Magical realism mixed with mystery and lots of horror, this book focuses on Solitario, a former lawman, who tries to solve crimes occurring at a border town.

I loved both the characters and the atmosphere that's created in this book. I felt the representation of the indigenous characters was well done.

I picked up this book because it reminded me of Hacienda which I loved, and I would say it held up nicely to that comparison. If you like that book or Western style book, I'd recommend it.

I am relatively new to Western-style books, and I just loved this. The writing was visceral but also poetic, and I just loved the history that is so thoughtfully written and detailed- lending this book a really distinct sense of time and place.

Not always an easy read, but very worth it,

Thanks so much for the review copy!

Took me a while to get through it but overall I really enjoyed it, will be looking forward to more books by this author!

I am suffering from a form of writer’s block as I sit down to pen this review. What can I say about the magical Valley of Shadows? The publisher is trying to sell it as a novel of magic realism — a genre unto its own where the mundane and ordinary meets the wild and outlandish (and unrealistic, if not surrealistic). However, the book deserves to be more than pigeonholed into a niche genre. It straddles several different genres. It is, on the surface, a western. It is also a mystery novel. It is a horror novel. And it is a romance. It could be true that many novels splice different genres together — after all, a Chick Lit book may be a family saga and a romance. Still, Valley of Shadows puts together many genres into one, which is not an easy feat to pull off. Reading this book is a little like watching someone turn a light on and off somewhere in your house. The light switch goes on and the room is bathed in complete sunshine. The light goes off and the room is suddenly plunged into darkness. Such is the tone of this novel, which changes on a whim from chapter to chapter. That’ll either be to your liking or it won’t. And perhaps that should be my way of edging into this book — of how to introduce it to readers. Writer’s block, be gone!

Valley of Shadows follows a bit of a tired plot device before shaking things up. This is the story of a retired sheriff in the new frontier of the 1800s American west who is pulled into investigating one last crime. You’ve read this sort of story before, but Harvard-educated author Rudy Ruiz invests a certain amount of pathos into the scenario. The retired sheriff is a Mexican American named Solitario, who — as his name would imply — lives alone in the desert of the Rio Grande Valley on the American side of the river. At the novel’s outset, a vicious murder of a family has occurred: the husband and wife are killed and one of the sons, a child, is kidnapped. Over time, similar murders will take place where the female children are the only ones to be left alive, but they too will have disappeared. But that’s getting ahead of things. Solitario reluctantly agrees to investigate the initial killing and disappearance, and, of course, soon finds himself over his head. The magic realism aspect of the book comes into play during his investigation because he can communicate with the dead. And, as can be expected, there’s a love interest that comes into play — but Solitario is reluctant to do anything in terms of consummating the relationship because his initial girlfriend as a teenager drowned in a flood and his wife died, both as a result of a family curse that was placed on him. (There’s the magic realism again.)

There’s a lot of substance going on with this novel. One of the themes that the book plays with is the notion of what it means to be American when you’re a person of color. The area that Solitario is doing his sleuthing around in was originally Mexican but became American when the Rio Grande flooded. (This is based on real-life events, as the river did somewhat change course after a massive flood in 1864 that wound up altering some of the borders between the two countries.) This notion of nationality plays a role in the protagonist’s investigation as he’s in a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation: if he arrests an American, he’ll be branded something of a racist among his fellow US countrymen, but if he arrests a Mexican, there would be rioting in the streets for capitulating to outside and White interests. Thus, there is a great deal of subtext in the novel — which betrays the fact that Valley of Shadows is effortlessly written, and is, as it could be said, easy on the eyes of the reader. This is the type of book that you can ascribe as much meaning to it as you want, or you can alternatively just shut out the intellectual fireworks and enjoy the grippingly good yarn.

There is much to admire here: the love interest is of mixed race, there’s a plot twist at the end that I didn’t see coming, and the hopscotching between genres is fascinating to behold. However, is Valley of Shadows the best novel of this sort that I’ve ever read? No. It’s hard to say why exactly — though I suspect a culprit might be that we don’t get to learn much about the secondary characters and they all seem to be cardboard cut-outs, no offense to anyone involved in the production of this work intended. Still, it was a pleasure to read, even if it lacks the panache and verve of a book of this sort that would have been written by more well-known authors who have mined the depths of genre grafting. (I’ll leave the rest of that statement up to your imagination, because, after all, this is a book that depends on using yours.) Valley of Shadows is interesting in that it was released a few months after the similarly themed Valleyesque by Fernando A. Flores — another magic realist book, albeit one containing short stories and one that is more contemporary in setting. Anyhow, Valley of Shadows is intriguing to a point. It is not always successful as noted, but this is still a sterling example of magic realism done well from a different perspective and a refreshingly non-White one. Those readers seeking a divergent view of how genres can combine and fold in on themselves will find much to enjoy here. Valley of Shadows is well executed, even despite its character development flaws. I enjoyed it, and maybe that’s all that needs to be said. Undam any blockages, I say to myself, and go along with the flow wherever it may take you.

When Sheriff Talbert and his wife are murdered with his ten year old son Love to tell the story of his parents murders and his two little sisters kidnapping they look to Solitario to once again to be the sheriff. Solitorio is a Mexican American who is happily retired and was ready to let all his ghost rust in the past and lead the wild violent racist world he knew to be wrestled by someone else but when Cheryl Talbert and his family were murdered he felt compelled to do the right thing. He has few clothes to go by but he has something in his arsenal that most women do not and that is he can talk to ghost is a tree passed down in his family on his mother side emphasize the great benefit he is also a very intelligent man who weighs the pros and the cons but most times instinctually knows what to do. I absolutely love this book I love westerns to begin with but a paranormal western that is written with such authenticity and not in a joking discreditable way it’s hard to come by and I am so glad I got to read this book. It is a definite five star read if you love westerns don’t be put off by the paranormal aspects in this book because I said they are very credible and you do not have to suspend belief to enjoyed the story I would definitely be down to read another with Solitario whole thing down bad guys again. I highly recommend the book I received it from NetGalley and Black RoseWriting but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

It's 1883 in the west of Texas. A family is gruesomely murdered in the town of Olvido, on the border of the US and Mexico, and former Sheriff Solitario Cisneros is recruited by the current mayor and a banker to find out who would commit such horrific acts.
Solitario is reluctant to get involved; he's alone on his ranch, mourning the death of his beloved wife Luz, and unwilling to get close to anyone else because of a curse his grandmother laid on the men of his family.
As he's musing on his loneliness, he sees the ghost of the teen of the murdered family, who convinces him to look for his younger siblings, who were kidnapped by the murderers.
As Solitario begins investigating, more brutal murders occur, and more children are kidnapped. Solitario works with a young half-Apache, half-Mexican woman whose visions guide them through their searches for the missing and the killer(s).

Atmospheric, complex, and full of longing and regret, Rudy Ruiz has created a haunting and insightful story about the love and its loss, repercussions of war, the intersection of loyalty and desire, and virulent bigotry. The story is full of ghosts, whether guiding Solitario, or lingering in people's memories. My only quibble with this book is I had some trouble, occasionally, figuring out when a particular chapter was occurring, as Ruiz moved his story back and forth several years to give us backstory.

The atmosphere of this book stuck with me after I closed its pages, and I could practically hear a guitar picking a lonely and haunting melody while the wind blows and the characters move through a sandy hot landscape.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Blackstone Publishing for this ARC in exchange for my review.

This book was really interesting! I was intrigued by the storyline and that's what initially drew me to this title. I also really love the cover artwork.

I wasn’t too interested in this book to be honest at least not at first. But I’m so glad I read it because it was so amazing. It had such a great story. It was very well written. I highly recommend reading this book. Especially if you love a good horror story. I will definitely be reading more from this author

Valley of Shadows is a Neo-western novel with elements of magical realism.
The story takes place in 1883 in a small city named Olvido that lies on the border between the U.S. and Mexico.

Solitario, a once-retired lawman, is approached by the mayor of the town of Olvidio to help solve a series of gruesome crimes plaguing the city. Reluctantly, Solitairo agrees to help. He teams up with an Apache woman named Ozawa to solve the crimes and find captured children.

There is a lot going on in this novel. At times Valley of Shadows feels like historical fiction, other times it feels like a mystery with a dash of supernatural/magical realism. Ruiz also explores themes of loneliness and belonging.

Ultimately I was pleasantly surprised and will be picking up future books by this author but I do need to say there could have been tighter editing. At certain points of the book I failed to see intrinsic character motivations. The book attempted to tackle too much in some parts without giving each piece/character the necessary build up.

Thank you to Netgalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

This was a great horror story with a strong message! I liked seeing elements of other cultures being brought in, the good and the bad. I would love to see a sequel to it, I feel some things were left hanging. However, I do think the ending dragged a bit. It was also very nicely written, both beautiful and horrific. I'd be interested to read more from this author!

I really wanted to give this book a good score, but I spent the whole book feeling deeply bored. That is mostly my fault because I went in knowing that I don't generally like Westerns, but the fact that it's also labeled as horror gave me hope. I'm giving it 3/5 stars because it's not a bad book, by any means. It's just not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest and fair review.

<b>"Solitario wondered as he waited... Did not everybody yearn for the same things? To know there was more to life than this?"</b>
If there are two things I love in a book, it's horror envisioned through Spanish language and culture. That being said, I absolutely devoured this mesmerizingly grim tale of the things that can separate people from one another - not only borders, but grief, prejudice, and fear.

Set in 1883 in a small town called Olvido (Spanish for "forgetting" or "ending of memory"), a border settlement along the river dividing the United States and Mexico, I adored this novel's approach to building its atmosphere and characters. I also enjoyed the representation of complex indigenous characters, both Native American and Mexican, which I have not seen in many other books to date. A great read for fans of mystery, crime, and magical realism. I wish it was a limited series like True Detective!

Thanks to NetGalley for access to an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

wow I really liked this!
This is a historical fiction (western??) murder mystery with some magical realism and horror elements. I really liked this blend of genres and I thought the story moved along at a great pace. I was invested in the characters and mystery. Sometimes in mysteries, I get annoyed with characters and I feel that I need to suspend disbelief for the sake of the story, but I felt like these characters were well rounded in a way that even if I didn't agree with everything they did or said, because they were so fleshed out, I understood and believed their actions and goals.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC

To be transparent, I did DNF this book after a few chapters. While it was beautifully written, my heart and brain just couldn't understand what was going on or understand who the characters were. The premise sounded intriguing and I'm sure it is to someone else.

Valley of Shadows has some interesting twists on the horror genre— it throws in magic realism, folklore, and history, and has a mystery at the heart of it. Oh, and it’s also a western. There’s a lot going on here but it works! Some notes. I didn’t love the main character— he was your typical laconic lone-man protagonist, at whom all the young women throw themselves (can’t imagine why— he’s rather melancholy and boring). The writing is sometimes lyrical, but sometimes a bit too heavy-handed. I did really like the magical realism elements, as well as many of the secondary characters.

Overall, it was a good read. It’s probably closer to 3.5 stars for me but I rounded up because it really does introduce new and interesting facets to the genre (which is either western horror or horror western). Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for this unbiased review.

✨ Review ✨ Valley of Shadows by Rudy Ruiz, Narrated by Gary Tiedemann

This book takes place on the US-Mexico border in the 1870s. The Mexican town of Olivido became part of the US after the Rio Grande shifted South of the town, and Solitario Cisneros, former sheriff of Olvido, is forced out of retirement when stranger murders and kidnappings overtake the area. Racial violence looms as white residents suspect Mexican and Apache residents of committing these crimes, but Solitario leads this investigation with more openmindedness.

Solitario joins Onawa, an Apache-Mexican seer, to try to chase and find kidnapped children and to stop these gruesome killings before they take more of the town's residents. Through Solitario and Onawa we see threads of ghosts communing with the living and dead, brujería and powers of all types. As the magical world overlays with reality, we can see how important family and place and culture are to these residents.

While the magical world may deviate from reality, this depiction of the transience of the borderlands was very realistic and powerful. Understanding how people and places shifted on the border, and how racially different people came together and clashed in these regions in the 1870s rang very close to reality. This book is beautifully written and narrated, and gorgeously atmospheric. This is a perfect read for fall!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Genre: mystery, horror, magical realism, historical fiction.
Location: US-Mexico borderlands
Pub Date: out now!

Read this if you like:
⭕️ historical fiction + magical realism + mystery + a smidge of horror
⭕️ borderlands settings with messy racial interactions
⭕️ stories featuring quests

Thanks to Blackstone Publishing and #netgalley for an advanced e-copy of this book!

I read a super advanced copy of this book and I have to say, wow. The praise and hype for this book are totally warranted. Spooky, full of mysterious intent and shadows... I loved this one, and was perfect for a nighttime read.

FIVE EPIC STARS!

Oh I have been gifted one of the most wonderful books I've ever read!

And I have read HUNDREDS! And I don't read westerns, but this was SO MUCH MORE THAN A WESTERN! So much more than anything!.

Rudy Ruiz just became one of my all-time fav authors. I cannot wait to read more of his work! This was everything I could have ever asked for in a book, as if I as if I had given Rudy a wish list and he had made all those wishes come true! The perfect book! So cinematographic!

If you enjoy historical mysteries/horror/ paranormal stories that are atmospheric, and nostalgic but also mysterious, suspenseful, ghostly, dark, and brutal like “Like Water for Chocolate" , “The Hacienda” , "Certain Dark Things" , "Things We Lost in the Fire" , “Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery”, “the Year of the Witching”, "The Wind", "Ravenous", "Apostle" , and "The VVitch: A New-England Folktale"

THEN YOU WOULD PROBABLY LOVE THIS BOOK AS MUCH AS I DID!

The writing is just superb! Lyrical, poetic, just beautiful! The descriptions, breathtaking!

It took me forever to get through the audiobook because I kept rewind it to experience the settings again just to get lost in the beautiful imagery, immerse in the sensory experience daydreaming and have to rewind once again!

I could actually see the beautiful sunsets, feel the heat of the desert, inhale the dry dust lifted by the horses and smell the manure!

Then there was storytelling. Oh my god, so engrossing!

I also had to rewind many times to experience again every scene, every dialogue delivered in both perfect Mexican accented Spanish and Texas accented English, every romantic and haunted moment, every historical fact of the life in the border in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and cultural aspect so perfectly represented!

Then, last but not least, All the magic, the fantasy, the myths, the legends and the folklore of both cultures!

BUT, OF COURSE, THIS IS ONE OF THOSE TALES WHERE HUMANS ARE THE WORST MONSTERS!

This is a multigenerational epic saga as vast as the desolate landscapes where is set, a classic in the making!

Spooky book Review 👻👻👻👻/5
Is it a western if there isn't a brutal murder (especially of a woman and family) at the very beginning ? I rarely read or watch westerns because the answer is usually no and then I have to watch said tragedy thats purpose is to spur on an otherwise unlikely hero or just. Trope of the genre. That said, something more haunts this story than regular tropes, and I don't mean just ghosts. The history between Mexico and America, and a touch of Indigenous history haunts this story. To see the West through this lense gives it and this story more nuance and truth. Also there are ghosts and rising stakes as people died and go missing. Valley of Shadows is perfect for the Halloween season too

Full disclosure: I was given a free PDF copy of this book by Books Forward in exchange for an honest review.

Within the last few years, there has been more attention on books written by authors of color. These often reveal perspectives that’s normally not highlighted in the mainstream, and they can find ways to connect with lots of readers. An example of this is "Valley of Shadows" by Rudy Ruiz – a good recontextualization Hero’s Journey story with a Mexican protagonist in 1883 Mexico/Texas.

"Valley of Shadows" is a visionary neo-Western blend of magical realism, mystery, and horror, and it explores the dark past of injustice, isolation, and suffering along the US-Mexico border. In 1883 West Texas, after the Rio Grande shifted course, the Mexican city of Olvido gets stranded on the northern side of the new border between the US and Mexico border. When a series of mysterious and horrific crimes occur in the divided town, a Mexican lawman is lured out of retirement to restore order and to save the lives of abducted children. In the face of skeptics and hostile Anglo settlers, Solitario Cisneros struggles to overcome not only the evil forces in the area, but also his own inner demons. He is burdened by a mystical curse that has guided his lonely destiny, until Onawa, a gifted and beautiful Apache-Mexican seer, joins his mission and dares him to change the course of both their lives.

There were many things that I liked about this book. First off, I thought the characters were done well. I like Solitario as a character, for he’s smart, stoic, and good at what he does. Readers can easily see why he’s so reluctant to assist the town with solving the crimes as well as wants to be alone. He yearns to do the right thing in the name of honor even if it tears him apart from the people that he loves. He’s also battling some demons due to a curse that his grandmother placed on the male side of his family. In addition, I like Onawa, who is half Mexican and half Apache. She possesses supernatural abilities and assists Solitario. Even though her main motive is to be with him, she becomes more confident and figures out what she really wants after spending most of her life with her father away from her tribe. Furthermore, I want to give credit to Ruiz for including a diverse cast of white, Mexican, and indigenous people. This reflects the real makeup of Texas as opposed to what other stories that involve the US-Mexico border depict.

In addition, it does an effective job with addressing identity, injustice, and discrimination in this time period. With identity, the non-white characters often ruminate on who they are and where their homes are. This is true both physically with Mexicans discovering that Olvido has suddenly moved to the United States because of the shifting Rio Grande and mentally with Solitario wanting a place to be loved, but without being reminded of his past. The injustice aspect is highlighted when Onawa acknowledges how if Solitario as the new sheriff arrests a white person for a crime, then he would be considered racist by the Anglo settlers, but if he apprehends a Mexican person, then other Mexicans would assume that he’s selling out his own ethnicity. Moreover, racial discrimination is constantly acknowledged in a multitude of ways. For example, while Solitario investigates, the town gets so restless that some of the white men decide to round up the Mexican and Apache men and boys and shoot them in order to execute their own version of justice. Luckily, he thwarts this crime by playing his guitar and putting those would-be murderers to sleep. This all works because Ruiz – a son of Mexican immigrants – understands that identity, injustice, and discrimination surface in many ways.

Furthermore, I love the recurring theme of never truly being alone. While Solitario (good name for a guy who wants to be alone) wants to live by himself away from others, he’s constantly reminded of the people around him like his family and his deceased wife due to the curse. Even his friend and sidekick Elias (as a ghost) sticks by Solitario as the latter encounters the trials and tribulations of searching for the kids and the perpetrators.

One thing that I observed is that the book likes to pepper in various Spanish words and phrases. It gives it more authenticity. I imagined the Mexican characters speaking to each other in that language even when the text is in English. While it does help to know a little bit of Spanish, readers will most likely be able to figure out what they mean through the context.

While reading the novel, I also discovered that even though it’s nearly 500 pages, it moves at a brisk pace. Outside of Spanish words and phrases, Ruiz mostly avoids using jargon in the text. Moreover, the pacing matches the urgency of the situation. This is especially true in how Solitario genuinely wants to solve the crimes and prove himself to the white settlers in Olvido in his own way.

One final thing that I noticed while reading it is that it perfectly fits with the Hero’s Journey template popularized by Joseph Campbell. Solitario gets the call to help the town to solve the crimes as the new sheriff, but he refuses outright. However, he ends up searching for the abducted children with assistance from Onawa, who has supernatural abilities. He goes through some trials, meets with a woman who knows about Aztec culture, (the kidnappers and murderers use that civilization’s rituals to carry out their crimes) who assists him with the murders and kidnappings (Meeting with a Goddess), and has an atonement with the Father (which results in a great twist). And of course, he experiences death and rebirth. Even though it felt a little too neat, I feel that it was done that way, so readers could recognize the template in other stories like "Star Wars." "Valley of Shadows" does an effective spin on the Hero’s Journey.

Finally, I want to point out that this might not be for everybody. There are some scenes, in which people are brutally murdered. For instance, its opening scene contains the first Olvido sheriff, his wife, and their eldest son getting murdered, and it’s pretty gory. Even I got squeamish at times. Additionally, some people might not like the talk about injustice and the plot being “woke,” thinking that’s too contemporary. I think it’s necessary because it feels natural to the story. Solitario faces plenty of bigoted Anglo settlers who feel entitled to many things like land in Olvido and being allowed to perform their own version of the law.

All in all, "Valley of Shadows" by Rudy Ruiz is a good novel that features a diverse cast and acknowledges perspectives that aren’t usually recognized. Some people may be turned off by the gory bits or the talk of injustice, but the book is worth the read because it recontextualizes the Hero’s Journey into late 19th century Mexico/Texas, and it has very likable characters that readers would want to root for. I would recommend it for those who love westerns, horrors, and magic realism as well as want to read more titles by Latine authors. The book is out now, so get it at your local bookstore or library!