Books like this convince me that the vampire genre will never be dead. You think you’ve seen everything that could possibly be written about vampires already, and then someone comes up with something completely new and unique. Isabel Cañas (who made a big splash with her Gothic debut The Hacienda, which I still need to read) does just this in her second novel Vampires of El Norte, which came out last year. The novel weaves both supernatural/horror elements and a romance that pulls at your heartstrings into a historical tale about the Mexican–American War.
As children, Nena and Néstor were inseparable, despite the fact that she was the eldest daughter of a wealthy ranchero and he was a lowly orphan who worked on their land. But everything changed the night that Nena was attacked by a mysterious beast near the springs. Believing that the love of his life was dead and he would be blamed, Néstor took off running and never looked back, spending the next nine years as a restless vaquero, always on the move. After recovering from the attack, Nena spent the years trying to be the perfect daughter for her demanding family, learning the healing arts of a curandera, and wondering why her best friend had abandoned her. But now the ranch is in danger: the United States has declared war on Mexico and is sending its Rangers to take over land near Mexico’s border with the newly independent Texas. Rumor has it that these Anglo armies also have something sinister and supernatural on their side. Men in the Mexican army and on nearby ranches have been falling victim to susto, a mysterious illness accompanied by strange bite marks that seem to match the scars Nena has from her attack all those years ago. When Néstor returns to help defend Nena’s home, the two will have to work through their own complicated feelings for each other as they piece together information about exactly what kind of monster the Anglos have pressed into their ranks.
I found the depiction of vampires in this novel particularly interesting and unique. They are more animal-like than human, but they’re not quite mindless beasts either. Physically, they are described as having flat, bat-like noses and a thin membrane of skin stretched over empty eye sockets. They walk on both two legs and four, occupying that uncanny valley between man and beast. There is no staking through the heart in this book, but these vampires are susceptible to more universal techniques for evading and defeating the supernatural, such as salt circles and beheading. No vulnerability to sunlight is mentioned but they do seem to do most of their hunting in the dark. When Nena seeks to warn others about the danger they’re in, she uses the more familiar figure from Mexican folklore, El Cuco, to explain the monsters. It’s unclear where the vampires came from or how they were created, but they make for powerful tools of war when brought under the army’s control.
Vampires of E Norte isn’t just a work of monster horror, though. It’s also a sweet, star-crossed love story. Though they were allowed to play together as children, Nena and Néstor come from different social classes. As the ranchero’s daughter, Nena is expected to make a politically advantageous marriage that will ally their family to another of the more powerful ranches in the region. The ranch’s workers, meanwhile, are seen as unworthy to even enter the big house and are often kept indebted to and dependent on the ranchero they serve. As an independent vaquero, Néstor manages to earn a good living but his relationship with Nena is still seen as inappropriate and scandalous. In order to get their happy ending, Nena and Néstor will have to fight not just the monsters attacking their home but also the societal expectations that hold them back.
If you like your supernatural stories mixed with some fascinating history and captivating romance, don’t miss Vampires of El Norte! You can find it on shelves now at your favorite local retailer or buy it online and support The Gothic Library in the process using this Bookshop.org affiliate link. If you’ve already read it, let me know your thoughts in the comments!