Culture journalist Karina Sainz Borgo’s beautiful prose belies the brutal reality of the breakdown in civil society she lays bare in her first work of fiction.

This novel is set in current-day Caracas. A young journalist Adelaida Falcón has just buried her mother, who has died of cancer despite Adelaida spending the last of their money on what turned out to be useless drugs. Adelaida was the only child of a single mother, and the two women were close. As Adelaida packs up her mother’s belongings, her world becomes increasingly small, focussed just on her own apartment building.

However, it is not just the loss of her mother than is driving Adelaida’s isolation within her apartment. Out on the streets, vigilante gangs, often under the protection of the government, are roaming and shooting....

There are a lot of coincidences in the plot of this book, and it doesn’t do to think about them too much lest the whole scenario fall apart. Instead, I more enjoyed the tension of not knowing whether she was going to escape, especially in the closing pages of the book. Even more, I was interested in (‘enjoyed’ is not the word) the exploration of a society which is breaking down completely, leaving individuals to fend for themselves.

For my complete review, please visit:
https://residentjudge.com/2020/01/10/it-would-be-night-in-caracas-by-karina-sainz-borgo/