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Every book that I read by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is different. The tone, the settings, the genre even. They all have a uniqueness to them. But even in the differences, there are some themes that come back again and again. Like magic. And prickly, unexpected relationships. Silver Nitrate is no exception.

At first glance, this book has shades of mystery and cinema and horror, and magic. Magic that is dark and dirty more than it is ethereal. Magic that is pulled from the threads of history and occultism. The story combines Mexican cinema, Nazis, and a friendship that has endured for years, even though on the surface it seems like it should have fallen apart ages ago.

Tristan and Montserrat (Momo) are pulled into a mystery of a cursed, unfinished film. The actor and the sound editor. Both are at a precipice in their careers and their commitment to each other. They have to work through prickly characters, an unreliable history of a Nazi occultist, and regular human emotions to have any chance of figuring out what exactly is going on.

I liked this story, as I do all of the books I have read by this author so far. It took some time to get going, but the last third moved at a decent clip when the mystery started to be unraveled. So much of it was exposition and information, however. Almost like a history lesson and a glimpse at how a cult could be formed around a singular, enigmatic person. And while interesting, it did tend to pull the story down a bit for me. Overall, though, it was the relationship between Tristan and Momo, their reliance on each other, and the irritations this brought out in them, that made this story compelling.

*I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher to read and review. All opinions are my own.