Welcome to Mexico City, an oasis in a sea of vampires. Domingo, a lonely garbage-collecting street kid, is just trying to survive its heavily policed streets when a jaded vampire on the run swoops into his life. Atl, the descendant of Aztec blood drinkers, is smart, beautiful, and dangerous. Domingo is mesmerized.
Atl needs to quickly escape the city, far from the rival narco-vampire clan relentlessly pursuing her. Her plan doesn’t include Domingo, but little by little, Atl finds herself warming up to the scrappy young man and his undeniable charm. As the trail of corpses stretches behind her, local cops and crime bosses both start closing in.
Vampires, humans, cops, and criminals collide in the dark streets of Mexico City. Do Atl and Domingo even stand a chance of making it out alive? Or will the city devour them all?
Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno- Garcia. Narrated by Aida Reluzeo. Published by Macmillan Audio, 2021. Run time of 8 hours and 46 minutes.
*Trigger Warning: Dog gets shot.
*Thank you Netgalley for giving me a ARC of Certain Dark Things in exchange for an honest review.
Now, I’m not a big vampire fan. :o They are pretty played out and I’m just kind of over the lot of them. But, I have really enjoyed everything I’ve read so far by this author. If anyone could get me to go TEAM VAMP, I felt like Silvia could do it.
First thing first though….. Let’s talk about this cover art!! :o Holy blood sucking bat is it beautiful!! The layout design, the color contrast… it’s perfect. Atl and her doggo are just too cute. :) I know you shouldn’t judge a book by the cover but man is this cover eye catching.
Ok, to the review!
I loved the background lore of all the different kinds of vampires in the universe of this novel. What a great way to freshen up vampires. I actually wanted to see more of the vampires. :o I was just so curious about all the different factions.
The main characters, Domingo and Atl (plus her dog!), are so likable. I felt so sad for Domingo. Geez, what a rough life he has had. He is such a sympathetic character, I wanted him to have it all- love, friends, money, a new life! I was his cheerleader through the whole book!
Now, I’ve seen a lot of people complain about Atl. That she was mean and nasty person that treated Domingo like trash even though he was nothing but nice to her. Atl is a complex character. She wasn’t mean to just be mean though. She didn’t know how to have friends, and she was scared to get close to anyone. Everyone she ever loved was killed. She didn’t know how to handle that. She was harsh, but sympathetic too. She made choices and now she had to deal with them. :/ So lonely….
The plot is a fast paced neo-noir horror thriller. Vampire narcos, sketchy humans, Shady under belly of Mexico City… Certain Dark Things is an excellent modern crime noir. The ending is so sad but so happy too. I almost cried happy tears at the very end… The dog lives! :D YAY!
Even though vampires are not my favorite horror creature, I felt memorized by the author’s vampire world. Once again Silvia proves she is at the top when it comes to a griping modern noir crime novel. The characters give you all the feels you could want and I couldn’t help but want them to succeed. Plus, DOGGO! <3 I’m really looking forward to this authors next novel. 🙂
Creature From The Book Lagoon 
I had many of the same reactions when I read this one a little bit ago. I loved that Atl reminded me of the bloodthirsty Near Dark kind of vampire that have been a bit sanitized over the decades.