Welcome to Mexico City, an oasis in a sea of vampires. Domingo, a lonely garbage-collecting street kid, is just trying to survive its heavily policed streets when a jaded vampire on the run swoops into his life. Atl, the descendant of Aztec blood drinkers, is smart, beautiful, and dangerous. Domingo is mesmerized.
Atl needs to quickly escape the city, far from the rival narco-vampire clan relentlessly pursuing her. Her plan doesn’t include Domingo, but little by little, Atl finds herself warming up to the scrappy young man and his undeniable charm. As the trail of corpses stretches behind her, local cops and crime bosses both start closing in.
Vampires, humans, cops, and criminals collide in the dark streets of Mexico City. Do Atl and Domingo even stand a chance of making it out alive? Or will the city devour them all?
I’ve tried my best to keep up with Nightfire’s releases. I don’t think there’s any doubt that the launch of TOR’s horror imprint was something that really reignited my love for reading horror, and I think they’ve consistently put out some of the best horror novels each year since launching a few years back. I just took a super rough count, and of the approximately 50 Nightfire titles on my shelf, I’ve read around 30, so I’m happy with that ratio!
That said, inevitably some things slip through the cracks. Such was the case with Sylvia Moreno-Garcia’s CERTAIN DARK THINGS, which was one of the first three Nightfire titles to hit shelves. This was actually a rerelease (good luck finding this book with the original cover! 😳), and I’m so glad to have finally made the time to read it. I’ve only ever read MEXICAN GOTHIC, which I loved. And yeah, CERTAIN DARK THINGS was fucking incredible & I’m questioning why I own more Silvia Moreno-Garcia books than I’ve read right now, she’s so brilliant!
CERTAIN DARK THINGS is a vampire novel, but an extremely unconventional one. Moreno-Garcia uses some familiar vampire lore, no doubt. But she’s also created plenty of her own here, and quite meticulously (there’s an index in the back with all kinds of helpful info!)
I won’t get into too many of the specifics of the vampire lore, but I think one key element goes a long way towards describing the vibe of the book: in this world, vampires are born, not made. So people aren’t being turned into vampires, but rather born into powerful vampire families. This gives the book something of a crime family/mafia/gang war feel.
Domingo is a young man getting by in Mexico City, collecting & sorting garbage and selling what can be sold to the local rag and bone man. Domingo doesn’t have a traditional home or apartment, but he does have his own space, secreted away in a tunnel. He loves reading horror comics about vampires, he’s friendly & earnest, and he’s one of the most instantly likable characters I’ve met in awhile.
One night Domingo meets a captivating young vampire named Atl & her genetically enhanced Doberman Pinscher, Cualli. Atl tells Domingo that she needs a friend. Mexico City is a vampire-free zone, and Atl is on the run, no longer welcome in her family. She’s being pursued by members of a rival vampire family, and doesn’t have anyone to really rely on.
So they become…friends. Of a sort. The relationship that develops between Atl and Domingo develops very slowly. Atl doesn’t trust anyone but her dog (relatable), and Domingo has this boyish eagerness about him that sometimes grates on Atl. He wants to know everything about being a vampire, and she is reluctant to share. But yeah, this incredibly sweet dynamic between these two slowly begins to emerge and just…oof, they are such a fun duo to spend time with.
There is some EXPLOSIVE action in this book, too. It almost catches you off guard, because the book isn’t loaded with action sequences. But when they hit, holy fuck…there’s some bone-jarring & bloody scenes here that were like something you’d see in a John Wick movie. Really awesome stuff!
HERE COMES THE DOG-RELATED SPOILERS! Cualli has gotta be one of the coolest dogs I’ve seen in a horror novel! He’s so stoic & intense, always right by Atl’s side. Guarding her while she sleeps. His genetic enhancements not only give him those cool bioluminescent tattoos you see on the cover, they made him an Extra Big Boy too! Cualli gets into some scrapes for sure & he is fearsome in a fight. And he gets badly injured towards the end of the book & it seems like he’s died, but SPOILER ALERT: CUALLI LIVES!!!
Which bumped the whole book up a notch for me, real talk!
This was outstanding! I need to get further into Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s backlist over the next year, I’ve missed so many of her books & she’s such a great author! CERTAIN DARK THINGS has all the trappings of a really sophisticated crime show/movie, paired with some really interesting takes on vampire lore. Add in the aforementioned BRUTAL action sequences, and this is one of my favorite reads of the year!
Grimdark Dad 