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Book: “Sundown in San Ojuela” by M.M. Olivas
Publishing Info: Lanternfish Press, November 2024
Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.
Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound
Book Description: When the death of her aunt brings Liz Remolina back to San Ojuela, the prospect fills her with dread. The isolated desert town was the site of a harrowing childhood accident that left her clairvoyant, the companion of wraiths and ghosts. Yet it may also hold the secret to making peace with a dark family history and a complicated personal and cultural identity.
Setting out on the train with her younger sister Mary in tow, she soon finds herself hemmed in by a desolate landscape where monsters and ancient gods stalk the night. She’s relieved at first to find that her childhood best friend Julian still lives in San Ojuela, but soon realizes that he too is changed. Haunted.
Yet she’ll have no other choice than to seek out his help as the darkness closes in.
Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel!
I will admit that when I am prepping for ALA I generally find myself more focused on strategy to get ARCs before I look at panels that may be of interest. What can I say, I love getting books. But I usually do find some panels that pique my interest, and this past conference I found one about speculative fiction and indie publishing that was really interesting. One of the speakers was M.M. Olivas, an author I hadn’t heard of before that moment, but whose debut novel “Sundown in San Ojuela” sounded VERY interesting indeed. She described it as a spaghetti western meets the vampire films “Near Dark” and “A Girl Who Walks Home Alone at Night”. HOW COMPELLING. I threw it on my NetGalley list and when the time finally came to read it I sat down and dove in.
The spaghetti western influences are definitely there, as are the vampire films that Olivas mentioned, and I found “Sundown in San Ojuela” to be a multi layered story about homecoming, trauma, and identity in the shadow of colonization. Our horror elements take a lot of inspiration from Latine and Chicano folklore and some of the horror stories that come from that, be it Chupacabras, El Coco, or ancient Aztec gods. Throw in some vampires for good measure and you have yourself a real feast of supernatural suspense, with a woman who can see ghosts at the forefront as she confronts her family’s past in Casa Coyotl where her aunt resided until her death. I always love a character who can see ghosts, and Liz is a great protagonist who I was more than happy to root for as she and her sister Mary return to Aunt Marisol’s home in San Ojuela. I also loved Liz’s connection to Santa Muerte, and how she is already searching for dire answers when she realizes that monsters are everywhere in this town she thought she had left behind. I really enjoyed some of the deeper subtexts of this book, especially in relation to the Latine experience in areas near the border, and the generational traumas and violence that has been passed down since the conquistadors and still expresses itself through racism, oppressive immigration laws, and the way Latine people, both citizen and immigrant, are exploited and cast aside.
But the one downside of this book is how there are a number of shifting POVs, and not just in terms of character perspectives. There are lots of characters that get some focus, it’s true, but my bigger qualm was how we would go from first person to third person to sometimes even second person, which is SUCH a tricky voice even when it’s the main one being focused on. Since we were jumping a lot between these different voice types, I found it jarring and a bit of a jolt, which pulled me out of the writing. Which was too bad because I didn’t want to be taken out of the story at hand, so distractions were frustrating. And there was also a bit of wide net that was cast in this book, with LOTS of action going on with LOTS of characters having LOT to do, and I feel like perhaps it could have been tighter. All that said, it didn’t detract from the story too much!
“Sundown in San Ojuela” was a fascinating horror tale with a lot of clear influences that I really dug. I’m so happy that I went to that panel so that I could hear all about it from Olivas herself, because I’m not sure I’d have found it otherwise!
Rating 7: So many great layers and a unique and twisted horror tale is elevated by Latine folklore, though some of the POV shifts are jarring at times, and it sometimes felt like a wide swath that could have been tighter.
Reader’s Advisory:
“Sundown in San Ojuela” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of yet, but I kept thinking about Isabel Cañas and V. Castro and their novels as I read this one.
The Library Ladies 