Cover of What You See in the Dark

What You See in the Dark

The long-awaited first novel by the award-winning author of two impressive story collections explores the sinister side of desire in Bakersfield, California, circa 1959, when a famous director arrives to scout locations for a film about madness and murder at a roadside motel. Unfolding in much the same way that Hitchcock made Psycho—frame by frame, in pans, zooms, and close-ups—Mun~oz's re-creation of a vanished era takes the reader into places no camera can go, venturing into the characters' private thoughts, petty jealousies, and unrealized dreams. The result is a work of stunning originality.

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 272 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked What You See in the Dark? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked What You See in the Dark. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. The Three Roads Shares fiction, mystery, noir
  2. Courting Shadows Shares fiction, mystery, historical fiction
  3. The Rise of Life on Earth Shares fiction, literary fiction
  4. The Twisted Heart Shares fiction, mystery, literary fiction

“People who read What You See in the Dark tend to reach for these next.”

  1. The Selected Stories of Patricia Highsmith
  2. Meeting Evil
  3. A Carnivore's Inquiry
  4. Leave Her to Heaven

“If you want more of the same (mystery), start with these.”

  1. In the Shadow of the Cypress
  2. Twentynine Palms
  3. Devil's Garden
  4. Bright Before Us

“If it was the historical fiction that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Fly Me
  2. Acts of the Assassins
  3. Stardust
  4. Good Girl, Bad Girl

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Walt Disney's Fantasia
  2. Stanley Kubrick, Director: A Visual Analysis
  3. Weird N.J., Vol. 2: Your Travel Guide to New Jersey's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets
  4. With Baited Breath