Reviews with content warning for Torture - Velvet Was the Night

I typically love Silvia Moreno-Garcia and I still adore her writing in this, but the story overall just lacked a specific spark to it. I did appreciate how unique it was in comparison to my usual reads and the characters are also unique in that I like to dislike them. I like that they're flawed and human and make mistakes and experience life like humans do. Overall, not a bad time. I liked the plot and how it kept me enthralled from the beginning, but the twists were easy to see.

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erandle's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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calliopereads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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gm3116's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective sad

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

The book was a good read and the two main characters were quite layered but the ending was a little disappointing. Although, I'm partial to a certain kind of ending so it may be the ending was just not my cup of tea.

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lelyreads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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annemaries_shelves's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Reading Velvet was the Night just sucked me into the atmosphere and world of 1970s Mexico City - a time of uncertainty, change, tension, political strife, protests, and oppression.

Like most noirs, Velvet was the Night has no true heroes - instead we have two main anti-heroes/heroines whose perspectives we follow in alternating chapters. Each are seeking a missing young woman, Leonora - a typical rich bohemian 'activist' slumming it with the poorer artist rebellious students. She has pictures that supposedly incriminate various people who were at a protest turned massacre in 1971, which is where our story opens. Our anti-hero El Elvis is a hired thug, a Hawk, who's tasked with finding the woman and her camera when all he wants to do is listen to his records and make something of himself. Maite is our anti-heroine, the almost 30-year-old (she basically considers herself a reluctant old maid) insecure woman who's prone to flights of fanciful imagination, and just wants to be paid for taking care of Leonora's cat.

In many ways, as the reader you don't care about Leonora - you're too absorbed in following these strangely compelling and unlikeable main characters as they spiral closer to the truth and to each other. And if you're like me, you're also very concerned about the cat that no one else seems to care about (though there's no animal violence).

Like with her other books, the first half is slower and the second half ramps up the tension and action. While I did guess the plot twists it was still very satisfying seeing it come together. The setting - a more realistic, working class, and 'gritty' Mexico City - was extremely well done and I loved learning more about the city, the time period, and the types of lives some characters (and real people) were living. I spent a lot of time reading on Wikipedia to contextualize the historical events that the text was referring to. You don't need additional research and knowledge to understand the story but I found it very helpful to support what Moreno-Garcia was including. Her Spotify playlist also made a great accompaniment as music features heavily in the book and listening to the songs referenced really added to the atmosphere and sense of time and place.

Overall, I really enjoyed this - it's a sub-genre I don't read often and I really appreciated a modern, fresh take on it. The mystery element was interesting enough but it was the main characters and the atmosphere that really drew me in and kept me engaged. I'd recommend for fans of noirs, slow-burn character-based mysteries, or more modern historical fiction.

CW: violence and murder on par with noirs and crime-focused stories.

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paulasnotsosecretdiary's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Velvet Was The Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia tells the story of two lonely people who dream about having ideal lives as inspired by music ad books. Elvis is a hired strong man charged with disrupting civic protests during Mexico's unrest in the 1970s. He desires to have a "normal" life with a steady girlfriend or wife and a regular job. Romance magazines inspire Maite; she is plain and socially isolated. Her desire to live a life of mystery and passion stems from her impressive collection of books and records, which her mother critiques. Asked to look after her glamorous and intriguing neighbor's cat for the weekend, Maite is first willingly pulled into investigating her neighbor's whereabouts when she does not return. As Elvis and Maite's paths collide, both come to realize the people and lives they idolize are fictions that are less appealing than they thought. The character development and plot twists were the book's highlights, but I feel I need to re-read it again in the future as my focus was off. I read it during the rise of omicron and found it hard to concentrate on reading, and I feel I need to give the book another chance.

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elizlizabeth's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was such a good book! Couldn't put it down after I started reading so I would highly recommend.
Docking a star because personally I thought the similes of the main characters vs other characters were a bit too out there and while

I'm glad Maite had a "happy" ending

the epilogue felt like it was from a different book imo

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