Cat 5 Carnage

The hurricane has made landfall, and it brings something horrific. Like monster storms of the Caribbean, Gabino Iglesias knows how to spin something. Here, he spins yet another cat 5 tale, full of the things that earned him top honors from the Stoker and Jackson Awards. 

He brings it home in his latest effort, “House of Bone and Rain,” literally. This story, which starts with the seemingly senseless slaying of a working mother, takes place on the island and Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. And like the reign of San Juan’s drug lord, it is drenched in blood and saturated in woe with just enough humanity to keep you reading while you wait out the storm. It is a new story, and I am certain it was ripped from his heart as he wrote it, but the themes are similar to much of his earlier work. It is every bit as violent as it is human, and it contains elements of religious beliefs, the supernatural, and magic—the magic of family and friendship, as well as retribution and vengeance. As for the family and friends, some of the magic is real and some perception. Either way, when this storm passes and you turn that last page, you will find yourself picking up the debris of what is left and, like all great storms, it will stay with you long after the sun breaks through the clouds.  

House of Bone and Rain

by Gabino Iglesias

Published by Mulholland Books

August 6, 2024

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316427012

352 pages

#HouseofBoneandRain #NetGalley

Shrooms!

Gah! This popped up in my "memories on Facebook" this morning. My front yard was full of these little mushrooms one morning last year. They mysteriously appeared overnight. And yesterday, I finished Ghosteaters, an audiobook by Clay McLeod Chapman. If you read you, you know. If you haven't gotten around to it yet, it is hitting a LOT of the end of the year best lists. BE WARNED, If drug use and addiction  trigger you, you should probably skip this one. 

This story is a good solid horror. At times, I'd give it six stars out of five, but there were other places in the book that I felt slowed down. It certainly was one of the more unique tales I have read this year. 

The Devil Takes You Home

Gabino Iglesias hasn’t released a novel since 2018’s Barrio noir, Coyote Songs. This August, this Bram Stoker, Anthony, and Locus award-nominated author will once again drag you through a horrific nightmare of grief, loss, and desperation. One thing you can count on when reading anything by Iglesias you are in for a weird, wild, and strangely violent ride. I found myself reading this book at odd times and in unusual places just to get in one more page. 

Be advised, he unapologetically sprinkles Spanish throughout the novel. It flows like the blood gushing through and out of this tortured tale of a man agonizing the loss of everything he loved—his daughter and wife, and what little life he managed to piece together in a country that dangles its promises in front of far too many—just out of reach. The Devil Takes You Home is as much a horror as it is a crime novel, but it is also a human story. It is a brutal account of a near-impossible heist. It starts with the horror of a happy family losing a child to cancer—a loss that should not have happened and wouldn’t have if life was fair. 

You don’t know horror until you’ve spent a few hours inside a hospital looking at the fitful sleep of a loved one who is being taken from you. You don’t know desperation until the uselessness of praying hits you.

Cancer is just the beginning. It gets darker. Much.

The protagonist, Mario, is a rich and complicated character. Along for the ride is his junky, friend Brian and a cartel man, Juanca. Mario is willing to go any length to hang onto what little piece of hope he can. As his story unravels, it begs the question, how bad can you be and still be good? How much can you witness? How much can you force yourself to do before you lose what makes you human?

Someone needs to give Iglesias duffel bags full of money so he can write full time and bleed more stories. Let him conjure up more “magic” to transport us to a dangerous world between worlds where magic, blood, and hope live. My hope is he won’t make us wait four more years for his next novel.

The release date for this one is August 2nd, 2022. That date coincidently is the release of Don’t Fear the Reaper. The sequel to Stephen Graham Jones's My Heart Is A Chainsaw. Pre-order both of them NOW from your favorite independent bookstore.

Thank you to the publisher, Mulholland Books, and NetGalley for the review copy. And an added thanks to Gabino Iglesias for keeping me up late and scaring the shit out of me. Again.