Audiobook Review: Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

I'm back with a new release! I know some of you have read it previously but I am always late to the party.

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, narrated by Aida Reluzco 

Reissued by Tor Nightfire September 7,2021

Dark Fiction  |  Goodreads  |  Amazon  |  Bookshop

From the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic comes a pulse-pounding neo-noir that reimagines vampire lore.

Welcome to Mexico City, an oasis in a sea of vampires. Domingo, a lonely garbage-collecting street kid, is just trying to survive its heavily policed streets when a jaded vampire on the run swoops into his life. Atl, the descendant of Aztec blood drinkers, is smart, beautiful, and dangerous. Domingo is mesmerized.

Atl needs to quickly escape the city, far from the rival narco-vampire clan relentlessly pursuing her. Her plan doesn't include Domingo, but little by little, Atl finds herself warming up to the scrappy young man and his undeniable charm. As the trail of corpses stretches behind her, local cops and crime bosses both start closing in.

Vampires, humans, cops, and criminals collide in the dark streets of Mexico City. Do Atl and Domingo even stand a chance of making it out alive? Or will the city devour them all?

My 2 Cents For Free!

I remember a few years back when every blog I follow seemed to be talking about Certain Dark Things and all the reviews were tempting so I put it on my to-buy list and then I got distracted and I never read it. Ugh. I hate and I love that there are always so many tempting books coming at me. Anyhow, it’s been re-released by Tor Nightfire so if you’re like me and missed it the first time around now is the time to grab it for yourself (and maybe even read it, ha!)

I started this out by reading the print copy at night and listening to the audiobook from Netgalley (thank you Netgalley!) during the day. If you’re a fan of audiobooks I’d say go for it that way because the narrator does an excellent job of bringing the story and characters to life. About ¼ of the way through I put the paperback down and switched completely to audio because I found myself more engaged that way but YMMV.

The storyline, to be completely honest, isn’t one that thrills me. It’s set in an alternate universe in Mexico City and is about a young vampire named Atl who is on the run from another killer clan of vampires who want her dead for reasons. I’m not a super fan of vampire clan wars and vampire politics make me sleepy, likely because I read way too many of them as a youngling, but that’s totally on me. But Atl is interesting. She’s prickly and cold and embodies some of the vampire qualities that have mostly been wiped clean from so many vampire novels in the last decade or so (I said MOSTLY so please don’t come at me with your but what abouts . . . I know there are exceptions but I’m all about those Near Dark bloodsuckers). I also loved the folklore and Aztec mythology weaved into the story and, of course, I was a sucker for Atl’s beautiful, modified dog and Atl’s human servant Domingo. If you need to latch on to a character in order to become engrossed in a story, Domingo is that character. He’s sweet, a little innocent and so loyal it’s almost painful.

I’m going to rate the story a three (I know, I know, I’m THE WORST - no need to tell me again) but because of the excellent narration, I’m bumping it up to a four. It’s a bloody and brutal tale which I love and though it took a little while for it to get going for me, once I fell into it I enjoyed the audio experience so much I didn’t want to shut it off to do actual life stuff.

⭐⭐⭐⭐