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.
