August’s pick was Gabino Iglesias’, The Devil Takes You Home, what I would consider to be a noir/thriller that follows Mario, a regular every day father, that descends into violence for the sake of keeping his family together.
Something I particularly enjoyed was the spanish throughout the book (though for non Spanish speakers, I can see how this was annoying as sometimes, no translations were offered). Iglesias attempts to combine elements from different genres to bring together a truly unique genre that he is spearheading. We have supernatural elements, descriptive gothic prose, the vibe of a noir, with a bit of suspenseful elements. Something that comes to mind are a couple of scenes from the novel that truly demonstrated the author’s ability to transport the reader into the moment and make you squirm.
Unfortunately, the ending was pretty terrible. I’m all for surprises but this wasn’t it. Throughout the novel, there are also plenty of political references that made the author’s stance on politics VERY clear. Many did aid to the story and enabled motivation for the main character; at times, however, I feel it deterred a bit from everything else going on.
Overall, I think I’d rate this book at a 4 or 5 out of 10. Mostly because of the ending. Anyone that is into these genres or curious about “barrio noir” though, I do encourage to read if nothing else, for the prose.