Noemí, a glamorous, party-going young woman is sent by her father to check on a cousin called Catalina, who is living in the remote countryside of Mexico. Catalina has written to Noemi’s father asking to be rescued from an isolated house where she lives with her new husband. When Noemi arrives she is not welcome, and is kept from seeing Catalina but for a very short time. Other family members who live in the house act strangely and secretively, and eventually Noemi realises the full horror of what is gong on in the house.

“You’re very silly or very brave, living in a haunted house.”

BOOK SNAPS: According to the Washington Post ”Mexican Gothic is a creepy, intoxicating mystery”. It has elements of a Daphne Du Maurier (creepy old house, isolated location, strange characters with secrets, gloomy atmosphere), but there’s more of a horror element. And it is a good read, but as NPR warns: ”Mexican Gothic starts out suggestive and atmospheric, but becomes more grisly”. Kirkus goes even further, saying that “Fans of gothic classics like Rebecca will be enthralled as long as they don’t mind a heaping dose of all-out horror.”.

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