Maite is a 30-year-old woman in 1970s Mexico City. She lives in an apartment that she can't really afford, she works as a dictation secretary in a law office she doesn't like, and she's desperate for love and yet unwilling to open herself up to the possibility of finding it. Anenthrallingtale that’s as fun as it is mysterious . . . The characters are fascinating, the tonelush and romantic, and it’s all wrapped up in a mystery with twists and turns one likely won’t see coming. . . . [Moreno-Garcia is] the sort of author whose works automatically end up on your ‘must-read’ list.” — USA Today

Her fictional story is set in Mexico City and focuses on a romance comic-obsessed secretary named Maite who gets caught up in the disappearance of her beautiful neighbor and meets a reluctant thug named Elvis who’s also trying to find her. There’s violence, a little sex, loads of naughty words, and a lot of intrigue.Mexico in the 1970s is a dangerous country, even for Maite, a secretary who spends her life seeking the romance found in cheap comic books and ignoring the activists protesting around the city. When her next-door neighbor, the beautiful art student Leonora, disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite finds herself searching for the missing woman—and journeying deeper into Leonora’s secret life of student radicals and dissidents.

My sincerest appreciation to Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Del Rey, and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy. All opinions included herein are my own. Anyway, I didn't connect with the characters and I didn't care for their dilemma. I felt like I was watching the story but I was never involved or drawn in. I didn't like Maite, the main character. There was so much bloodshed in her country and all she cared about was not being a 30 year-old spinster and finding her true love but no one was ever good enough to meet her standards. I felt bored more than interested which is a shame. The author playlist was great at the end as these are songs I grew up on that have been remade over and over so much you never know whoAfter being introduced to Silvia Moreno-Garcia's work through her much-loved title Mexican Gothic, I found that I loved her writing style, the depth that her writing gives to the characters and her ability to produce twists and turns throughout her well-thought-out and unique novels. Velvet Was the Night is no exception to this. He needed the money. Needed the gig. If he wasn't a Hawk he'd be a damn delinquent, a thief, a nothing. He needed the hope that at the end of the tunnel there was a place like this, safe and cozy. A little apartment with a piano and beautiful furniture and pictures in silver frames. (PG. 166) Velvet Was the Night wasn't what I expected, although that's my own fault. This is true noir, take that seriously. It's a slow burn, with relatively low-stakes. This was definitely a slower story. I felt that it was much longer than need be. I did grow slightly bored with everyone's obsession about Leonora's whereabouts at some point. Velvet Was the Night was a different kind of Moreno-Garcia read, however, and I'm still chewing on the why. For one thing, it took Moreno-Garcia's already slowwww pacing and dialed it down even further. Which I didn't know was possible. Let's be honest: I struggled with the slowness of the pacing for the first half of the book because it was just that—tooooooo slowwwwww.

But if you go into it for what it is – a compelling, intricate, superbly-written noir mystery – you’re in for a hella good read. I loved both of the characters. The pacing was still intriguing. I never get bored till the end. That’s why I’m giving my whirlwind, exciting, powerful, fast pacing, four viva Mexico stars! I loved how this story follows the two main characters Maite and Elvis. I enjoyed seeing how they had separate stories at first but ultimately came together through a connection to Leonora. The dual perspective really strengthens the narrative. It works to explore different perspectives by having an insider and outsider. Readers can see Maite as the outside perspective who is in over her head while Elvis gives the inside perspective into the Hawks and their operation. Swirling in parallel trajectories, Maite and Elvis attempt to discover the truth behind Leonora’s disappearance, encountering hitmen, government agents, and Russian spies. Because Mexico in the 1970s is a noir where life is cheap and the price of truth is high. Now that I essentially just wrote a review about how Velvet Was the Night is the greatest thing since sliced bread, I will mention that the book was pretty slow at times. The book is focused on trying to find Leonora, but I think the characters spend way too much time on, "I don't know where she is. Do you?" Given the storyline, the book should have been trimmed down a bit.Velvet Was the Night] isa noir with a heart of gold, and it’s a narrative in which the empathy we feel for its characters ultimately reveals an important truth: That Moreno-Garcia is not onlya talented storytellerbut also anincredibly versatile one.” —NPR This one ended and had me wishing I could begin another book by this author right away. Silvia Moreno-Garcia did a brilliant job of blending fiction with historical events. You can read her Author's note at the end as she details the events. She caught my eye with Mexican Gothic and I became a bigger fan with this book - I have to say I enjoyed this one more. Elvis is an enforcer for a group called the Hawks, whose main objective is to suppress political activists within the city. His life is surrounded by violence.