Month: March 2024

Published by: Turner
Pub Date: 19 Nov 2019
Genre: Horror
Pages: 304
Date Read: 03 Mar 2023
This whole thing is a spoiler!

     I normally have no issues with abandoning a book, but with less than 100 pages from the end, I finished this. Solely so I could count it as read for all my trouble.

     I felt so duped. I liked Felix at the beginning. I liked his relationship with his wife. I liked that his best friend came to be with him in a haunted house. I would actually want to do something like this in real life. I love the idea of this book! Such an interesting take. By the end, though, the main character Felix is an unlikable dirtbag. His monologing about how shitty his life became, because of Thomas, was becoming unbearable to read. I hated that this was not in fact a ghost story with real freaking ghosts and instead was just some asshole who murders his wife and best friend, then descends into madness over it.

      I used to spoil books quite often. I would jump to the end to see if it was all worth it. I had, until this book, stopped doing that. When Thomas shows up, it is hinted that there was some sort of rift between them. Then it was hinted at nonstop, without any explanation as to what it was. When I didn’t actually see what I was looking for in my “skimming the ending”, I went online and read the one star reviews. So I finished the book, fully aware of Thomas being dead and just a product of Felix’s imagination. Even without that knowledge, Felix just becomes so unlikable and whiny, forcing Thomas to be sad and contrite. Which yes he should be looking for a way to redeem himself IF HE WEREN’T DEAD! There’s also a sleazy line about how he “viciously laid claim” and just yikes.

      I think had I gone into this not expecting a ghost story, I would have liked it. That’s not what I got and I’m disappointed.

Published by:Ballantine Books
Pub Date: 18 Jul 2023
Genre: Horror
Pages: 336
Date Read: 03 Jan 2023
      When I was a little younger, I fancied myself as someone who liked to read great huge tomes. In reality, as I’ve grown older, I’ve accepted the fact that I’m more of a novella type of gal. For some reason I lose interest in a book when I feel like the story is advancing too slowly. With Silvia Moreno-Garcia writing, her stories are so packed full and you just don’t really want it to end. So she seems to be one of my exceptions to the rule.

      Set in Mexico, 1993, Montserrat and her best friend since childhood Tristan are now approaching their forties. Both in the entertainment business, Montserrat is a sound editor and Tristan an actor. The first thing I liked about this duo was that the relationship felt real. Although Montserrat had a crush on Tristan when they were younger, it is a subject firmly behind them, and only picked at by Montserrat when she is upset. Montserrat has a no bullshit approach to most things in life, while Tristan has the playboy attitude you would associate with heart throb actors.

      Montserrat is a horror film enthusiast and has seen them all, except Beyond the Yellow Door directed by Abel Urueta. Beyond the Yellow Door is an obscure movie in which little is known, so when Tristan chances upon Abel Urueta as a new neighbor, he sets to work right away in getting Montserrat a meeting with him. There they discuss his film and discover that it was actually a good luck ritual designed by an occultist that was never completed. Since Tristan is an actor and Montserrat has access to record the sound, perhaps they could complete it and gain the benefits? If I were in their shoes, I too probably would have completed it. This is horror, though, so the luck doesn’t last for long.

      I had known that there were Nazi’s in Argentina, but I had not known that there were Nazi’s in Mexico, and this story provided an interesting history lesson. Frankly, I spent a great deal of time looking a lot of things up mentioned. The movies, which are listed below, have given me a new list that I want to work down and watch. Pictures of Mexico (because I have never been there) and the markets, specifically Mercado de Sonora. Lastly, she notes at the end some of her inspirations and I spent more time looking up lost films and daydreaming about the mysteries that could surround them.

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      Here are two quotes that I particularly loved and wanted to share;

Chapter 7 — Page: 119

     And on bad days, if you told me what I had to do to time travel was rub chicken’s blood on my face and dance around the living room, I might. It’s stupid, but it’s also a bit of hope, and hope is hard to come by.”

Chapter 7 — Page: 122

     He understood this the same way he realized he was sometimes annoyingly childish in his demands and affection. But it was the only way he truly knew how to love someone.

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      Anyways, this novel was clearly researched in the ways movies are made, and told to the reader in an expert way that doesn’t beat you over the head with terminology without definitions. The characters are well thought out, and all have their own personalities. I really loved this book and look forward to seeing it get the praise it deserves.

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Exorcist
Vacaciones de terror
Child’s Play
The Amityville Horror
Lola la trailera
Knight Rider
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth
The Evil Dead
Videodrome
Hasta el viento tiene miedo (Even the Wind Is afraid)
Cat People
Dracula
Freaks
Jir%C3%B3n de Niebla (Giron de niebla)
Three Men and a Baby
Tarzan
Tarzan and the Mermaids
Jorodowsky%E2%80%99s Dune
The Other Side of the Wind
The Black Cat
The Devil Rides Out
The Night of the Iguana
Dead Ringers
The Seventh Seal
Nightmare on Elm Street
The Blob
Nosferatu
The Old Dark House
The Mummy
Alcanzar una Estrella
Mujer Casos de la Vida Real
The Count of Monte Cristo
Terror at the Opera
Ghostbusters
La Telaraña
The Bride of Frankenstein
El Monstruo Resucitado
La Bruja
London After Midnight