Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas

Isabel Cañas came to readers’ notice with her historical gothic horror debut The Hacienda, which itself followed hot on the heels of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic. Also partially following in Moreno-Garcia’s footsteps (although granted her novel Certain Dark Things is very very different) Cañas delivers her vampire novel. Set during the Mexican/American border wars of the mid 19th Century, Vampires of El Norte is horror but with more than a healthy dash of romance and some deeper issues at play through its imagery.

Magdalena, aka Nena, is the eldest daughter of a Mexican rancher. Her future is set – marriage to make an alliance with another landholder. But as a teenager, Nena only has eyes for Néstor, who is the son of one of the vaquero families, cowboys who work on the property. One night, Nena and Néstor encounter and kill a strange creature, Néstor believes that Nena has been killed in the encounter and leaves. Nine years later, with the threat of American incursion, Néstor returns to the ranch to find that Nena is alive and has never forgiven him for leaving. But they have bigger problems, not only the Americans, but the strange, blood sucking creatures which leave people fatigued, and which Nena now seems to be able to sense due to her earlier encounter.

For much of Vampires of El Norte, Cañas treats her vampires much like the shark in Jaws. There is an early encounter but then they are barely seen, lurking in the shadows, leaving strange evidence but keeping off the page. This allows Cañas to focus on the rekindled romance between her leads while slowly building the tension. The dramatic beats of that romance – longing glances, misunderstandings, having to work together to fight off infernal creatures – is fairly standard and is the weakest part of this narrative which only comes to life when the vampires appear.

The interesting aspect of Vampires of El Norte comes from its inspiration. And that is of the invading Americans being described by a contemporary Mexican writer as “vampires”, well before novels embedded that term in global culture. Cañas cleverly builds on this idea in a way that adds some resonance to the real history that she is also reflecting. It is this subtext which makes Vampires of El Norte a better than average historical horror romance, and an unlikely genre mash that works.