by Sabitha F.

I adore everything Silvia Moreno-Garcia writes, so I’ll hit the buy button or place a library hold on every new book she produces before I’ve even read the plot summary. That said, Silver Nitrate couldn’t be more catered to my tastes if she sawed open my brain and splashed it across the page. Mexico City in the 1990s, evil Nazi occultists, and cinematic alchemy clash in this weird, compelling story of a childhood friendship, a curse, and a cult.

Nothing has gone right for Montserrat, a sound editor who can barely make ends meet thanks to industry sexism, or for her best friend Tristán, a soap opera star whose career failed after a drunken car accident. They encounter Abel, a washed-up horror director who tells them about a lost film, cut short by the murder of its funder. Woven into its film stock is a spell that could reverse all of their fortunes—but as with silver screen success, magic too has its cost.

This book is more difficult and aloof than the author’s better-known work, but it showcases what to me are some of her greatest strengths—flawed, complicated women, supernatural elements that are deeply entwined with the story’s themes and milieu, and inventive subversions of genre tropes. It’s a love letter to horror and a perfect spooky season read.