Disclaimer: I received this free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Mexican Gothic follows Noemí Taboada after her family receive a frantic letter from her cousin, who has recently got married and is begging to be rescued from her husband. She believes there are voices and ghosts in the walls of the home – High Place. Noemí Taboada soon makes her way to High Place – a remote mansion in the Mexican countryside, determined to discover what is upsetting her cousin. Soon she discovers there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place and as she digs deeper, she unearths stories of violence and madness.

rep: mexican characters, mexican setting

content warnings: rape, sexual abuse, violence & gore, cannibalism, incest, child death, horror, drug use/poison, talks of eugenics

initial reaction: what the fuckkk

Mexican Gothic was a wild ride, from start to finish. When you think it couldn’t get any weirder, it does. I am a huge fan of unusual, and especially gothic and atmospheric novels, and Mexican Gothic is definitely that. This story is a brutal, dark, and grotesque one. It truly drags you deeper and deeper into the toxic and poisonous story. It has that kind of sinister and suspenseful narrative and atmosphere that instils a sense of dread in you – sort of like a feeling of impending doom, like you are always waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for another strange and unpleasant secret to be uncovered.

‘They can make you think things, a voice whispered. She’d heard that voice before, somewhere in this house. They make you do things.’

Mexican Gothic focuses a lot more on the plot and the mystery rather than our characters or their dynamics, but it didn’t stop me really adoring our protagonist Noemí. She’s vain, rebellious, confrontational, honest, and also very stubborn and determined and curious which all worked well in her favour. I really enjoyed following her while she unravelled the mystery and really rooted for her to find the answers she was looking for.

It is a slow-paced novel, where little bits of informational are slowly revealed, so it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but once you hit that ‘what the fuck’ mark (you’ll know when you read it), things really do pick up and the pace really gets going, as does the heart rate. It is a book that does go really dark, so you might want to check out the content warnings above and tread with caution if any of those affect you.

Overall, Mexican Gothic is a gothic horror novel that is a deeply chilling and utterly riveting read.