This mystery novel just might keep you awake at night; therefore, you might want to read it during the day! Mesmerizing, MEXICAN GOTHIC written by Silvia Moreno-Garcia has the unanswered suspicions, the nightmares, and the dark characters that will have your emotions tied up in neat little knots of anxiety, in that, “I love reading this,” good way. I guess with the title you can almost guess that, but it is way more than what I had expected. Moreno-Garcia gave us a main character that even though she can be stubborn, she comes across completely fearless at times that I would be shaking in my shoes. When she is distress, she hides it well remembering what her main goal is throughout her ordeal. It is great to read about a young female character with such determination as hers.

Noemi Taboada receives a disturbing letter from her cousin, Catalina, that leaves her, and her father frighten for her cousin’s safety. To answer her cousin’s letter, she takes a trip to High Place in the Mexican countryside and finds a house that reminds her of a fairy tale castle from a dark Beauty and the Beast with what looks like no life or even light for that matter. Catalina’s husband is strange enough as his family and few servants that Noemi actually feels alone with her nightmares. His father is also an old man with many strange qualities about him that leave Noemi feeling disgusted while he himself is drawn to her beauty.

Noemi spends her time trying to get to the bottom of the dreams she keeps having and why this family seems to have a hold on Catalina. Then there is Catalina who has not been herself and has been sick and out of sorts from the beginning. The only true person she can get some answers from is the youngest son, but there are times she wonders if she can trust him. As Neomi learns of the house’s evil she tries to figure out how she can help her cousin before it is too late.  Can Neomi find the secrets behind this house and the weird family that possesses it? Or is it the house that does the possessing with its secrets?

I absolutely loved reading MEXICAN GOTHIC as reading it seized my attention through a weekend! I did not want to put it down. Praise to Silvia Moreno-Garcia for such a splendid novel that you will not be able to put down.