You need to read the epic Argentinian horror novel Our Share of Night

I have read a lot Who has written horror over the past two years. But my absolute favorite is easily Mariana Enriquez. Our share of the night. The book was originally published in 2019 in Argentina, but only received an English translation in 2023. Although it’s not quite as long as Stephen King, at nearly 600 pages, I’d say it still qualifies as an epic.

There are certainly frightening and horrific moments in the story involving ancient gods, powerful cults, and brutal ritual violence. But as is often the case with the best horror films, the supernatural here is a stand-in for real-world horror. In this case, Enriquez uses the occult to explore Argentina’s history of political violence, familial trauma, and the unbridled greed of the wealthy elite.

The story spans several decades, going back from the 1980s to the 1960s and 1970s, before jumping into the late 1990s. It primarily follows the story of widower Juan and his son Gaspar as they attempt to escape the clutches of a group of wealthy occultists known as the Order. Juan is a means used by the Order to communicate with the Darkness, a sort of unknown Lovecraftian god who the Order believes can grant them immortality.

Juan is born to a poor immigrant family, but when his abilities are discovered, the regime takes him from his family and makes him an instrument in their rituals, which they know will wear him down and lead him to an early grave. Juan wants to save his son from the same fate. The relationship between the two is expertly handled by Enriquez, who manages to capture the complexities and intimacy of fatherhood in a way that few others have.

Unfortunately, between the tender moments where Juan holds his son as he cries for his missing mother, he is often cruel and abusive. While he is willing to go to great lengths to protect his son from the regime’s external threat, he cannot protect Gaspard from his own anger and emotional instability. Like most of the characters in the book, Juan is both a perpetrator and a victim of abuse by his family and an uncaring system that treats human beings as disposable.

Our share of the night It is a heavy novel that can seem dark at times, as it navigates graphic depictions of child abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault, tyranny, and addiction. At times, the prose may seem a bit hackneyed due to the translation, but it is still one of the most compelling books I have ever read. (I plan to re-read it soon.)

The characters Enriquez conjures are complex – almost no one is quite good, and people’s motivations can be ambiguous. The gothic world she created is based on the real political trauma that Argentina suffered during the Dirty War of the late 1970s, in which at least 22,000 people were killed or disappeared. The lore of the order is detailed and frightening.

Although it’s hard for me to be truly horrified by a book, there are several passages in it Our share of the night That really got under my skin. One scene in particular, where Juan communes with the darkness in a cemetery, stuck with me for days — not because of any horrific descriptions of violence or gore, but just because of the power of Enriquez’s ominous writing.

Our share of the night It is also at times a very exciting novel. While horror and sex are often closely intertwined (see almost any vampire story), it’s not an afterthought here. There are many sex scenes that add to the atmosphere of hedonism that surrounds life among the order. Juan is described as an almost irresistible Adonis – tall, blond, and muscular – but he is also terminally ill, suffering from a chronic heart condition since childhood that could realistically end his life at any moment. Enriquez masterfully plays with this juxtaposition, as well as with Juan’s sexuality. It also prominently features several strange characters.

Mariana Enriquez has quickly become one of my favorite contemporary authors. I’ve now read two of her short story collections as well, The dangers of smoking in bed and Things we lost in the fire. That’s great, but it is Our share of the night I can’t seem to get out of my head.

You can find it at most e-book stores, but I highly recommend going and buying a paper copy from your local independent bookstore or supporting your local bookstore.