Mexican Gothic is a book I heard a lot about before I picked it up to participate in booktwt book club this month. It being in the running at all, annoyed many people who were not impressed by it at all. I myself trusting the opinion of many of these people did not vote for it. 

However, my desire to participate trumped my fears of Mexican Gothic being an abysmal read so I picked it up. My verdict...well while  personally I don't find it to be completely terrible it has many flaws which prevent it from being anything more than just okay. 

Firstly, the premise of a loved one no longer themselves reaching out for help, claiming to be poisoned in a centuries old house with shady past definitely sounds intriguing. However the pacing is one of the first key issues I had with this book. It took five chapters for me to really feel any sort of interest with story, and there after it felt like things were just happening with no real impact. It takes up to 70% for any real horror to occur and for the pace to pick up. The writing while quite descriptive had a sort of sleepy element to it. It's a lot of telling and not showing. Something I saw other reviews say that I agree with, is that this book would lend itself to a good movie adaptation but in writing a lot of the interesting elements just fall flat. I did enjoying reading that last 30% but it really feels like lost potential. The horror elements while not being revolutionary were kind of cool to me and I enjoyed reading about them, again i just wish they were incorporated and developed better. The Mexican cultural elements were lovely to see but they weren't particularly well incorporated. It was very surface level. 

Secondly, persknally a big reason why this book falls a bit flat is the character writing. Noemi and the other characters are incredibly one dimensional. As with the plot points we are told over and over that shes a party girl, she changes her mind constantly, that she is strong willed, but other than the last trait as a reader you never really get to see her showcase any of these traits. If you asked me to describe Noemi I could tell you facts about her but I couldn' t describe her personality at all. The other characters are written even worse, they exist for the progression of the plot and nothing more. Sometimes it just made no sense to me the way noemi would react to things happening. There is some tenderness and affection between Francis and Noemi but even that is written in a very simplistic way. I really didn't feel any sort of connection to any of the characters, and other than being repulsed by the villains I had no strong opinions or feelings towards them. This is the books main weakness, if I don't understand the characters and I don't particularly care about them why would I care about what happens to them.   

I think overall Mexican Gothic is a book that is just painfully average. Painfully because it had the potential to be something great. Its slow pacing and lackluster character writing take away from the unique and interesting elements. I think it could be a good introductory gothic horror novel for some readers but personally for me it was just alright.