“You made a haunted house out of your own flesh and bones.”
Silver Nitrate is a 2023 horror book by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. The story introduces readers to Montserrat, an editor who has been excluded from Mexico’s film industry and is invisible to Tristan, a failed soap opera star. Then Tristan discovers his neighbour is horror director Abel Urueta, a man who claims his silver nitrate stock have the ability to change their lives. He believes that he has been cursed and asks the pair to film the missing scene from his movie to lift it. As Tristan and Monsterrat work together to unravel the mysteries behind the film and the occultist that once roamed their city, they begin to experience occurrences that lead to them finding that sorcerers are not just the stuff of movies. If you love the occult, supernatural tales and homages to cinema, join us at What We Reading for the best books like Silver Nitrate!
Mexican Gothic – Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Where better to kick off a list of the best books like Silver Nitrate than with another one of the best novels by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Mexican Gothic? Winning Best Horror in the Goodreads Choice Awards, the story opens with Noemi Taboada receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin, and rushing to the mysterious High Place mansion in the Mexican countryside.
Tough, smart and indomitable will, she encounters the strange cast of characters who call High Point their home and soon begins to feel the house itself invading her dreams with visions of blood and doom. There are many secrets nestling in the walls of High Place, and it doesn’t take long for Noemi to start unearthing disturbing stories of the family involving violence and madness. Mesmerised by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, she may soon find it impossible to leave this mysterious house behind.
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Experimental Film – Gemma Files
After her son’s autism diagnosis, Canadian film history teacher Lois Cairns finds herself jobless and depressed. She then stumbles upon the existence of lost early-twentieth-century Ontario filmmaker Mrs A. Macalla Whitcomb.
By deciding to investigate how Mrs Whitcomb’s obsessions might have contributed to her mysterious disappearance, Lois inadvertently invites the forces that literally haunt her films into her life, unknowingly putting her, her husband and her son’s lives in danger. Like Silver Nitrate, Gemma Files’ Experimental Film weaves together painful character detail with a rising sense of dread that creeps up on readers and delivers a fresh and unique test on the fictionalised memoir trope.
Mister Magic – Kiersten White
Another one of the best horror books from 2023 and a natural follow-up for anyone who loved Silver Nitrate, Kiersten White’s Mister Magic centres around a tragic accident that shut down a classic children’s program over thirty years ago. The five surviving cast members, known as the Circle of Friends, have all attempted to move on. But, with no surviving video of the show, no evidence of who directed or produced it, and no records of who – or what – their beloved host actually was, memories are all the friends have to rely on.
A sudden twist of fate brings them back together at the remote desert filming location that somehow feels like it has been waiting for them all these years. And whilst they haven’t seen each other in years, they understand one another better than anyone else. Because this group knows the mystery of the magic man, and what really happened on that deadly last day. But, have they been brought back to the location by choice, or are they being lured into a trap?
Medusa’s Web – Tim Powers
Another book like Silver Nitrate that blends the occult with obscure film history is Tim Powers’ Medusa’s Web. In the wake of their Aunt Amity’s suicide, Scott and Madeline Madden are summoned to Caveat, the decrepit mansion in Hollywood Hills where they were raised. But, whilst they are far from welcomed by their reclusive cousins, Scott is unable to pry his sister away from this haunted house that serves as a conduit for the supernatural.
Decorated by bits and pieces hoarded from old hotels and movie sets, Caveat hides a dark family secret that stretches back as far as the glory days of silent cinema. A collection of images inked on paper allows the Maddens to manipulate time and whisk themselves into the past and future. And, as Madeline falls further and further under the spell of Caveat, Scott will have to make use of this ability to unravel the mystery of the Madden’s past and save his sister, or else find himself pulled into the deadly web along with the rest of his family.
Black Sheep – Rachel Harrison
Nobody has a ‘normal’ family. However, Vesper Wright’s are truly something else. Vesper left home at eighteen and never looked back, mainly because turning her back on the staunchly religious community she grew up in meant that she would never be able to return. Then, an envelope lands on her doorstep. Inside is a wedding invitation from her beloved cousin Rosie, due to be hosted at the family farm.
Something inside Vesper tells her she has to attend, even if it means revisiting the toxic environment she had escaped. Even if it means reuniting with her mother, Constance, a former horror film star. When Vesper’s return unearths a terrifying secret, she is once again forced to confront her family’s beliefs and her own crisis of faith. Like Silver Nitrate, Rachel Harrison’s Black Sheep is a deliciously sinister horror novel that delves into the ways family loyalties can tether us as we find our place in the world.
Looking Glass Sound – Catriona Ward
In a isolated cottage overlooking the rugged Maine coast, Wilder Harlow begins the last book he will ever write. It is the story of his childhood summer companions and the killer that stalked his small New England town. Of the body that was discovered, and the horrifying legacy it left on the community that has continued to linger on for decades after. And finally of Sky, Wilder’s best friend who stole his unfinished memoir and turned it into the showy bestseller, Looking Glass Sound.
But, as Wilder writes, the lines between memory and fiction begin to bend. He begins to fear he is starting to lose grip on reality when he finds notes hidden around the cottage penned in Sky’s signature green ink. Catriona Ward’s Looking Glass Sound is another horror thriller like Silver Nitrate that follows one man’s struggle to come to terms with the terrors of his own past before his efforts prove to be all in vain.
Horror Movie – Paul Tremblay
In June 1993, a group of young guerilla filmmakers spent four weeks producing Horror Movie, an infamous, disturbing art-house horror flick. The strange part? Only three of the film’s scenes were ever made public. Nevertheless, Horror Movie drew a rabid, devoted fanbase that led to Hollywood pushing for a big-budget reboot over thirty years on.
The man who played ‘The Thin Kid’ is the sole surviving cast member. He remembers all too well the secrets buried within the original screenplay, the many bizarre events that plagued filming and the dangerous crossed lines on set that led to tragedy. Similar to Silver Nitrate, Paul Tremblay’s Horror Movie blurs the lines between reality and film and past and present as the man resolutely decides to help remake the film. Featuring surreal fan conventions, cynical producers and demons of the past, it is a chilling and suspenseful horror read that any fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia are sure to devour.
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Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
