Originally released in 2020 on a small press (Agora Books), Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s fifth novel now has a much-deserved wider publication (in the UK via Jo Fletcher Books), giving more readers the opportunity to enjoy this dark, slow-burn noir set in Baja California. Viridiana is a dreamer, determined to find her way out of her dull life in Desengaño and into something brighter, worried that if she doesn’t then she’ll find herself swallowed up by the tedium of her family and small-town life. When she begins working for a trio of wealthy American tourists, she’s quickly swept up in the glamour and romance of their lives, enchanted by the possibilities that life with them might offer. When one of the Americans dies though, Viridiana finds herself tangled up in a dangerous game that she’s not sure she’s prepared for, and forced to choose who she really wants to be.
Despite the different genres and styles she tackles with each book, one thing you know you’ll get with a Moreno-Garcia novel is a vivid, wonderful sense of atmosphere, and this is no different. Baja California in the 1970s shimmers in the summer heat, days stretching out endlessly as stubborn fishermen drag shark carcasses onto the beach and families play dominoes around the kitchen table. Behind the dreamy veneer of sun-baked desert there’s a deceptive darkness though, with secrets and difficult truths hidden just beneath the surface. Dreaming of old Hollywood movies and faded glory, Viridiana is desperate to get away from her disapproving mother and disappointed ex-boyfriend, from suffocating small-town gossip and petty, vicious local bullies, but the longer she spend with the Americans, the more she realises how much she’s isolating herself from the town and her family.
Like many Moreno-Garcia stories this is tough to pigeon-hole; it’s a sort of low-key noir with very personal stakes, a coming of age story that deals with the gradual burning away of innocence and a deliberate sense of transformation. A story of a young woman who feels unwanted and alone, unable to really fit in at home but worried that she’s not sophisticated enough for the life she desperately wants, and what she’s prepared to do when opportunities come her way. It’s not a flashy story, or one that relies on thriller pacing or breathless action. Instead, it’s measured, thought-provoking and darkly fascinating, the sort of insightful character study that Moreno-Garcia does so well, full of characters who are largely irredeemable but – in spite or perhaps because of this – utterly believable. Psychologically complex and darkly satisfying, it’s an absolutely fascinating, compelling read.
Review copy provided by the publisher
See also: all of the other Silvia Moreno-Garcia reviews on Track of Words
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