Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Mar 2011
272 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Bakersfield, California, in the late 1950s is a dusty, quiet town too far from Los Angeles to share that city's energy yet close enough to Hollywood to fill its citizens with the kinds of dreams they discover in the darkness of the movie theater. For Teresa, a young, aspiring singer who works at a shoe store, dreams lie in the music her mother shared with her, plaintive songs of love and longing. In Dan Watson, the most desirable young man in Bakersfield, she believes she has found someone to help her realize those dreams.
When a famous actress arrives from Hollywood with a great and already legendary director, local gossip about Teresa and Dan gives way to speculation about the celebrated visitors, there to work on what will become an iconic, groundbreaking film of madness and murder at a roadside motel. No one anticipates how the ill-fated love affair between Dan and Teresa will soon rival anything the director could ever put on the screen.
This thoroughly original work is intense and fascinating in its juxtapositions of tenderness and menace, violence and regret, played out in a town on the brink of change.
"Starred Review. The lyrical prose and sensitive portrayal of the crime's ripple effect in the small community elevate this far beyond the typical noir." - Publishers Weekly
"Muñoz expertly evokes the way quiet desperation can explode into life-altering violence." - Booklist
"Muñoz offers a thoughtful, intelligent drama, while touching on characters' tragedies in understated ways. An eloquent novel sure to please readers of literary fiction." - Library Journal
"Muñoz has upended the conventional crime novel..." - Kirkus Reviews
This information about What You See in the Dark was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Manuel Muñoz is the author of two short story collections, the most recent of which, The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue, was a finalist for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award. He teaches creative writing at the university of Arizona in Tucson, is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts literature fellowship, and in 2008 was awarded the prestigious Whiting Writers' Award. Find him online at www.manuel-munoz.com.
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