Untamed Shore

From Silvia Moreno-Garcia, the New York Times bestselling author of MEXICAN GOTHIC, comes UNTAMED SHORE, a dark cocktail mixing a nuanced coming-of-age story with a classical noir.

'Brutality takes on an almost divine quality' LA Review of Books

Baja California, 1979: Viridiana spends her days under the harsh sun, watching the fishermen pulling in their nets and the dead sharks piled beside the seashore. Her head is filled with dreams of romance, travel and of a future beyond this drab town where her only option is to marry and have children.

When a wealthy American writer arrives with his wife and brother-in-law, Viridiana jumps at the offer of a job as his assistant, and she's soon entangled in the glamorous foreigners' lives. They offer excitement, and perhaps an escape from her humdrum life. When one of them dies, eager to protect her new friends, Viridiana lies - but soon enough, someone's asking questions. It's not long before Viridiana has some of her own questions about the identities of her new acquaintances.

Sharks may be dangerous, but there are worse predators nearby, ready to devour a naive young woman unwittingly entangled in a web of deceit.

“The descriptions of Baja are uncommonly evocative of gritty reality, with poverty and desperation made plain on the page, as well as the lengths people are willing to go to in order to escape . . . (an) insightful look at criminal life from the viewpoint of a sardonic yet lonely soul seems destined for more plaudits - BOOKLIST (Starred Review)A sense of inevitable dread builds from seemingly innocuous events in this masterful crime debut from Silvia Moreno-Garcia. The period detail is fantastic , the Mexican setting vibrant and fresh , and the noir is as murky as seawater after a shark-feeding frenzy. I loved it! - LAVIE TIDHAR, multiple award-winning author of A Man Lies Dreaming and OsamaThis thriller sets a quiet tone before building slowly and evenly , showing how a meek teenager trapped by circumstance grows into a strong woman who takes control of her future, though in the end it might change who she is - LIBRARY JOURNAL (Starred Review)Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a wonderfully evocative writer , and she uses her skills to their best advantage in her first book of crime fiction. Atmospheric, compelling and very suspenseful , Untamed Shore is a welcome addition to the genre - ALISON GAYLIN, Edgar Award-winning author Untamed Shore is both transporting and transfixing . Set in a small Baja town in the seedy 1970s, Silvia Moreno-Garcia's latest takes us into a world soaked in sunshine and secrets , where everyone is working an angle and the looming sense of menace builds with nearly each page-turn . A shrewd, exciting thriller by a writer with a fresh vision and a powerful voice - JULIA DAHL author of the award-winning Rebekah Roberts series Untamed Shore is a masterpiece . I loved this book, and can't get Viridiana out of my head. Silvia Moreno-Garcia's characters are unforgettable and no one and nothing is quite what they seem . I devoured this like one of Viridiana's sharks. Truly a stunning work - AMINA AKHTAR, author of #FashionVictim The Great Gatsby meets Night of the Iguana in this elegantly spare and darkly twisted story of undercurrents, deception and colliding cultures. Rich in atmosphere and sinister in tone . . . a haunting lesson in the dangers of desire and the illusion of glamour ?and how dreams can be devoured by deceit - HANK PHILLIPI RYAN, author of The Murder List”

The descriptions of Baja are uncommonly evocative of gritty reality, with poverty and desperation made plain on the page, as well as the lengths people are willing to go to in order to escape . . . (an) insightful look at criminal life from the viewpoint of a sardonic yet lonely soul seems destined for more plaudits BOOKLIST (Starred Review)
A sense of inevitable dread builds from seemingly innocuous events in this masterful crime debut from Silvia Moreno-Garcia. The period detail is fantastic, the Mexican setting vibrant and fresh, and the noir is as murky as seawater after a shark-feeding frenzy. I loved it! LAVIE TIDHAR, multiple award-winning author of A Man Lies Dreaming and Osama
This thriller sets a quiet tone before building slowly and evenly, showing how a meek teenager trapped by circumstance grows into a strong woman who takes control of her future, though in the end it might change who she is LIBRARY JOURNAL (Starred Review)
Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a wonderfully evocative writer, and she uses her skills to their best advantage in her first book of crime fiction. Atmospheric, compelling and very suspenseful, Untamed Shore is a welcome addition to the genre ALISON GAYLIN, Edgar Award-winning author
Untamed Shore is both transporting and transfixing. Set in a small Baja town in the seedy 1970s, Silvia Moreno-Garcia's latest takes us into a world soaked in sunshine and secrets, where everyone is working an angle and the looming sense of menace builds with nearly each page-turn. A shrewd, exciting thriller by a writer with a fresh vision and a powerful voice JULIA DAHL author of the award-winning Rebekah Roberts series
Untamed Shore is a masterpiece. I loved this book, and can't get Viridiana out of my head. Silvia Moreno-Garcia's characters are unforgettable and no one and nothing is quite what they seem. I devoured this like one of Viridiana's sharks. Truly a stunning work AMINA AKHTAR, author of #FashionVictim
The Great Gatsby meets Night of the Iguana in this elegantly spare and darkly twisted story of undercurrents, deception and colliding cultures. Rich in atmosphere and sinister in tone . . . a haunting lesson in the dangers of desire and the illusion of glamour and how dreams can be devoured by deceit HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN, author of The Murder List
Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Untamed Shore is a treat: the first thriller from a seasoned writer. This is a superb hybrid that's part classic whodunit, part sad love story, and part smart, pulpy noir packed with smiling snakes, a touch of mythology, and a strong female lead who's caught between her immediate reality and her dreams of escape, all inside the hermetic, oppressive hell of small-town gossip and old-fangled morality. This is a novel about greed, murder, and snowballing peccadilloes that moves forward with the power and grace of a shark. Don't miss it GABINO IGLESIAS, author of Coyote Songs and Zero Saints
An engaging sojourn illuminated by prose as bright and clear as the Baja sun. A plot driven by characters whose motives are as murky and treacherous as stormy gulf waters MARIO ACEVEDO, author of the Felix Gomez vampire-detective series
Moreno-Garcia is brilliant at conjuring up the hot, dead-end world that Viridiana occupies . . . recommended British Science Fiction Association

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the multi-award-winning author of Mexican Gothic (a New York Times bestseller), Gods of Jade and Shadow (one of Time magazine's top 100 fantasy novels of all time), The Beautiful Ones, Certain Dark Things, the noir thrillers Untamed Shore and Velvet Was The Night, The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, Silver Nitrate and the forthcoming The Seventh Veil of Salome. She has won the Locus and British Fantasy awards for her work as a novelist, and the World Fantasy Award as an editor. Born and brought up in Mexico, she now lives in Vancouver, Canada.

From Silvia Moreno-Garcia, the New York Times bestselling author of MEXICAN GOTHIC (July 2020) and VELVET WAS THE NIGHT (August 2021), comes UNTAMED SHORE, a dark cocktail mixing a nuanced coming-of-age story with a classical noir. 'Brutality takes on an almost divine quality' LA Review of Books Baja California, 1979: Viridiana spends her days under the harsh sun, watching the fishermen pulling in their nets and the dead sharks piled beside the seashore. Her head is filled with dreams of romance, travel and of a future beyond this drab town where her only option is to marry and have children.When a wealthy American writer arrives with his wife and brother-in-law, Viridiana jumps at the offer of a job as his assistant, and she's soon entangled in the glamorous foreigners' lives. They offer excitement, and perhaps an escape from her humdrum life. When one of them dies, eager to protect her new friends, Viridiana lies - but soon enough, someone's asking questions. It's not long before Viridiana has some of her own questions about the identities of her new acquaintances. Sharks may be dangerous, but there are worse predators nearby, ready to devour a naive young woman unwittingly entangled in a web of deceit.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.