Certain Dark Things

In this 2nd stand-alone novel by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, near-future Mexico, like much of the rest of the world, is plagued by various tribes of vampires. Mexico City is the exception, where vampires are forbidden and cops ruthlessly seek them out for destruction. Atl, a member of an ancient Aztec- affiliated species of vampires, has nevertheless come to Mexico City for help. Atl is being pursued by the scion of a competing band of ruthless vampires who have already wiped out the rest of her family and intend the same for her. Atl lucks out, unwittingly, when she meets 17-year-old Domingo, a trash picker who lives on the streets or in the underground tunnels of the city, but can sell enough of what he finds to the recyclers to keep himself fed. He is a voracious reader of vampire stories in comic books and is totally smitten with Atl when they first meet and offers to help in any way he can, including--of course--as an occasional food source. Atl has come to Mexico City to get in touch with very old friends of her mother's who, using their networks of document forgers and human traffickers, may be able to help her get out of the country and stay alive. But her pursuers are leaving a trail of bodies across the city and drawing unwanted attention from the police, including a detective, Ana Aguirre, who has killed her fair share of vampires while working for a regional police department  outside the city. When Ana's suspicions are aroused that the deaths are vampire related, she gets no support from her misogynistic colleagues and reluctantly turns to a gang of drug dealers for help in locating the vampires.

Atl is an anti-heroine of the first order; you will come to root for her as she transitions from spoiled daughter of a wealthy family to grieving solo fugitive. She is conflicted between a tough and uncaring posture that is heredity and habit, and an inability to follow through on her overwhelming hunger in relationship with naive Domingo.

Although I gave up on another of Moreno-Garcia's books, Gods of Jade and Shadow, I really enjoyed this book. There is rich description of Mexico, some mythology, a little Aztec history, fully developed characters, and a post-text glossary of vampire species you never knew existed. Lots of rave reviews about this book including NPR, who calls it a "compelling new take on vampires;" Publishers Weekly; and The New York Journal of Books which concludes its review with this high praise:

"Filled with powerful themes of trust, corruption, vengeance, and bloodlust, this novel is by turns sensual and grim, introspective and disturbing, suspenseful and moving, and all told in the sleek and lyrical prose for which Moreno-Garcia is deservedly acclaimed. In short, Certain Dark Things is arguably the vampire novel for the 21st century."