In Silver Nitrate, Tristan and Montserrat, an actor and a sound editor from Mexico, both struggling to make a living, befriend an old director, who tells them of a tale of a Nazi who was a practicing sorcerer coming to Mexico in the fifties, and starting a cult of sorts who were captivated by his magic. The director made a film with the Nazi sorcerer that was never finished, and now years later he wants to redub the audio which has magical spells mixed in. After accomplishing this task, they set in motion a reawakening of this magic and the dead Nazi sorcerer that had been dormant for years. Now, they have to deal with seeing dead people, the rebirth of these cults and the sorcerer potentially coming back.
This novel worked at a lot of different levels. The narrative style was compelling. The characterization was strong. The story built at a good pace and worked itself to a crescendo. I listened to the audio version, and the narrator did a strong job at narrating. The world building was also well done. The setting of the story added some dimensions to it, and the author did a good job of conveying the time and place and putting the reader into it. This is the first novel I have read from Silvia Moreno Garcia but not the last. This is a novel that I recommend reading.