My thanks to Netgalley, Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore and Silvia Moreno-Garcia for the eARC of this book in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.
As a book collector, in the sense that I am able to acquire books for my library, whether they are used or new or discounted or special releases, I have to follow some rules. They're not always set in stone, some of them change as the years go and my interests change for what I want to read for always and what I can borrow to save money, time and space. Still, I have to have some kind of rules in place, something easy to keep things from going overboard. One rule is that everything is on a calendar, so I know what releases I have to look forward to and when to expect their arrivals so that nothing gets lost. I've had books never arrive and having everything laid out in an easy to access space keeps the system moving. Another rule is that if I'm going to get multiple copies of a book, they better have a lot of bonus content to make it worth it and I should try gift and/or donate the original copy. Don't ask me how many times that has actually worked. And another rule that I ALWAYS follow is that any Silvia Moreno-Garcia book is an automatic pre-order for me. End of story.
What I love about Moreno-Garcia's writing is that nothing follows the same formula from one book to another. Sometimes we have a magical realism book to look forward to, sometimes it is horror, and other times we have a classic noir. This book belongs more with Velvet Was the Night than it does with Mexican Gothic or The Bewitching. I loved every moment of this which is funny because I'm not usually a noir fan. I studied the genre in school but every time I tried a noir, I had a hard time connecting with it. That wasn't the case with this book. Once we got to the main setting, I was completely invested in the story, in the characters, just everything worked for me with this book. I want to pass this book around my family and have them read it, that's how much this book made me smirk and grin and laugh with glee. Because I have a bit of a vindictive bone in my body and when villains don't get their comeuppance, it makes me gripe. The ending to this book was in a word, delicious, and I can't wait until I get my copy.
The Intrigue follows Ulises, a con artist in 1940s Mexico who scams women out of their money by writing them letters, charming them until he can ask for some kind of payment for help. But Ulises has fallen on harder times and he wants to make enough money to settle down and stop long enough to be comfortable before making his next move. Ulises decides that opportunity is with Perla, his latest correspondent who runs a boardinghouse in Veracruz. When he meets Perla though, he finds a woman who is difficult to get close to and his usual tricks aren't good enough for her. Perla also has a niece, Inés, who discovers what Ulises is doing and she'll help him with his scheme for a cut of the money. The idea is to convince Perla to marry Ulises so he can have access to her money and then they can take it all. But Perla isn't what she appears, with secrets she has kept hidden for decades. And Ulises is starting to think that Inés is more than she appears with his focus constantly turning back to her. Now Ulises needs to figure out how to get his money before the secrets in the boardinghouse destroy everything.
The whole of this book interested me from the start. I thought Ulises was interesting in the sense that he seemed to be a con artist with a little bit of a conscience. I thought Inés was the best character of the story, and I loved when the book focused on her. I thought Perla felt familiar, reminding me of characters I've seen before from old stories that have some kind of background in Mexico. What started as a simple story about Ulises wanting to finally get himself enough money to make a difference quickly turned into a story about the kinds of secrets a family would be desperate enough to keep as long as it meant they could keep up the illusion they have cultivated for years. It was fascinating to see the way this family tried to keep itself in some kind of position of power, even if it was a lie. Perla Inclán had been raised to believe that her life was meant to go a certain way and when none of that manifested for her, she was determined to make sure she could still walk around as if she had everything she could ever want. That need to keep the facade going is what drove her every decision and it had a ripple effect for Inés and for Ulises, who do not believe that the old ways that Perla clings to are the way things should remain. The book is as much about the way the town makes its occupants act as it is about the secrets the Inclán family had managed to keep in the boardinghouse they own.
What I found most interesting was the Notes at the end of the book, the part where Moreno-Garcia explains that a Mexican novel like this one which focuses on customs and habits of a particular society are called novelas costumbristas. The Intrigue has a large focus on the society that is seen in Puerco Ahogado, the fictional town this book is set in. As much as this story focuses on these three characters, the town itself and the way these people have to work to fit into it is another character altogether. The town has this family in a stranglehold that has kept them tied up for decades and the only way to fix it is to escape. I loved seeing everything come to light, the way Perla was raised and how she turned around and treated everyone in her life. The novel focuses mainly on the 1943 storyline and it goes between our three leads as narrators. Whenever Perla was the focus, there was a lot of information given about the past for the family, the expectations they had and what happened to Perla and her siblings. The more that was revealed, the more I wanted to know, which is exactly what you want in a book like this. The villain of the book is not who I thought it would be but when the ending hit and they got their comeuppance, it made me grin. I still smile and chuckle a little each time I think about the ending.
This is another great from Silvia Moreno-Garcia. If you're a fan, this is another to add for your collection. I still have a few novels to get for my shelf to be complete so I'll be working on that for when The Intrigue is ready to join them.
Rating on my scale: 10 Stars. If you like a good noir, this is a highly recommended and respectable read. Even if you are not a fan of the genre, this could be the book that makes you one. I know I'll be looking into reading a few more noirs this year. I'll also be on the lookout for the next release from Silvia Moreno-Garcia, whenever that comes for us readers.
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