I’m not a big fan of the horror genre, but I do enjoy an occasional scare, if the story is complex and well-written. The two authors I have come to enjoy are Joe Hill and Silvia Moreno-Garcia. A once-a-year shiver is all my nervous system can handle.

Moreno-Garcia combines “movie magic”, especially the alchemy of silver nitrate, with Nazism, all manner of ancient magic, and Mexican culture to create a frightening elixer. Montserrat and Tristan were kids who didn’t fit in; Montserrat with a disfigured leg and Tristan with his good looks and lacking the bravado of most boys. They seemed to complete each other, and became each other’s ally, fighting off the bullies and finding courage and fun when together. Their mutual love of movies took them in different directions; Tristan into acting, and Montserrat into sound editing. They remained in Mexico City, and in close contact, but neither could rise to the level of success hoped for.

When Tristan meets a new neighbor in his apartment building, the older, famed horror director Abel Urueta, a friendship quickly forms between the threesome. Abel shares the story of his last horror film, his German co-author Wilhelm Friedrich Ewers, and slowly reveals Ewers’s ambitious efforts to use the film as dark magic to make himself into a figure of immense dark power. Montserrat is drawn into the mystery, researching Ewers, his methods, and the people he drew into his obsessive scheme. What begins as a favor to an aging icon, with possible benefits for Montserrat and Tristan, turns into a horrible plot from beyond this world, giving a second chance to Ewers and his long dormant plan of dark dominion.

Moreno-Garcia does a great job of weaving these disparate threads together into a cohesive, frightening plot. Although the first one hundred pages were a slow setup, and might be difficult to get into, hang in there with this one. Once she gives you enough background, the second half of the book will fly with page-turning fright. Here is your Halloween fix! Recommended.