Reviews for The intrigue
Library Journal
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Ulises Linares knows that the key to a successful con is selecting the right mark. Having carefully considered all the replies he received after reaching out to women advertising in the lonely-hearts section of Conmovedor magazine, Ulises thinks he's hit the jackpot with Perla Hildegarda Inclán Arnao. A spinster who runs a guesthouse out of her family's once-palatial mansion in Puerco Ahogado, Perla seems quite receptive to Ulises's epistolary charms. It also makes perfect sense for Ulises to get out of Mexico City for a while, given that the sons of a recent victim of his scam are doing their best to track him down. However, upon arriving in Puerco Ahogado, Ulises discovers there is one thing he didn't factor into his latest con: Perla's cleverly calculating niece Inés Inesita. Writing with elegantly crafted prose to rival Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain's discerning flair for morally complex characterization, Moreno-Garcia (The Bewitching) serves up her own seductive literary cocktail composed of equal measures of deception, danger, desire, and desperation. VERDICT From its expertly evoked settings to its flawlessly paced plot, everything about Moreno-Garcia's latest exudes noir at its very best.—John Charles
Publishers Weekly
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Moreno-Garcia (The Bewitching) satisfies with this devilish tale of a con man in 1940s Mexico who meets his match in the niece of his latest victim. Fleeing a failed effort to con a widow, Ulises Linares arrives in Veracruz at a boarding house owned by Perla Inclán, an older woman with whom he’s been corresponding. Upon arrival, Ulises is both intrigued and disturbed by Perla’s beautiful niece, Inés, whom Perla treats like a live-in servant. Inés is observant and wily, suspecting from the jump that Ulises has an ulterior motive in wooing her aunt. Ulises offers to share Perla’s money with Inés if Perla agrees to marry him, but the plan goes awry when the duo discovers Perla is unwilling to cede control of her funds. As Ulises and Inés devise dramatic measures to get their way, their desire to rid Perla of her money wars with their reluctance to cause mortal harm. Moreno-Garcia keeps the power dynamics unstable in this deliciously dark thriller, with most of the characters concealing momentous secrets that inform their respective motivations. The resulting fireworks are difficult to look away from. Agent: Eddie Schneider, JABberwocky. (July)
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
In Moreno-Garcia’s (The Bewitching, 2025) vivid noir treatment of a traditional costumbrista novel, which casts a gimlet eye on rural Mexican societies, Perla is in her forties and unmarried, having cared for her parents until their deaths. She meets dashing, suave Ulises through a lonely-hearts ad in a magazine and they marry soon after his arrival in Puerco Ahogado. But Ulises is in for a rude awakening: the con he was planning to run on Perla simply isn’t possible—she keeps as tight of a hand on her bank accounts as she does on the schedules and behavior of everyone under her roof. Perla’s niece, Inés, dreams of a life in a far-away city even as she withers away as Perla’s unpaid servant. When Ulises and Inés realize that a simple murder could solve all of their problems, events are set in motion that rapidly spin out of control. Shifting points of view keep all three main characters in a morally gray area, and well-drawn secondary characters add texture and occasional humor. Give to fans of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, as well as readers of more contemporary noir novels such as Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger (2008) or Eileen (2015), by Ottessa Moshfegh.
Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
A desperate con man does his best to get a big score. Ulises Linares is hard up. The 29-year-old con artist, living in World War II–era Mexico City, is down to his last few pesos, three years after his father and partner in crime died following a long illness. What little cash he’s able to bring in comes from postal scams—he corresponds with women who are willing to send him cash in the belief that he’s a Prince Charming who will someday sweep them off their feet. He decides he needs a bigger score and writes to a woman in her 40s named Perla Inclán, responding to an ad she’d placed in the lonely hearts section of a magazine. Ulises travels to the town of Puerco Ahogado in Veracruz to stay at Perla’s guesthouse, and senses a spark: “Even though she had the faint air of a Mother Superior at a convent, when he smiled that devilish smile of his, he saw in her eyes that her interest was piqued.” Unfortunately for Ulises, Perla’s niece, Inés, learns about his plan, and—desperate to make a life of her own away from her controlling aunt—demands to be included in the con, insisting that should Ulises get his hands on the money, she’ll take half of it. But it soon becomes apparent that Perla isn’t the easy mark Ulises and Inés had hoped. Moreno-Garcia has ventured into historical noir before with her excellentVelvet Was the Night (2021), and with her new novel, she shows that she’s still comfortable probing the darkness in people’s souls: Ulises is a fascinating antihero, with a charm that belies his amorality. The three principal characters, who each get alternating chapters, are drawn beautifully, and Moreno-Garcia’s slow reveal of their motivations is executed well. This is yet another rock-solid novel from a born storyteller. Clever, taut, and just flat-out fun. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
