Silvia Moreno-Garcia has a flair for building tension. It's the single most outstanding quality in Mexican Gothic, and it starts immediately, a slow burn that will make some readers feel impatient while others will savor it. I'm in the latter camp. I absolutely loved the read. And I especially adore Noemí Taboada, the young protagonist who is asked to investigate the well-being of her recently married cousin.

The quest takes Noemi to a tiny mining town that is slowly dying out. The mines have been closed for years. The owners of the mines, her cousin's new inlaws, live high above the town in a mansion that is also winding down along with its inhabitants. In fact, as if a creepy mansion with visible mold set high on a forested hill and often shrouded in mist isn't creepy enough, her cousin's inlaws keep a strange set of rules in place that will set off as sorts of warning sirens.

Noemi feels it too, but she resists her initial urge to run and decides to rely on her independent disposition instead. She wants to get to the bottom of whatever is plaguing her cousin without becoming the newest victim in a nefarious plot that will remind some readers of Dracula's castle (even if there are no vamps here).

So why 4 stars instead of 5 stars? I really loved the book, but it falls just short of becoming a favorite. While the suspense is near perfect, the storyline leans a little too linear for my taste and nothing ever really surprised me or felt all that frightening. Still, it's a solid pageturner — enough so that I'll undoubtedly read more Silvia Moreno-Garcia novels in the future. I suggest you give her a read too.