Every story is a ghost story.

PLOT SUMMARY:

For childhood friends Gabe, Xavier, Tavo, Paul, and Bimbo, death has always been close. Hurricanes. Car accidents. Gang violence. Suicide. Estamos rodeados de fantasmas was Gabe’s grandmother’s refrain. We are surrounded by ghosts. But this time is different. Bimbo’s mom has been shot dead. We’re gonna kill the guys who killed her Bimbo swears. And they all agree.

Feral with grief, Bimbo has become unrecognizable, taking no prisoners in his search for names. Soon, they learn Maria was gunned down by guys working for the drug kingpin of Puerto Rico. No one has ever gone up against him and survived. As the boys strategize, a storm gathers far from the coast. Hurricanes are known to carry evil spirits in their currents and bring them ashore, spirits which impose their own order.

Blurring the boundaries between myth, mysticism, and the grim realities of our world, House of Bone and Rain is a harrowing coming of age story; a doomed tale of devotion, the afterlife of violence, and what rolls in on the tide.

GRADE: A

REVIEW:

I’ve read Gabino Iglesias’ Bram Stoker-winning debut novel and enjoyed it very much. So I was very excited when I received an ARC for his latest novel. I decided to go in blind, not reading the plot summary because I feel like his books are a real treat if you experience them as the protagonist does, learning on the way. In House of Bone and Rain, Gabe gets lured into avenging the death of his best friend Bimbo’s mother, Maria. Coincidentally, the hurricane that’s approaching Puerto Rico is also named Maria. Residents of Puerto Rico have a lot of trauma when it comes to hurricanes, as mentioned in the book, it devastates whole populations, kill so many, and keeps the island without electricity and water for months.

Prior to the hurricane, Gabe along with his friends Tavo, Paul, and Xavier helped Bimbo gain more info about who killed his mother – but someone is now targeting the friend group, and it looks like Gabe might be next. The horrors of the book are both real and supernatural, as they intermingle and you can’t decide what’s worse, the horror done by humans or the ones brought by the supernatural, because they’re both equally horrifying.

This is a tale of grief, processing colonialism and racism, and coming of age. I love how Gabino writes his characters and how they act how one realistically would, meaning that there isn’t a character that is only good and one that is only bad, they all have good traits but also are heavily flawed because of their loyalty to each other (which I can’t blame them because a strong friendship won’t have you bailing when things get tough). Although this book is fiction, I feel like there are a lot of living situations that the writer experienced himself and it shows, which makes the book even more poignant and powerful.

I recommend this book for those who love fast-paced thrillers with supernatural elements woven into the plot.

*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

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