Mexican Gothic

About the book

In 1950s Mexico, socialite Noemí Taboada travels to High Place, a decaying English mansion in the mountains, after receiving a frantic letter from her recently married cousin, Catalina. Noemí finds the Doyle family living under a strict, archaic hierarchy led by the patriarch, Howard, whose obsession with eugenics and silver mining has poisoned the estate. As she experiences vivid hallucinations and discovers the family’s history of strange deaths, she uncovers a biological horror rooted in a sentient fungal organism. This colonial parasite allows the Doyels to extend their lifespans by consuming the vitality of others and maintaining their lineage through forced genetic integration.

Readers who enjoy atmospheric horror and historical settings choose this book for its subversion of traditional Gothic tropes. It appeals to those interested in how colonialism and scientific racism manifest as physical monsters. The reader walks away with a visceral understanding of how ancestral legacies and predatory traditions can trap individuals within a domestic space. It serves as a study of resilience against inherited corruption, offering a resolution where the protagonist must burn down the structures of the past to survive the rot of the present.

Details

Published

2020

Language

EN