own. I thought the characters in this story were a bit different than what I have seen in some of the author’s previous works. In some of those, the main protagonists can be selfish or flawed but would not necessarily be considered “bad” people as a whole. However, this novel features more characters who may be seen as immoral or morally ambiguous. It was an interesting shift and dynamic. They were all incredibly well written and developed too. Swirling in parallel trajectories, Maite and Elvis attempt to discover the truth behind Leonora’s disappearance, encountering hitmen, government agents, and Russian spies. Because Mexico in the 1970s is a noir, where life is cheap and the price of truth is high. He needed the money. Needed the gig. If he wasn't a Hawk he'd be a damn delinquent, a thief, a nothing. He needed the hope that at the end of the tunnel there was a place like this, safe and cozy. A little apartment with a piano and beautiful furniture and pictures in silver frames. (PG. 166) Even though I thoroughly enjoyed the other two books I'd read by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and the writing in this one is as sharp as ever, somehow the story itself fell flat to me. I didn't connect with it at all. And I've been trying to figure out what happened ever since.This one ended and had me wishing I could begin another book by this author right away. Silvia Moreno-Garcia did a brilliant job of blending fiction with historical events. You can read her Author's note at the end as she details the events. She caught my eye with Mexican Gothic and I became a bigger fan with this book - I have to say I enjoyed this one more. Maite is a self-centered girl, working as a secretary while waiting for a wealthy, attractive man to sweep her off her feet. El Elvis is a thug in the Hawks, whose sole purpose is to undermine activist students using whatever means necessary. When Maite's neighbor goes missing, their individual steps to find her slowly take them on an intersecting path toward each other and danger. 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.

Entwined with Maite's story is the story of Elvis, a young man working for the Hawks, a shady, guerilla/gangsterized form of enforcers operating in the shadows of the current Mexican regime. Elvis fell into the line of work when his petty thieving brought him to the attention of the wrong people, and now he's embroiled in the drama whether he wants to be or not. And Elvis isn't quite sure he wants to be involved these days. There’s also beautiful writing, which makes me eager to read more of the author’s books. I just didn’t connect at all to the characters or the content of this one. Had I read the end of the book before starting the beginning, I would have known this particular story wasn’t a great fit for me. Maite works as a legal secretary in 1970s-Mexico City. But that's just her day job. At night she reads romantic comics and dreams of a different life for herself. Why I kept falling in love with the book covers of Silvia Moreno Garcia’s! Isn’t this one gorgeous? Mexican Gothic’s cover is still my favorite but this smoky, mysterious vibes of the cover and author’s name made me dive into this one by going blind!Elvis is a member of The Hawks. The Hawks were a government-trained paramilitary group. Elvis was an intriguing character. He grappled with using violence and cared about how others perceived him. I loved both of the characters. The pacing was still intriguing. I never get bored till the end. That’s why I’m giving my whirlwind, exciting, powerful, fast pacing, four viva Mexico stars! Why I enjoyed this book: Maite and Elvis were characters that I found it difficult to look away from. I won't say I liked them, per se, but they were memorable. If anything, this book most closely resembles Certain Dark Things to me because Maite and Elvis feel very similar to Atl and Domingo.

Leonora doesn't return. And things in Mexico City are about to boil over into a political nightmare with Maite, of all people, somehow at the center of the story. While at times I liked SMG’s prose, her style strikes me as passive. That is to say that when she recounts something I feel very much at a distance from what she’s recounting (even if that thing is happening there and then). I seriously cannot get enough of this author’s writing. I deeply admire her skill and have loved everything I have read by her so far. If there is one thing I know, it is that I can count on Moreno-Garcia for some of the most beautiful writing I have ever seen. It is rich and atmospheric. It is so fun to see how the author explores a variety of genres in all of her different works. With her noirs, she does an excellent job creating intrigue and mystery. An enforcer and a secretary search for a missing student in this explosive noir novel set in 1971 Mexico. Immensely satisfying, refreshingly new and gloriously written . . . Moreno-Garcia mashes up Anglocentric genres with midcentury Mexican history, resulting in a brew flavored with love, heartbreak, violence, music and unsettling dread. . . .The gift of this book, and Moreno-Garcia’s storytelling, is how it imbues this well-worn genre with addedstrength, grace and even musicality.” —The New York Times Book Review

Releases

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. Before I move to the reasons why I did not vibe with this, I will try and mention a few positive-ish things:

Plus, how about that cover. Both of the books I have read by her have the most beautiful and intriguing covers! 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. After seeing that Velvet Was the Night was going to be a noir novel I found myself actually looking forward to reading it as I happen to enjoy noir books, such as the ones penned by Walter Mosley. The cover, title, and premise of Velvet Was the Night were certainly alluring. I mean, covers like this one are pretty much my Achilles’ heel. My expectations weren’t that high given my history with SMG's works...and yet, even so, I still ended up being fairly disappointed by Velvet Was the Night.I loved how this story follows the two main characters Maite and Elvis. I enjoyed seeing how they had separate stories at first but ultimately came together through a connection to Leonora. The dual perspective really strengthens the narrative. It works to explore different perspectives by having an insider and outsider. Readers can see Maite as the outside perspective who is in over her head while Elvis gives the inside perspective into the Hawks and their operation. Well, if the story is anything like Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s latest novel, Velvet Was the Night, I would say it’s noir and pulp fiction. It’s the kind of story that stars a government thug named Elvis, a romance comic fanatic named Maite, and a missing woman. It’s the kind of story that transports you to 1970s Mexico during the politically-charged Dirty War.