VAMPIRES OF EL NORTE - Isabel Cañas

VAMPIRE WEEK

 It is the mid-1800s in Mexico, just across the border from Texas. Nena is a rancher's daughter and she's seen plenty of terrible things in her young life already.  Her home, and the family ranch, is constantly threatened by the white men of the north looking to grab as much land as they can get. But even more frightening than the men from the north are the strange creatures that roam the ranch at night, with razor sharp teeth and sickly grey skin.  Nena was attacked by these strange beasts nearly a decade ago and she still has terrors at night when she tries to sleep.

Nestor was in love with Nena and, believing she died in the attack, he's wandered, working from ranch to ranch, trying but failing to let Nena go.

When the United States attacks Mexico in 1848, Nena and Nestor encounter one another again. Nena is healer or nurse, trying to prove to her father that she is independent and doesn't need to be married off. Nestor is a member of the auxiliary cavalry of vaqueros when they meet again. Nena wants to be angry at Nestor for abandoning her when she felt she needed his support the most. Most circumstances won't allow her to wallow in anger for long.  The nightmare, flesh-eating beasts are tracking them.

This was quite amazing.  I've never read anything by Isabel Cañas, but the title caught my attention and I thought I'd give it a try and I'm really glad I did.

What works particularly well here is the blend of genres.  This isn't just a horror novel about vampires in Mexico in the mid-1800s - though they are there and they are gruesome little creatures.  Think more along the lines of Nosferatu rather than Dracula: 

"This was a bent-legged beast the likes of which he had never seen before: its humanlike head was a mouth full of teeth; its face was wrinkled and hairless and mottled gray, gray like the rest of its hide. There were two slits where a nose might be."

But most of the novel is taken up with Nena's and Nestor's stories (the story is told from alternating viewpoints). It's a romance without being a romance.  More about the romance that was lost and reluctantly being rediscovered in the face of the vampire adversity. There are no long, passionate embraces full of sighs and longing.  This is survival with temporary comfort in knowing how the other might react.

Genre-wise, this is a hard novel to pin down, but the writing is solid and the storytelling had me eager to keep reading.  Ultimately I was just a touch disappointed at the end, though I'm not 100% sure why.  Did I want to keep reading?  Was it not satisfying? Closing the book, I was glad to have read it and I'd like to read more of Isabel Cañas' work, and while I recommend it, my recommendation is slightly tepid.

Looking for a good book? Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas is a unique blend of horror and romance and Southwest storytelling which appeals on many levels.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

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Vampires of El Norte

author: Isabel Cañas

publisher: Berkley

ISBN: 9780593436721

hardcover, 371 pages