‘Bimbo called us to tell us the day after it happened. His real name was Andrés, but we mostly called him Bimbo because he was brown and chubby and looked like a mascot bear of a brand of cookies. It’s normal for people to report the death of a parent. Old age. Cancer. A heart attack. Whatever. Old people die and we expect it, accept it even. It’s normal. Murder is different. Murder is a monster that chews up whatever expectations you had regarding death and spits them in your face. Murder is an attack on someone’s life, yes, but also an attack on those left behind.’
Alright, Readers. This is a BOOK. It’s grim. It’s gruesome. The story made me feel sad and, simultaneously, pretty damned angry.
You should check it out.
House of Bone and Rain by Gabino Iglesias is a Horror novel in which the Big Baddie is a hurricane. We don’t know that until about seventy pages in because of the other nightmares the main cast has to contend with but, yeah: the hurricane contains Evil.
Or does it?
(I’m not spoiling anything, I promise—I realized halfway through the read that the hurricane’s supposed hideousness is mentioned early on, and it’s emblazoned several times on the back cover, so the ‘page seventy’ thing is when the conflict ramps up—you’re good, no worries)
Gabe, the MC, lives in broken Peurto Rico: a colony neglected by its county, the United States. He, his mom, his girlfriend, and his best Boy bros (Bimbo, Paul, Tavo, and Xavier) have it rough, especially when the ocean winds rise to hammer the island hard. But what’s worse than dirty water, inconsistent electricity, and a government that doesn’t care if its citizens survive or suffer? GHOSTS.
Well, not actually ghosts. We’re supposed to think the creatures that ride with the rain are scary spirits, but we later learn they’re something else; and I’m not going to tell you what, because that part of the plot is creepy cool.
Not-really-ghosts aside, Gabe is on a mission to avenge Bimbo’s mom—María—who got tangled up in the not-really-drugs scene with the local crime lord, Papalote. After María is shot, things escalate FAST and the bodies stack up. Despite the countless characters who advise the grieving youths to give up their pursuit of vengeance, Gabe, Bimbo, and the others keep on killing. And they don’t stop, even when their loved ones get caught in the crossfire.
And!—the narrative explores religious mysticism. And includes classist commentary. And dives into eco exploitation.
There’s a lot going on.
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