Mexican Gothic

This is both a 2020 Nebula and Stoker nominated book, but since at the time of this writing these awards have not yet been announced, it may ultimately be a winner of one or both awards.

This was a good book, but I thought it was going to be great. The plot feels very familiar. Like if Thornfield Hall was transported to the foggy forests of Mexico(?) I am going to admit cultural and geographical ignorance here. I have visited Mexico before but have never been more than 2 hours from port, so maybe there are foggy mountain/moors(?) in Mexico, but I've never heard of them. It was also pretty annoying that I was half way through the book before I realized it was set in the 50's. Again, I will chalk it up to cultural ignorance. The end was also dragged out just a tad. I could have used a quicker wrap-up or maybe my complaint was a quicker build-up.

Those were the things I did not like. What I liked, the concept that a gothic novel does not HAVE to be set on the English moors to work. I enjoyed the character build-up of the female characters, more so than the males, but that is ok. The plot twist regarding (view spoiler) The pacing of the story, in general. I loved that I was held at the edge of my seat and that although I expected a plot twist and had figured out some of it, I was still surprised by this plot twist.

What this book did make me want to do is visit Mexico again.