Certain Dark Things - Why Aren't You Reading This Book???

TITLE: Certain Dark Things
AUTHOR: Silvia Morena-Garcia
PUBLISHER: Thomas Dunne Books
PUBLISHING DATE: October 25, 2016

FROM GOODREADS: Welcome to Mexico City… An Oasis In A Sea Of Vampires…

Domingo, a lonely garbage-collecting street kid, is busy eking out a living when a jaded vampire on the run swoops into his life.

Atl, the descendant of Aztec blood drinkers, must feast on the young to survive and Domingo looks especially tasty. Smart, beautiful, and dangerous, Atl needs to escape to South America, far from the rival narco-vampire clan pursuing her. Domingo is smitten.

Her plan doesn’t include developing any real attachment to Domingo. Hell, the only living creature she loves is her trusty Doberman. Little by little, Atl finds herself warming up to the scrappy young man and his effervescent charm.

And then there’s Ana, a cop who suddenly finds herself following a trail of corpses and winds up smack in the middle of vampire gang rivalries.

Vampires, humans, cops, and gangsters collide in the dark streets of Mexico City. Do Atl and Domingo even stand a chance of making it out alive?

MY THOUGHTS:  I'm not sure why I waited so long to read this book (in actuality I guess it wasn't really that long since it was just released at the end of October) but man, what a way to kick of 2017. If you've read other reviews that talk about what a great book this is and how it exceeds all expectations, all I can say is "Believe the hype!"

This book pretty much has it all - gritty, mean and nasty vampires, drug lords, Mexican/Hispanic heritage, good cops and bad cops (and some who are both) and one of the most bad ass dogs I've ever ran across in a book in a LONG time. This book contains numerous vampire subspecies, but the main two which are at war are Atl, who belongs to Aztec clan, and Nick who belongs to the Necros. Atl escapes to Mexico City, where vampires have pretty much been non-existent for several years, due to a war between the two families and Nick seeking revenge and wanting her dead. In Mexico City, Atl meets up with Domingo, an older street teen who is totally smitten with Atl and her looks, as well as also being obsessed with the vampire culture which he has learned from comic books and movies (and which is finds is mostly wrong). Atl needs to feed on the blood of the young to survive, so she takes him as a "Renfield" and he tries to help her survive and flee Mexico City alive.

The vampires in this book are ruthless and vicious and oh, how I loved them all! Well, not the REALLY bad ones but even they were so well written you love to hate them. I loved the culture Moreno-Garcia weaved throughout the book and I felt like I was in the middle of the drug war and family feud and I simply didn't want it to end. Atl meets so many interesting people along the way and while reading it, I totally expected EVERYONE to end up dead in the end (no spoilers - you have to read to find out what happens!)

Finally, let me talk about the awesome dog. Atl is protected by Cualli (which means "good"), a very large, very aggressive-when-he-needs-to-be Doberman, which has beautiful iridescent tribal tattoo, making him what is known as a modified pet. Cualli is a perfect addition to this book as he not only keep Atl safe, but through him we can see Atl's softer side and her love and devotion to her pet/friend. It's also really fun to see other people try to interact with Cualli as well. Hint, it doesn't always work out well.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes horror, vampires or just well written action-packed novels. It's one of the books which I'm sad I've finished because I would love to discover it for the first time all over again. If there's one vampire book you pick up in 2017, this should be the one. 

RATING: 5 Paws