Reviews for Velvet was the night
Library Journal
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Moreno-Garcia (Mexican Gothic) steps away from her usual fantasy for this noir title that mixes history, star-crossed lovers, and political upheaval. In 1970s Mexico City, students are demonstrating against the corrupt government and demanding reform. Goon squads run by shadowy operatives use increasingly brutal methods to quash the protests. During this violent and dangerous time, Maite, a secretary who finds escapism in romance comics and rock and roll records, is cat-sitting for her neighbor Leonora. When Leonora disappears, Maite goes in search of her glamorous neighbor and enters Leonora's milieu of student activists and artists. She's not the only one hunting for Leonora. Elvis, a reluctant goon squad member and lonely heart who loves rock and roll and old movies, is sent by his boss to find Leonora and retrieve some incriminating photos. Surveilling her apartment building leads him to Maite, a kindred spirit. Will these two find each other—or even make it out alive? Moreno-Garcia keeps the suspense high and the action intense, all while sharing a bit of 1970s Mexican history in this perfectly pitched novel. VERDICT Fans of Moreno-Garcia's other novels will relish this title, as will noir aficionados and readers who like stories about everymen and -women rising to the occasion.—Liz French, Library Journal
School Library Journal
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Two disparate characters find themselves hoping for a new life in Mexico City at the beginning of the 1970s. Elvis ran away from a small town after some police trouble and is now a 21-year-old Hawk, a gang that has been sent to keep tabs on student dissidents. Maite, a 30-year-old secretary, ignores the world that passes by outside in favor of one she can invent, spending her time reading Secret Romance, listening to and collecting records, and making up stories. These two will find the elements of a traditional noir, coming up against an attractive stranger as they each set out to find a girl who has gone missing. Only as the story progresses will they find out that the danger may lie not only with the side of the dangerous DHS agent, and the gangs, but also with the government that has hired them. Moreno-Garcia presents a gritty and enjoyable tale fictionalizing events after a student uprising. VERDICT A strong choice for readers for whom mature content or language is not a deterrent and who enjoy or film in the genre such as Fargo or The Black Dahlia.—Betsy Fraser, Calgary Public Lib., Canada
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
Moreno-Garcia, the author of acclaimed and best-selling speculative novels, including Mexican Gothic (2020), returns to noir crime fiction with a winner that brings together a romance-fiction-obsessed secretary and a lovelorn enforcer during the brutally suppressed student riots in 1970s Mexico City. Leonora, a neighbor, asks Maite, the secretary, to feed her cat, then makes a frenzied departure. Days go by, and Maite, fretting over the expense and inconvenience, starts asking around about Leonora. Elvis is doing the same. As part of a goon squad assembled to quash political activism, he needs to find Leonora before she can deliver photos to the press that she took during the riots. Soon, Maite is in way over her head when it is assumed that she is one of the dissidents, and Elvis begins to have doubts about his chosen path. They are both in danger from hired guns, government agents, and the KGB (!). Their stories of danger and passion run side by side in an enveloping narrative that is at once dark and bright. Maite’s “litany of bitterness” shows in her face, and Elvis’ eyes are “twin black abysses.” Despite their failings, readers will be rooting for them and hoping they find some happiness, and, maybe, even, each other.
Publishers Weekly
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This seductive neo-noir thriller from bestseller Moreno-Garcia (Mexican Gothic) draws on the real-life efforts of the Mexican government to suppress political dissent in the 1970s. Maite, a 30-year-old secretary in Mexico City who feels life has passed her by, escapes from routine by reading the magazine Secret Romance, oblivious to the political upheaval around her. When her beautiful art student neighbor, Leonora, disappears, Maite, with the help of Rubén, Leonora’s former lover, begins a search that takes her into the world of student radicals. Meanwhile, 21-year-old Elvis, muscle for a clandestine, government-funded shock troop employed to suppress student protests, longs for something more and wishes to escape his old life. When Elvis’s boss assigns him to track down Leonora, his search crosses that of Maite, with whom he becomes fascinated. As the two get closer to discovering the reason behind Leonora’s disappearance, they uncover secrets that shadowy forces, both domestic and foreign, will kill to protect. This is a rich novel with an engrossing plot, distinctive characters, and a pleasing touch of romance. Readers won’t be able to put it down. Agent: Eddie Schneider, JABberwocky Literary. (Aug.)
Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
An enforcer and a secretary search for a missing student in this explosive noir novel set in 1971 Mexico. “Life’s a mess.” That’s the motto of Elvis, a 21-year-old man working as an enforcer for the Hawks, a government-sponsored black-ops group whose mission is to spy on, suppress, and harass left-wing protesters and activists. Elvis is in thrall to the group’s leader, El Mago, a mysterious but charismatic figure: “He was Elvis’s god, but a dark god. The god of the Old Testament, that, as a good Catholic boy, he’d learned to fear.” El Mago gives Elvis an assignment: Find a young college student named Leonora who’s gone missing along with some photos El Mago desperately wants. Elvis’ search leads him to a 30-year-old legal secretary named Maite who agreed to feed Leonora’s cat while she was gone and who is herself looking for Leonora. Moreno-Garcia follows both Elvis and Maite, who have a few things in common—they’re both avid readers, with Maite favoring romance magazines in particular, and they’re both suckers for old crooner-style music. They’re also both somewhat lonely, with Elvis’ only friend in the group out of commission after having been attacked at a protest and Maite despairing about ever finding a boyfriend. As they separately search for the missing Leonora and Elvis keeps an eye on Maite, they encounter a host of leftist activists, artists, secret police officers, a charming antiques store owner, and more, as their paths come ever closer to crossing. It’s hard to describe how much fun this novel is—Moreno-Garcia, whose Mexican Gothic (2020) gripped readers last year, proves to be just as good at noir as she is at horror. The novel features memorable characters, taut pacing, an intricate plot, and antiheroes you can’t help but root for. A noir masterpiece. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
