TL;DR: A genuinely creepy and beautiful story about a child’s choices.
Source: NetGalley, so many thanks to the publisher!
Plot: A woman struggles with nightmares and possible memories after returning home to Mexico.
Characters: These characters worked so well in their roles here. I was genuinely afraid and worried for them.
Setting: Mexico City felt like a fantastic character here, the way the city changed and evolved just enough for the shape of the story was excellent.
Horror: This is the type of horror that makes you question reality and what the character is seeing, excellent stuff.
Summary:
Aurora, a successful art lawyer, has returned to Mexico to celebrate a recent campaign for the repatriation of stolen artifacts. In particular a mysterious statue of an Aztec god.
There’s nothing wrong with Aurora.
But Mexico City isn’t as she remembered, and as she cares for her ailing mother, home isn’t as she remembered either. Nothing is as she remembered. Elements of her past hint at darkness and power, and reality begins to crack and warp the streets.
There’s nothing wrong with Aurora.
But some sicknesses can’t be healed. As Aurora’s sanity unravels, she must pry apart her family’s secrets and accept the simplest of The Flayed One cannot stay buried.
Thoughts:
I love a good horror that makes you question the character more than anything else in the story. What are they seeing, what is real? Especially when memories come into question. Not the absence of them but how valid are they? A good writer can really make this work in their favor, and Leopoldo Goût is that kind of a writer.
Aurora has returned to Mexico City on the tails of a group of artifacts she has been working to return to home and to her people. She’s a intelligent and respected lawyer, and there is nothing wrong with her. Yet when the artifacts begin to reveal themselves and she spends some time in the apartment that has plagued her nightmares, things begin to unravel.
This one was incredibly atmospheric. From the jump I adored the setting. I’ve never been to Mexico City but it felt like a living, breathing place in the story. I could feel the dry air, the heat, and each time it changed or evolved I was entranced. Aurora herself was a character I loved as well. Her ideas, and personality. She wasn’t perfect but she was smart. We didn’t get any of the classic ‘what an idiot’ moments so many horror novels and books have.
This one also had themes of art history, culture, and history in general that added a lot of wonderful depth without overwhelming the story. I just genuinely loved this. Even after a day on my feet in the heat doing work I wanted nothing but to lay down with this and find out it’s secrets.
This was a hit for me and I really recommend it.
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