Gabino Iglesias
Author of The Devil Takes You Home
Works by Gabino Iglesias
Drinking Until Morning 1 copy
Associated Works
Tragedy Queens: Stories Inspired by Lana Del Rey & Sylvia Plath (2018) — Contributor — 11 copies, 1 review
Qualia Nous: Vol. 2 — Contributor — 2 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 20th century
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Puerto Rico
- Places of residence
- Austin, Texas, USA
- Occupations
- writer
editor
teacher
book reviewer
translator - Organizations
- Crime Writers of Color
Horror Writers Association
Mystery Writers of America
National Book Critics Circle - Agent
- Jane Finigan
Members
Reviews
An Edgar nominee that blends horror with a drug cartel story. The violence level was a bit high for me, torturing children,body parts everywhere and Catholic rites transformed into bloody demonic rituals. Generous doses of untranslated Spanish throughout .I saw some reviews calling it noir, but in noir there is usually someone who has some code, even if it may be wholly outside the societal norm, they have their own rules and stick to them. That was lacking here…perhaps that was the point?
Gabino Iglesias calls his novel a “barrio noir.” (A quick aside: Non-Spanish speakers (my college Spanish is rusty) should have a dictionary or Google Translate handy to get the most out of it.) But with your genre expectations set, it’s still best to go into this novel cold, because just when you think you know where things are headed, Iglesias yanks the rug out from under you… and shows you what’s underneath, to mix some metaphors here. Let’s just say that the star-studded list of writers with blurbs on the back cover should give you a good clue: Daniel Woodrell, S.A. Cosby, Chris Offutt—and Alma Katsu, Stephen Graham Jones, Paul Tremblay, and Josh Malerman. You’ve been warned.
It’s also a emotionally moving character study of family, the meaning of friendship, and the burden of guilt. Tragedy strikes our protagonist’s family, and Mario, our narrator, makes a series of bad decisions. I’m not spoiling things too much by mentioning that the increasingly desperate Mario discovers that killing people for money is a surprisingly lucrative occupation.
The Devil Takes You Home features the classic quest elements: the Golden Fleece at the culmination of the journey, a trio of desperadoes facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles (and who don’t quite trust each other), and a long and dusty road. In this case it’s a drive across the border into Mexico for what seems like a suicidal mission. But holy blessed mother of sharp instruments does this novel take an unexpected screeching left turn into the darkest of hells. Bleak and violent and not for the squeamish, I’d be terrified to watch this in the theaters.… (more)
It’s also a emotionally moving character study of family, the meaning of friendship, and the burden of guilt. Tragedy strikes our protagonist’s family, and Mario, our narrator, makes a series of bad decisions. I’m not spoiling things too much by mentioning that the increasingly desperate Mario discovers that killing people for money is a surprisingly lucrative occupation.
The Devil Takes You Home features the classic quest elements: the Golden Fleece at the culmination of the journey, a trio of desperadoes facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles (and who don’t quite trust each other), and a long and dusty road. In this case it’s a drive across the border into Mexico for what seems like a suicidal mission. But holy blessed mother of sharp instruments does this novel take an unexpected screeching left turn into the darkest of hells. Bleak and violent and not for the squeamish, I’d be terrified to watch this in the theaters.… (more)
“You can wrap a shotgun in flowers, but that doesn’t make the blast any less lethal.”
“A sad woman is a blade hanging over the world, threatening to fall at any moment.”
“Funny how parents can take a bullet and smile if they think it’ll keep their kids from worrying or crying.”
“Bullets don’t believe in remakes or second chances.”
“If a gun embodies everything that’s wrong with humanity, the internet is a festering mirror that shows us what happens when humanity has been completely lost.”
“…to the kind of white supremacist who likes to use the word patriot instead of racist.”
The first 5 chapters of this book are really good! All of the quotes I've typed in above are from them! I think that if the story stopped at the bottom of page 32, this would have been one hell of a short story!
The rest of the book becomes a mix of a plan to rob a Mexican drug cartel of their money, and the constant checking of Facebook by the main character. The 'twist' at the end didn't even register with me. A very uneven book.… (more)
“A sad woman is a blade hanging over the world, threatening to fall at any moment.”
“Funny how parents can take a bullet and smile if they think it’ll keep their kids from worrying or crying.”
“Bullets don’t believe in remakes or second chances.”
“If a gun embodies everything that’s wrong with humanity, the internet is a festering mirror that shows us what happens when humanity has been completely lost.”
“…to the kind of white supremacist who likes to use the word patriot instead of racist.”
The first 5 chapters of this book are really good! All of the quotes I've typed in above are from them! I think that if the story stopped at the bottom of page 32, this would have been one hell of a short story!
The rest of the book becomes a mix of a plan to rob a Mexican drug cartel of their money, and the constant checking of Facebook by the main character. The 'twist' at the end didn't even register with me. A very uneven book.… (more)
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Diverse Horror (3)
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 14
- Also by
- 19
- Members
- 759
- Popularity
- #33,504
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 29
- ISBNs
- 36
- Languages
- 2
- Favorited
- 1
It was a crime novel that wanted to be a horror novel, something that a Jack Ketchum excelled at, but overall, I felt this one failed.
Okay, so...the narrative style was good, and often amazing. When not proselytizing, Iglesias is a very good writer. And that's what got me over the finish line.
However, overall, I don't think the trip was worth it. Yes, I know Iglesias is a Latino author but, just like I don't like multiple passages of French, or Latin, or Russian, or any other language, the multiple breaks into Spanish really wore on me. As well, the horror sequences felt mostly bolted on, as though the author didn't quite have the confidence to make this a straight heist novel. I honestly think it would have worked better that way.
But there were also so many preachy sections toward the haves and the have nots.
I understand all of the stuff that was being covered, but I'm not a fan of preachy, and I don't care who's doing it. Hell, I don't like when King does it, either. First and foremost, tell a good story. If you can show some situations where the things you want to preach about become evident to the reader without being flat-out told, then great. Show, don't tell.
Overall, not a fan of this book, though I did truly enjoy the straight crime pieces.… (more)