Silvia Moreno-Garcia know how to bring out dread and horror in her novels and Silver Nitrate is no exception. You have three people down on their career luck and an unfinished horror movie with occult and Nazi leanings might be the reason why.
Montserrat and Tristán are our main protagonists switching from lead to sidekick in different chapters. Montserrat is stuck in a deteriorating job as a sound engineer and Tristán is damaged goods as an actor due to a terrible accident ten years before. But the childhood chums can (mostly) count on each other for support fighting an oncoming evil.
Silver Nitrate has a lot of set-up and character work to get through before the action can really take off as the book finishes. I would have liked to see that action take place earlier as the revelations and new characters pile up near the end but I do understand that the relationship section needs to be built up to create sympathy for the leads. I found both of them a little too annoying until the end when they come to a new part of their journey.
But that is the only mark against what is a fine gothic horror story and a very appropriate book for October.
For beer, I would start off with the obvious. Mexican craft beer. Here in L.A. we get a few beers from small producers in Mexico so they would be perfect. Since it is a creepy book, you might want to get something that creeps you out. Maybe you don’t like Gose. Find one with American adjuncts like sea salt and cucumber.
Just make sure to not jump in fright. You don’t want to spill precious beer.
