Silver Nitrate

Cool premise: filmmaking and horror/occult from the writer of Mexican Gothic. She seems to have researched the films and filmmaking elements very well. I also liked that it was set in Mexico City, an urban area with different cultural and pop culture references than my own. The story itself had some potential, could make a fun movie perhaps. It is similar to a Friday the 13th (television series about the antique shop, not the films) episode.

Despite the potential, it didn't hold my interest. It's a short book but there is so much telling rather than showing and repeating information. The author gave us the main character's specific thoughts and feelings all the time instead of letting the reader figure out what the characters are experiencing based on behavior. This tends to flatten out rather than add depth to characters.

Without the repeated information, the reader could piece things together from what they read. She either doesn't trust the reader to figure things out or is in need of an editor. I got impatient and skimmed a lot while reading.

The chapters where the conflict starts to heat up were more entertaining. Ye1, it is difficult to have a menacing villain when he's already dead. Yes, I know, Voldemort, but in Silver Nitrate, it is not as effective. His two grande dame co-conspirators were slightly scarier. I did like the inky dogs.

Thus begins my horror novel marathon for 2023. I hope they get better.