Day In, Day Out

October 15, 2017
Lust drives a journalist to discover his lover's role in a murder. When Serrano encounters a former rival for the affection of Liliana Montoya, it awakens his lingering curiosity and desire for her. A textbook femme fatale, Liliana was voracious, beautiful, and accustomed to the material benefits that a sugar daddy can provide. Still, Liliana had a soft spot for Serrano. With 1980s Mexico City as the backdrop, a time and place where corruption and graft were common, Serrano recounts his sex and alcohol-fueled liaisons with Liliana. He also remembers her story about a murder she claims to have ordered. Her story and its variations unnerved Serrano and made him decide to distance himself. He wanted to be a serious writer, after all. What kind of wife would she have been? But this is only the story he tells himself as he decides to investigate the murder she ordered in an effort to find her. "Reading what I write isn't enough, you must also doubt," Serrano warns early in the novel. He must follow his own advice, as his interactions with sketchy characters are the only way for him to find the truth he seeks. It's good advice for the reader, too, as in the course of this slim novel the truth becomes malleable and reality turns questionable. This is accomplished Mexican writer Camin's second novel to be translated into English (Death in Veracruz, 2015). His keen journalism skills are evident but the story lacks nuance, relying instead on reportage and archetypes.

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September 11, 2017
Camín’s second novel to be translated into English (after Death in Veracruz) is a torrid, murky noir full of murder, sex, lies, secrets, police corruption, and more sex. Serrano is a writer living in Mexico City, tormented and obsessed with Liliana. They carry on a steamy love affair for nearly 30 years, through layers of lovers, and Serrano always wonders if Liliana really did, as she claims, order a man killed decades ago for dishonoring her younger sister. Serrano, a coward who both loves and fears Liliana (“I am a writer who can’t look himself in the eye”), nevertheless decides to investigate Liliana’s boast of murder following an encounter with an old adversary. His investigation attracts the unwelcome attention of two police officers, who tell a much different version of the killing. And one of Liliana’s other lovers also offers more conflicting details. Liliana eventually tells Serrano the truth, but by then his discovery of police corruption has put him in danger. Faced with a moral dilemma, Serrano decides that what is most important is not what actually happened, but what people think happened. This is a fast-moving and complex story, most memorable for its depiction of Serrano twisting in the wind with love, lust, and fear.