Silver Nitrate

By: Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Narrated by: Gisela Chipe

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the author of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau and Mexican Gothic comes a fabulous meld of Mexican horror movies and Nazi occultism: a dark thriller about the curse that haunts a legendary lost film—and awakens one woman’s hidden powers.

“No one punctures the skin of reality to reveal the lurking, sinister magic beneath better than Silvia Moreno-Garcia.”—Kiersten White, author of Hide

LOCUS AWARD FINALIST • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Tordotcom, Polygon, CrimeReads, BookPage, Book Riot

Montserrat has always been overlooked. She’s a talented sound editor, but she’s left out of the boys’ club running the film industry in ’90s Mexico City. And she’s all but invisible to her best friend, Tristán, a charming if faded soap opera star, though she’s been in love with him since childhood.

Then Tristán discovers his new neighbor is the cult horror director Abel Urueta, and the legendary auteur claims he can change their lives—even if his tale of a Nazi occultist imbuing magic into highly volatile silver nitrate stock sounds like sheer fantasy. The magic film was never finished, which is why, Urueta swears, his career vanished overnight. He is cursed.

Now the director wants Montserrat and Tristán to help him shoot the missing scene and lift the curse . . . but Montserrat soon notices a dark presence following her, and Tristán begins seeing the ghost of his ex-girlfriend.

As they work together to unravel the mystery of the film and the obscure occultist who once roamed their city, Montserrat and Tristán may find that sorcerers and magic are not only the stuff of movies.

©2023 Silvia Moreno-Garcia (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“In this summer’s treat, Silver Nitrate, Moreno-Garcia again deploys horror as a touchstone for a textured ghost story with surprising historical undertones while paying homage to a lesser-known progenitor of the form. True to her method, she succeeds here by knowing when to follow the rules of genre storytelling and when to turn them upside down.”—Los Angeles Times

“Best of all is Moreno-Garcia’s depiction of the poignant, lifelong friendship between Montserrat and Tristán, with its simmering romantic undercurrent, shared childhood language and adult resentments. Like its namesake, Silver Nitrate catches fire and doesn’t stop burning until the end.”—The Washington Post

“Hip as hell, Silver Nitrate delivers a cinematic and exhilarating punch. Silvia Moreno-Garcia does it again with this creepy and unforgettable occult thriller, teeming with the decadence of old horror movies. I felt cooler just reading it.”—Kali Fajardo-Anstine, bestselling author of Woman of Light and Sabrina & Corina

the Quick and the... is it over?

I really enjoyed this story and the narrator but it's a lot of foreplay for a short and quick climax.

Old Mexican Power Rangers

The beginning was somewhat slow but it does pay off! This was an entertaining, funny, and a lovecraft-ian style book. This author is a great story teller and I haven’t experienced that in awhile with recent books.
I’m Mexican myself and enjoy lovecraft, but also am put off because he was a racist guy. This kind pokes at that in an entertaining way.

You meet some older characters throughout the story and I just kept picturing them as aged Mexican actors. It was awesome and hence the title of this review.

The narrator was very choppy. To me it felt like someone forced to read in class after being picked up popcorn style.
To my partner, it seemed like someone who just took a Spanish class and wanted to show off the words they can say right.
You get used to it, but it makes the beginning slower because you have to get used to them.

This is my 3rd book by this author and I’m looking forward to listening to more.

Slow burn-great story!

It felt like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade meets the Skeleton Key meets The Ninth Gate. Loved the characters and their development. Great story that kept me interested!

I liked it!

This was recommended to me by a coworker and although her description was a little off, I still enjoyed the story :)

two thumbs up

just spooky enough to induce the right amount of shiver at the moments

the eerie and macabre subject matter is subtle and carefully understated somewhat casually without being overplayed or too excessive in gore/shock value

definitely not too overly romantic or racy

believable and empathetic characters

great narrator

very, very well done 👍👍

thank you guys

Solid story

This book kept me glued the entire time. Solid mix of magic and horror that was woven into great story.

Loved it.

It was an easy read, the story was interesting from the beginning. As an audio engineer myself, it was awesome to finally have a character that I felt I understood. Amazing book.

The most interesting tale about movie magic.

I had no idea what to expect from this book. It’s many layers kept on piling on to the point where there was only one logical way to proceed. The story makes complete sense the way it unraveled. Very enjoyable.

4.5 stars

4.5 stars for me. This was my first book by this author and I doubt that it will be my last. I listened to the audiobook which was beautifully performed. I thought it was well written with the primary characters being well developed. As far as suspense and "horror" - this was a slow build up which I appreciated. Nazi occultism + old movie technology and themes were combined in a way that was fascinating to me. I'm not one for romance but the development of the childhood friendship including (what seemed to be) the natural sparring into what was obvious to the listener to be a developing romance seemed natural. I am looking forward to "reading" more from this author.

Great in its own way!

It was an interesting story, full of delicious details about movie industry and Mexican culture of the 1990s. Definitely for listening instead of reading.