Urban noir with vampires? Sign me up! I knew from the moment I finished reading Mexican Gothic that I would need to go devour all of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s previous books. Of course, I had to start with the one with vampires in it. Certain Dark Things was originally published in 2016, but after going out of print for a while it was re-released by Nightfire last year. And good thing it was, since it would be a shame for this fresh take on vampires to pass into obscurity.
Domingo has been on his own in Mexico City since getting kicked out of his home at fifteen, but his work as a garbage collector keeps him from starving and he manages to find joy in the vampire comics he loves to read. When he finally meets a real-life vampire, though, he learns they’re nothing like the depictions in pop culture. Mexico City has been declared a vampire-free zone by human authorities, backed up by the city’s powerful gangs, but Atl is desperate enough to slip within its borders. Once the daughter of a powerful family of Tlāhuihpochtli—the subspecies of vampires once worshiped by the Aztec—she’s now an orphan on the run from the rival band of Necros vampires that killed her family. Atl is hesitant to trust anyone other than her faithful dog Cualli, but with cops, crime lords, and vampires all closing in on her, she’s not going to be able to last long in the city without some human help. Domingo is willing to put it all on the line to help Atl, but will his loyalty, optimism, and street kid smarts be enough to keep her safe in a world where so many powerful people want her dead?
Certain Dark Things is an homage to noir fiction, a genre of literature that takes its name from the film style and tends to feature dark and gritty depictions of crime, corruption, and violence. One character archetype often seen in noir fiction is the struggling cop caught within a corrupt system. In Certain Dark Things, this role is filled by Ana Aguirre, a single mother who moved to Mexico City in the hopes of a safer life for herself and her teenage daughter. However, as the only officer on the force with experience killing vampires, she can’t help but get dragged into a case involving two vampires loose in the “vampire-free” city. When the police force refuses to give her the authority and resources she needs and one of the local crime syndicates offers to fill that void, Ana has to compromise her morals and make some tough decisions. The setting, too, of Certain Dark Things is typical of that of noir fiction: an urban center overrun by organized crime, drug trade, and poverty. But Moreno-Garcia puts a fresh spin on this backdrop by creating a world where human gangs and vampire gangs of different species are bitter rivals in the fight to control the drugs—and thus the wealth and the power—that flow through Mexico.
And that brings us to the thing that drew me to this book in the first place—the vampires. In Certain Dark Things, different types of vampires inspired by various world mythologies are depicted as competing subspecies. Atl and her family are Tlāhuihpochtli, a type of bird-shifter vampires derived from Nahua folklore that are considered the indigenous vampire species of Mexico. After the existence of vampires became publicly known in the 1970s, other species of vampires from all around the world migrated to Mexico as other countries fought to expel them. The quickest to grow in power are the Necros, a Central European subspecies of vampire that most closely resemble those depicted in classic literature. The Necros bite their victims with fanged teeth and can gain control over human minds. Another subspecies featured in the story is the Revenant, a particularly frightening creature that can absorb the life from humans and vampires alike. Passing references are made to other types of vampires, including the Chinese Jiangshi and the German Nachzehrer. I found it truly fascinating to see these different types of vampires all living and interacting in the same world.
Whether you love noir, vampires, or just the lushness of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s writing, you’ll definitely want to check out Certain Dark Things. You can find it on shelves now at your favorite local retailer, or buy a copy online and support The Gothic Library in the process using this Bookshop.org affiliate link. If you’ve read it, be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below!