What do you think?
Rate this book
San Juan Noir
Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each story is set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book.
Brand-new stories by: Wilfredo J. Burgos Matos, Ernesto Quiñonez, Mayra Santos-Febres, José Rabelo, Luis Negrón, Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro, Ana María Fuster Lavín, Janette Becerra, Manolo Núñez Negrón, Tere Dávila, Edmaris Carazo, Alejandro Álvarez Nieves, Charlie Vázquez, and Manuel A. Meléndez. Translated by Will Vanderhyden.
From the introduction by Mayra Santos-Febres:
"Puerto Rico is often portrayed as sandy beaches, casinos, luxury hotels, relaxation, and never-ending pleasure--a place that satisfies all senses and appetites.
Yet the city of San Juan is much more than that. The capital of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is the oldest Spanish settlement in all the territories and colonies of the United States. Since Puerto Rico is economically dependent on the US, the financial downturn of 2008 hit us hard. Many Puerto Ricans have left the island, looking for a better life. Crime has risen and the black market has thrived. As in many crises, art, music, and literature have also flourished. Never before has there been so much literary production. We have responded to our crisis with many stories to tell. And, especially in these times, many of those stories are noir...
I hope these stories spark your imagination, and reveal a side of Puerto Rico otherwise obscured by the tourist trade and preconceptions. Maybe it will also pique your curiosity, and you will come visit our 'pearl of the Caribbean.'"
Brand-new stories by: Wilfredo J. Burgos Matos, Ernesto Quiñonez, Mayra Santos-Febres, José Rabelo, Luis Negrón, Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro, Ana María Fuster Lavín, Janette Becerra, Manolo Núñez Negrón, Tere Dávila, Edmaris Carazo, Alejandro Álvarez Nieves, Charlie Vázquez, and Manuel A. Meléndez. Translated by Will Vanderhyden.
From the introduction by Mayra Santos-Febres:
"Puerto Rico is often portrayed as sandy beaches, casinos, luxury hotels, relaxation, and never-ending pleasure--a place that satisfies all senses and appetites.
Yet the city of San Juan is much more than that. The capital of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is the oldest Spanish settlement in all the territories and colonies of the United States. Since Puerto Rico is economically dependent on the US, the financial downturn of 2008 hit us hard. Many Puerto Ricans have left the island, looking for a better life. Crime has risen and the black market has thrived. As in many crises, art, music, and literature have also flourished. Never before has there been so much literary production. We have responded to our crisis with many stories to tell. And, especially in these times, many of those stories are noir...
I hope these stories spark your imagination, and reveal a side of Puerto Rico otherwise obscured by the tourist trade and preconceptions. Maybe it will also pique your curiosity, and you will come visit our 'pearl of the Caribbean.'"
184 pages, Paperback
First published October 4, 2016
19 people are currently reading
555 people want to read
About the author
Mayra Santos-Febres
45 books209 followersMayra Santos-Febres is a Puerto Rican author, poet, novelist, professor of literature, essayist, and literary critic and author of children's books. Her work focuses on themes of diaspora identity, female sexuality, the erotic, gender fluidity, desire, and power.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
December 9, 2016
I saved this one up to read in San Juan...
Not all the stories are really what one would strictly categorize as 'noir' but the common thread linking these pieces that the editors seemed to be looking for is murder. Therefore, the glimpse this anthology by all-Puerto Rican authors as a whole gives into Puerto Rican culture is by necessity not quite as broad as it could be, and focuses on the negatives. But I enjoy darker fiction, so....
Janette Becerra - Death on the Scaffold.
When a person has fallen into a reclusive lifestyle, even small encounters can gain a magnitude of importance. This high-rise condo dweller encounters a window washer... and it will lead to finally admitting a terrible truth.
Manolo Núñez Negrón - Fish Food.
Memoir-ish. Two boys, best friends, take different paths in life.
Tere Dávila - The Infamy of Chin Fernandez
The 'Barrio Obrero ' panty snatcher has finally been caught!
Ana María Fuster Lavín - Two Deaths for Angela
Woman accidentally pushes date into traffic and things get weirdly surreal.
Mayra Santos-Febres - Matchmaking
A hit man doubts whether he can go through with his latest assignment: a beautiful cartel boss. Turns out, that's not what he needs to worry about.
Luis Negrón - Dog Killer
When a gang member is ordered to kill his partner's brother, he has to obey orders. But the dog is a complication.
Wilfredo J. Burgos Matos - St. Michael's Sword
A tough guy prostitute tries to find out who shot him... and also to find his missing lover.
Manuel A. Meléndez - A Killer Among Us
Very authentic-feeling, almost like a memoir. A boy gets his revenge on his abusive father.
Alejandro Álvarez Nieves - Sweet Feline
All the hotel workers want to wait on a guest who's throwing around money like there's no tomorrow. But one will get screwed over.
Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro - Things Told While Falling
A man glimpses a crime scene from a landing plane and is bizarrely drawn to investigate the murder, inappropriately inserting himself into the situation.
Ernesto Quiñonez - Turistas
After his mother's death, a man goes to San Juan seeking the father he never knew.
José Rabelo - Y
High school teacher goes looking for his missing star student... with submerged and conflicting motivations.
Edmaris Carazo - Inside and Outside
Incomplete feeling. A woman accompanies her boyfriend as they attend a party, he completes a drug deal... and then there's an accident.
Charlie Vázquez - Death Angel of Santurce
A prostitute is stood up by her 'date'.... what happens after that doesn't end well, but it's left up to the reader to decide what really did happen. A touch of the supernatural? You can decide. This was my favorite entry.
Many thanks to Library Thing and Akashic Books for the copy of this book. As always, my opinions are solely my own.
Not all the stories are really what one would strictly categorize as 'noir' but the common thread linking these pieces that the editors seemed to be looking for is murder. Therefore, the glimpse this anthology by all-Puerto Rican authors as a whole gives into Puerto Rican culture is by necessity not quite as broad as it could be, and focuses on the negatives. But I enjoy darker fiction, so....
Janette Becerra - Death on the Scaffold.
When a person has fallen into a reclusive lifestyle, even small encounters can gain a magnitude of importance. This high-rise condo dweller encounters a window washer... and it will lead to finally admitting a terrible truth.
Manolo Núñez Negrón - Fish Food.
Memoir-ish. Two boys, best friends, take different paths in life.
Tere Dávila - The Infamy of Chin Fernandez
The 'Barrio Obrero ' panty snatcher has finally been caught!
Ana María Fuster Lavín - Two Deaths for Angela
Woman accidentally pushes date into traffic and things get weirdly surreal.
Mayra Santos-Febres - Matchmaking
A hit man doubts whether he can go through with his latest assignment: a beautiful cartel boss. Turns out, that's not what he needs to worry about.
Luis Negrón - Dog Killer
When a gang member is ordered to kill his partner's brother, he has to obey orders. But the dog is a complication.
Wilfredo J. Burgos Matos - St. Michael's Sword
A tough guy prostitute tries to find out who shot him... and also to find his missing lover.
Manuel A. Meléndez - A Killer Among Us
Very authentic-feeling, almost like a memoir. A boy gets his revenge on his abusive father.
Alejandro Álvarez Nieves - Sweet Feline
All the hotel workers want to wait on a guest who's throwing around money like there's no tomorrow. But one will get screwed over.
Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro - Things Told While Falling
A man glimpses a crime scene from a landing plane and is bizarrely drawn to investigate the murder, inappropriately inserting himself into the situation.
Ernesto Quiñonez - Turistas
After his mother's death, a man goes to San Juan seeking the father he never knew.
José Rabelo - Y
High school teacher goes looking for his missing star student... with submerged and conflicting motivations.
Edmaris Carazo - Inside and Outside
Incomplete feeling. A woman accompanies her boyfriend as they attend a party, he completes a drug deal... and then there's an accident.
Charlie Vázquez - Death Angel of Santurce
A prostitute is stood up by her 'date'.... what happens after that doesn't end well, but it's left up to the reader to decide what really did happen. A touch of the supernatural? You can decide. This was my favorite entry.
Many thanks to Library Thing and Akashic Books for the copy of this book. As always, my opinions are solely my own.
September 15, 2016
I have been a fan of the Akashic Noir series for years and my two rows of my bookshelves groan under their weight. They combine two of my great reading passions, armchair travel and the grim, often mordant, world of noir fiction. It is fascinating, too, to discover how the many different authors interpret noir for their city or their country. In San Juan Noir, the editor Mayra Santos-Febres’ own fascination with the erotic, with gender fluidity and human sexuality played a heavy role in her story selection.
But don’t let that give you the idea there is no variety. The first story begins in the rarefied air of high-rise living with a main character who seldom leaves her apartment or her building, ordering in anything she wants. Other stories feature the poorest of the poor, scrounging what they can on the edges of society. There are tourists, hotel clerks, pimps, prostitutes, fishermen, hitmen, journalists, teachers, and panty-snatchers. All kinds of people are represented and all layers of society.
There is little of the whodunnit in these stories. In fact, they do not resemble anything like traditional mysteries. These are stories drenched in the moody waters of noir, rich in emotion, passion,love, fear, and despair. They are the stories of life on the edge, sometimes slipping, sometimes sliding, sometimes leaping and sometimes soaring right over the edge.
4paws
I have never been to San Juan, Puerto Rico, but I traveled some of its streets in these stories. Of course, the city is more than noir. That’s what I love about the Akashic Noir stories, these are not the Tourist Bureau stories of the city. They are gritty, sometimes nasty, sometimes gross, but always interesting.
San Juan Noir is certainly the most frankly sexual of all the Noir editions I have read. There are some scenes that are very graphic, very erotic. This is not a book to gift your Aunt Irene. But then, you’re going to want to keep it for yourself anyway.
For the first time, Akashic Books released their anthology in both English and Spanish. I read about half the stories in the English edition and the other half in the Spanish edition. Some stories I read in both editions. I have to admit this was more difficult to read in Spanish than anything I have read before, except for some Old Spanish literature when they used “f” for “h” and “x” for “j”. There were idioms that baffled me, so I am so glad to have both versions to read.
San Juan Noir will be released on October 4th. I received an e-galley of both editions from the publisher through Edelweiss.
Several related links with my review:
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
But don’t let that give you the idea there is no variety. The first story begins in the rarefied air of high-rise living with a main character who seldom leaves her apartment or her building, ordering in anything she wants. Other stories feature the poorest of the poor, scrounging what they can on the edges of society. There are tourists, hotel clerks, pimps, prostitutes, fishermen, hitmen, journalists, teachers, and panty-snatchers. All kinds of people are represented and all layers of society.
There is little of the whodunnit in these stories. In fact, they do not resemble anything like traditional mysteries. These are stories drenched in the moody waters of noir, rich in emotion, passion,love, fear, and despair. They are the stories of life on the edge, sometimes slipping, sometimes sliding, sometimes leaping and sometimes soaring right over the edge.
4paws
I have never been to San Juan, Puerto Rico, but I traveled some of its streets in these stories. Of course, the city is more than noir. That’s what I love about the Akashic Noir stories, these are not the Tourist Bureau stories of the city. They are gritty, sometimes nasty, sometimes gross, but always interesting.
San Juan Noir is certainly the most frankly sexual of all the Noir editions I have read. There are some scenes that are very graphic, very erotic. This is not a book to gift your Aunt Irene. But then, you’re going to want to keep it for yourself anyway.
For the first time, Akashic Books released their anthology in both English and Spanish. I read about half the stories in the English edition and the other half in the Spanish edition. Some stories I read in both editions. I have to admit this was more difficult to read in Spanish than anything I have read before, except for some Old Spanish literature when they used “f” for “h” and “x” for “j”. There were idioms that baffled me, so I am so glad to have both versions to read.
San Juan Noir will be released on October 4th. I received an e-galley of both editions from the publisher through Edelweiss.
Several related links with my review:
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
April 4, 2017
A collection of noir stories taking place in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Even those these averaged out to a solid 3/5, I found the collection as a whole very satisfying. There is a cohesiveness found in the selections which is usually elusive in anthology collections. I came into this blind about the culture and social aspects of San Juan but feel like the collection has given me a sense for the people. Worth reading!
1. Death on the Scaffold by Janette Becerra - A good story to start the collection. A mysterious narrator tells of a painter at her very high up apartment. An incident occurs and she realises a crime has been committed. It's a strange tale with the narrator being a recluse. (4/5)
2. Fish Food by Manolo Nunez Negron - The dark story of a friendship between two men from childhood until one becomes successful and the other ends up with a hit on him from the gang lords. Very well-written and engaging. (5/5)
3. The Infamy of Chin Fernandez by Tere Davila - Our villain is a panty snatcher and he tells of the day he got caught but thankfully it was only for the panty-snatching. Quite dark. I enjoyed it. (4/5)
4. Two Deaths for Angela by Ana Maria Fuster Lavin - Very good! And very morbid. A woman who thrives on loneliness and despair tells of her close encounters with the deaths of others and her doppelganger whom she keeps seeing. (5/5)
5. Matchmaking by Mayra Santos-Febres - Short and dark. A hitman for a drug lord is given a job on a female drug lord and his life changes forever. Even though it's short we get a real sense for the hitman. Well-written. (4/5)
6. Dog Killer by Luis Negron - Another hitman at work. Written in a choppy style which makes you have to infer what happened at certain points. Ok story butI didn't like the writing. (2/5)
7. Saint Michael's Sword by Wilfredo J. Burgos Matos - This was not for me. A male prostitute wakes up in the street with an AK-47 wound in him. He stumbles to his sister's place to be patched up then he travels all over the neighbourhood searching for the one who pulled the trigger. I couldn't get over the very vulgar language and vulgar references. Weird and distasteful. (1/5)
8. A Killer Among Us by Manuel A. Melendez - Honestly, this was just boring. Starting out with the story of an adolescent and his two buddies. He has a nasty drunk for a father who beats his mother. Then a dead man is found in the town bringing about a course of events, No suspense and two-dimensional characters. (2/5)
9. Sweet Feline by Alejandro Alvarez Nieves - Good, but leads up to a disappointing ending. Narrated by a bellhop, he tells of the time a female came to the hotel spending money all over the place. She charms the staff and other guests alike but completely ignores the narrator. Until her last night when she specifically asks for him to come to her room. The suspense is good and we only figure out what is going on when it finally happens. However, you keep expecting something more to come and then it just ends. (3/5)
10. Things Told While Falling by Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro - A man, afraid of flying, tells the random thoughts he has as the plane descends for a landing. Upon landing a dead body is found floating in the river. He continues and tells what happens after. Not bad; it's dark but hard to "get" the point. (3/5)
11. Turistas by Ernesto Quinonez - A man's mother dies and he makes a deathbed promise to her to find his father. His father is famous for having been a gang member of the Vampires and gruesomely stabbing two white kids to death when he was only 14 himself. The ending was unsatisfactory for me but I think the theme here is that family is more important than any amount of money. (3/5)
12. Y by Jose Rabelo - This doesn't make any sense to me. A mathematics teacher tells about a female student who is missing and he wants to solve the problem. There are a lot of cat references and prostitution also. It was readable, but just barely. (1/2)
13. Inside and Outside by Edmaris Carazo - This has a surprise twist at the end which I never saw coming. Honestly, the story is quite mundane; a girl goes to a party with her boyfriend, drives around afterwards, and the bf buys a brick of marijuana. Very annoyed with him, they start home and up to this point, I've been thinking what a boring story. Then the climax comes, what? and finally the twist. OMG! Fun. (3/5)
14. Death Angel of Santurce by Charlie Vazquez - Well written. At first, the story seems to be a day-in-the-life of a prostitute but as the night wears on things turn dark and we're surprised with an unexpected ending. All the action happens at the end thus allowing the author to give a good character sketch of the main character. (4/5)
1. Death on the Scaffold by Janette Becerra - A good story to start the collection. A mysterious narrator tells of a painter at her very high up apartment. An incident occurs and she realises a crime has been committed. It's a strange tale with the narrator being a recluse. (4/5)
2. Fish Food by Manolo Nunez Negron - The dark story of a friendship between two men from childhood until one becomes successful and the other ends up with a hit on him from the gang lords. Very well-written and engaging. (5/5)
3. The Infamy of Chin Fernandez by Tere Davila - Our villain is a panty snatcher and he tells of the day he got caught but thankfully it was only for the panty-snatching. Quite dark. I enjoyed it. (4/5)
4. Two Deaths for Angela by Ana Maria Fuster Lavin - Very good! And very morbid. A woman who thrives on loneliness and despair tells of her close encounters with the deaths of others and her doppelganger whom she keeps seeing. (5/5)
5. Matchmaking by Mayra Santos-Febres - Short and dark. A hitman for a drug lord is given a job on a female drug lord and his life changes forever. Even though it's short we get a real sense for the hitman. Well-written. (4/5)
6. Dog Killer by Luis Negron - Another hitman at work. Written in a choppy style which makes you have to infer what happened at certain points. Ok story butI didn't like the writing. (2/5)
7. Saint Michael's Sword by Wilfredo J. Burgos Matos - This was not for me. A male prostitute wakes up in the street with an AK-47 wound in him. He stumbles to his sister's place to be patched up then he travels all over the neighbourhood searching for the one who pulled the trigger. I couldn't get over the very vulgar language and vulgar references. Weird and distasteful. (1/5)
8. A Killer Among Us by Manuel A. Melendez - Honestly, this was just boring. Starting out with the story of an adolescent and his two buddies. He has a nasty drunk for a father who beats his mother. Then a dead man is found in the town bringing about a course of events, No suspense and two-dimensional characters. (2/5)
9. Sweet Feline by Alejandro Alvarez Nieves - Good, but leads up to a disappointing ending. Narrated by a bellhop, he tells of the time a female came to the hotel spending money all over the place. She charms the staff and other guests alike but completely ignores the narrator. Until her last night when she specifically asks for him to come to her room. The suspense is good and we only figure out what is going on when it finally happens. However, you keep expecting something more to come and then it just ends. (3/5)
10. Things Told While Falling by Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro - A man, afraid of flying, tells the random thoughts he has as the plane descends for a landing. Upon landing a dead body is found floating in the river. He continues and tells what happens after. Not bad; it's dark but hard to "get" the point. (3/5)
11. Turistas by Ernesto Quinonez - A man's mother dies and he makes a deathbed promise to her to find his father. His father is famous for having been a gang member of the Vampires and gruesomely stabbing two white kids to death when he was only 14 himself. The ending was unsatisfactory for me but I think the theme here is that family is more important than any amount of money. (3/5)
12. Y by Jose Rabelo - This doesn't make any sense to me. A mathematics teacher tells about a female student who is missing and he wants to solve the problem. There are a lot of cat references and prostitution also. It was readable, but just barely. (1/2)
13. Inside and Outside by Edmaris Carazo - This has a surprise twist at the end which I never saw coming. Honestly, the story is quite mundane; a girl goes to a party with her boyfriend, drives around afterwards, and the bf buys a brick of marijuana. Very annoyed with him, they start home and up to this point, I've been thinking what a boring story. Then the climax comes, what? and finally the twist. OMG! Fun. (3/5)
14. Death Angel of Santurce by Charlie Vazquez - Well written. At first, the story seems to be a day-in-the-life of a prostitute but as the night wears on things turn dark and we're surprised with an unexpected ending. All the action happens at the end thus allowing the author to give a good character sketch of the main character. (4/5)
November 5, 2016
Este libro nos comparte 14 excelentes relatos del San Juan oscuro, a veces tétrico y lúgubre. Cada historia corta es además de interesante, cruda y llena de realidad. Y cuando digo realidad, me refiero a esa que a veces queremos cubrir para que otros no puedan ver. Sobre todo, esta obra que representa un compendio en el que cada historia es escrita por un autor diferente, está llena de humanidad. Es un espejo que retrata esa humanidad en sus puntos más bajos, y nos devela a personajes que son objetos, víctimas o perpetradores de grandes males sociales como la prostitución y la drogadicción. A ellos, en pocas páginas, nos obliga a mirarlos y verlos como seres humanos y no como meras sombras. Altamente recomendado.
May 22, 2019
Excelente colección de cuentos de autores puertorriqueños, con San Juan, Puerto Rico, como protagonista en cada una de sus páginas, con un eco muy latino y poco americano:
Son escritores que seguiré buscando para conocer mejor: Jannete Becerra, Manolo Núñez Negrón, Tere Dávila, Ana María Fuster Lavín, Mayra Santos-Febres, Luis Negrón, Wilfredo Burgos, Manuel Meléndez, Alejandro Alvarez Nieves, Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro, Ernesto Quiñonez, José Rabelo y Edmaris Carazo, según el orden que aparecen en el libro.
Lástima que no lo conseguí en español, porque en algunos momentos la traducción se sentía un tanto forzada, con expresiones un tanto discordantes en su versión en inglés.
"Old San Juan is like a family member you miss right up until the moment you see them again."
Son escritores que seguiré buscando para conocer mejor: Jannete Becerra, Manolo Núñez Negrón, Tere Dávila, Ana María Fuster Lavín, Mayra Santos-Febres, Luis Negrón, Wilfredo Burgos, Manuel Meléndez, Alejandro Alvarez Nieves, Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro, Ernesto Quiñonez, José Rabelo y Edmaris Carazo, según el orden que aparecen en el libro.
"What’s suffocating about loneliness is other people."
Lástima que no lo conseguí en español, porque en algunos momentos la traducción se sentía un tanto forzada, con expresiones un tanto discordantes en su versión en inglés.
May 18, 2023
Really good! Super fun! Right up my alley.
Picked this up in a small bookstore in Old San Juan while on vacation last month and read through most of it there. Seeing that Akashic Books has an entire series of city based noir collections has got me very interested in grabbing a copies to take with me on trips to the title cities.
Very quick read, more a flash fiction collection than a short story collection which made it perfect for bumming around with.
Like all collections quality varies pretty dramatically with some absolute bangers (Two Deaths for Angela by Ana Maria Fuster Lavin and Death on the Scaffold by Janette Bacerra in particular) scattered throughout.
Great collection and a brilliant idea for a series.
Picked this up in a small bookstore in Old San Juan while on vacation last month and read through most of it there. Seeing that Akashic Books has an entire series of city based noir collections has got me very interested in grabbing a copies to take with me on trips to the title cities.
Very quick read, more a flash fiction collection than a short story collection which made it perfect for bumming around with.
Like all collections quality varies pretty dramatically with some absolute bangers (Two Deaths for Angela by Ana Maria Fuster Lavin and Death on the Scaffold by Janette Bacerra in particular) scattered throughout.
Great collection and a brilliant idea for a series.
August 25, 2020
Emphasis on the noir. Most of these are not detective/mysteries, but rather stories focused on the dark underbelly of life in the capital, on the complexity of life for the marginalized, and the economic hardships.
As with most short story anthologies, some are better than others, but definitely worth a read, for those interested in the best contemporary writwrs on the island.
As with most short story anthologies, some are better than others, but definitely worth a read, for those interested in the best contemporary writwrs on the island.
November 15, 2018
No es muy Boom, pero claramente hay escritores/as que siempre mantienen una silla en mi escala. Un San Juan no necesariamente negro, pero sí cargado de un realismo sucio clave para descifrar los personajes que se pasean en las páginas.
October 19, 2017
San Juan Noir is a dark and twisted book consisting of various stories told from different points of view. The book provides an edgy twist with each story, creating suspense and intense emotions. Reading the book has deepened my understanding of Puerto Rico. Mayra Santos-Febres does a wonderful job combining the short stories into a short book. Definitely worth the read! Once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down. Overall, I give the book a rating of 3/5.
Two Deaths for Angela by Ana Maria Fuster Lavin: A woman experiences loneliness while people are dying around her. Either she is going crazy, or she notices another woman who looks exactly like her, except the woman has an evil smirk every time Angela sees her. The story is very dark and ends with a twist. Well-written. (3/5).
A Killer Among Us by Manuel A. Melendez: A young boy and his friends discover a dead body. The boy recognizes the machete to be his father’s, but his father is missing. The boy’s mother is beaten by his drunk of a father. The boy seeks revenge, therefore diminishing the suspenseful aspect of the story. It is very bland and straightforward. (1/5).
The Infamy of Chin Fernandez by Tere Davila: A young man has a secret fetish, panties. He successfully captures many panties and describes the day he is finally caught. However, he luckily gets away with another crime. Very eerie and shocking. (5/5).
Sweet Feline by Alejandro Alvarez Nieves: A poor hotel clerk is in trouble because of some woman who made false accusations about him. He gives his statement, only to learn who she really was at the end. Although clues are given throughout the story, the ending has some irony. Detailed and shocking. (3/5).
Y by Jose Rabelo: A young student goes missing and her math teacher goes searching for her, only to find she has succumbed to prostitution. This story is dark, twisted, and gives an unnerving feeling. However, very interesting and suspenseful. (4/5).
Death Angel of Santurce by Charlie Vazquez: A young prostitute makes her way through the dark and scary neighborhoods to be paid good money. A handsome stranger steals her for the night, giving her the last pleasure she was looking for. Dark and intriguing. (2/5).
The book had many dark and twisted stories. The book provides insight about the people of Puerto Rico and gives fictitious stories to capture the reader’s attention. Have fun reading!
Two Deaths for Angela by Ana Maria Fuster Lavin: A woman experiences loneliness while people are dying around her. Either she is going crazy, or she notices another woman who looks exactly like her, except the woman has an evil smirk every time Angela sees her. The story is very dark and ends with a twist. Well-written. (3/5).
A Killer Among Us by Manuel A. Melendez: A young boy and his friends discover a dead body. The boy recognizes the machete to be his father’s, but his father is missing. The boy’s mother is beaten by his drunk of a father. The boy seeks revenge, therefore diminishing the suspenseful aspect of the story. It is very bland and straightforward. (1/5).
The Infamy of Chin Fernandez by Tere Davila: A young man has a secret fetish, panties. He successfully captures many panties and describes the day he is finally caught. However, he luckily gets away with another crime. Very eerie and shocking. (5/5).
Sweet Feline by Alejandro Alvarez Nieves: A poor hotel clerk is in trouble because of some woman who made false accusations about him. He gives his statement, only to learn who she really was at the end. Although clues are given throughout the story, the ending has some irony. Detailed and shocking. (3/5).
Y by Jose Rabelo: A young student goes missing and her math teacher goes searching for her, only to find she has succumbed to prostitution. This story is dark, twisted, and gives an unnerving feeling. However, very interesting and suspenseful. (4/5).
Death Angel of Santurce by Charlie Vazquez: A young prostitute makes her way through the dark and scary neighborhoods to be paid good money. A handsome stranger steals her for the night, giving her the last pleasure she was looking for. Dark and intriguing. (2/5).
The book had many dark and twisted stories. The book provides insight about the people of Puerto Rico and gives fictitious stories to capture the reader’s attention. Have fun reading!
April 20, 2018
Combine a comparatively slim volume with bags of time on my hands with a compelling collection of stories & you have one of the quickest turnarounds for me in this series! I have been to San Juan many times with the Navy on day and weekend trips from Naval Base Roosevelt Roads. Of course, the base no longer exists & the stories are all pre-Hurricane Maria in September 2017, but they are very evocative of San Juan as I remember it.
June 13, 2019
Mayra Santos-Febres's anthology of short stories, edited by her, includes the brilliant perspectives of various Puertorrican authors. The diversity of style adds to the reader's contents in both purpose and actual diction. Its versatility serves as a nice book to read on the go. If you are interested in both short stories and Puertorican history this book is great.
December 5, 2017
After the horrors of Hurricane Maria on my beloved Island, it was so refreshing and uplifting to read these wonderful stories from outstanding local writers. The stories are truly amazing, and I loved every one of them. Outstanding work! Lo adoro!
March 16, 2017
I promise I'm not saying this from a place of national bias: this is really damn good, beginning to end.
September 21, 2025
Something like 20 years ago, I was on a hike with a friend whose job had taken him to something like 50 countries. He told me that whenever he was going to a new country he'd try to read a mystery novel set in that country before he went. The "Noir" series by Akashic Books is perfect for that task with dozens of short story collections for cities all over the world.
San Juan Noir certainly lives up to the Noir part of the title: these are all dark stories and many are disturbing. For the most part they are tales wonderfully told, however and well worth reading. I read the English-language edition with most stories translated by Will Vanderhyden.
San Juan Noir certainly lives up to the Noir part of the title: these are all dark stories and many are disturbing. For the most part they are tales wonderfully told, however and well worth reading. I read the English-language edition with most stories translated by Will Vanderhyden.
March 4, 2021
This is the English version and I purchased the Spanish edition to reread in the original language (except for one story). As the title suggests, the 14 stories from as many writers, are dark. Each one transported me to each of the distinct parts of San Juan. Each story is as different as the writers while playing with their idea of "noir". I can't wait to read the Spanish version.
March 16, 2022
Like all of this series, one or two are pretty good, the majority are ok, some are really bad and one or two are just smut. The majority could have been set anywhere, just change a few street and neighborhood names. Disappointing.
November 29, 2020
Read while in San Juan so the perspective was fantastic for me. Quick read, dream like stories, dark for sure. I ate it up and enjoyed it as a vacation escape.
November 2, 2023
A solid collection of short stories that evoke the noir mood, occasionally surprising, only one really terrible story in the bunch.
February 19, 2025
Most of these were fun stories that exposed and glorified the seamy underbelly of SJ that all of us who tourist thru PR never see - THANK GOODNESS!
January 3, 2017
San Juan Noir is a collection of crime stories edited by Mayra Santos-Febres. Most were written originally in Spanish and there is a Spanish language edition available. This collection is slenderer than the other books in this series, but Santos-Febres has made up for this by choosing stories that are relentless dark. The stories, like in most anthologies, an uneven group and having a single translator for all the stories makes all but a few sound as though they were written by the same person. Still, there were several memorable stories.
Death on the Scaffold details the narrator's unrest at losing their privacy when their apartment building is undergoing renovation and a scaffolding is erected that passes in front of the living room window. In A Killer Among Us, a schoolboy and his friends join a group of neighbors who have found the body of a murdered man. Y tells the story of a teacher's search for his missing student, and Death Angel of Santurce narrates the final hours of a woman's life.
The Akashic Noir series is strongest when the subject matter is somewhere off the beaten path. This edition has provided me with a half dozen authors to keep an eye out for.
Death on the Scaffold details the narrator's unrest at losing their privacy when their apartment building is undergoing renovation and a scaffolding is erected that passes in front of the living room window. In A Killer Among Us, a schoolboy and his friends join a group of neighbors who have found the body of a murdered man. Y tells the story of a teacher's search for his missing student, and Death Angel of Santurce narrates the final hours of a woman's life.
The Akashic Noir series is strongest when the subject matter is somewhere off the beaten path. This edition has provided me with a half dozen authors to keep an eye out for.
September 15, 2016
I have been a fan of the Akashic Noir series for years and my two rows of my bookshelves groan under their weight. They combine two of my great reading passions, armchair travel and the grim, often mordant, world of noir fiction. It is fascinating, too, to discover how the many different authors interpret noir for their city or their country. In San Juan Noir, the editor Mayra Santos-Febres’ own fascination with the erotic, with gender fluidity and human sexuality played a heavy role in her story selection.
But don’t let that give you the idea there is no variety. The first story begins in the rarefied air of high-rise living with a main character who seldom leaves her apartment or her building, ordering in anything she wants. Other stories feature the poorest of the poor, scrounging what they can on the edges of society. There are tourists, hotel clerks, pimps, prostitutes, fishermen, hitmen, journalists, teachers, and panty-snatchers. All kinds of people are represented and all layers of society.
There is little of the whodunnit in these stories. In fact, they do not resemble anything like traditional mysteries. These are stories drenched in the moody waters of noir, rich in emotion, passion,love, fear, and despair. They are the stories of life on the edge, sometimes slipping, sometimes sliding, sometimes leaping and sometimes soaring right over the edge.
4paws
I have never been to San Juan, Puerto Rico, but I traveled some of its streets in these stories. Of course, the city is more than noir. That’s what I love about the Akashic Noir stories, these are not the Tourist Bureau stories of the city. They are gritty, sometimes nasty, sometimes gross, but always interesting.
San Juan Noir is certainly the most frankly sexual of all the Noir editions I have read. There are some scenes that are very graphic, very erotic. This is not a book to gift your Aunt Irene. But then, you’re going to want to keep it for yourself anyway.
For the first time, Akashic Books released their anthology in both English and Spanish. I read about half the stories in the English edition and the other half in the Spanish edition. Some stories I read in both editions. I have to admit this was more difficult to read in Spanish than anything I have read before, except for some Old Spanish literature when they used “f” for “h” and “x” for “j”. There were idioms that baffled me, so I am so glad to have both versions to read.
San Juan Noir will be released on October 4th. I received an e-galley of both editions from the publisher through Edelweiss.
Several related links with my review:
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
But don’t let that give you the idea there is no variety. The first story begins in the rarefied air of high-rise living with a main character who seldom leaves her apartment or her building, ordering in anything she wants. Other stories feature the poorest of the poor, scrounging what they can on the edges of society. There are tourists, hotel clerks, pimps, prostitutes, fishermen, hitmen, journalists, teachers, and panty-snatchers. All kinds of people are represented and all layers of society.
There is little of the whodunnit in these stories. In fact, they do not resemble anything like traditional mysteries. These are stories drenched in the moody waters of noir, rich in emotion, passion,love, fear, and despair. They are the stories of life on the edge, sometimes slipping, sometimes sliding, sometimes leaping and sometimes soaring right over the edge.
4paws
I have never been to San Juan, Puerto Rico, but I traveled some of its streets in these stories. Of course, the city is more than noir. That’s what I love about the Akashic Noir stories, these are not the Tourist Bureau stories of the city. They are gritty, sometimes nasty, sometimes gross, but always interesting.
San Juan Noir is certainly the most frankly sexual of all the Noir editions I have read. There are some scenes that are very graphic, very erotic. This is not a book to gift your Aunt Irene. But then, you’re going to want to keep it for yourself anyway.
For the first time, Akashic Books released their anthology in both English and Spanish. I read about half the stories in the English edition and the other half in the Spanish edition. Some stories I read in both editions. I have to admit this was more difficult to read in Spanish than anything I have read before, except for some Old Spanish literature when they used “f” for “h” and “x” for “j”. There were idioms that baffled me, so I am so glad to have both versions to read.
San Juan Noir will be released on October 4th. I received an e-galley of both editions from the publisher through Edelweiss.
Several related links with my review:
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
October 4, 2016
After reading San Juan Noir I was left wanting. Wanting that one story that just touched my heart and soul. The closest I came to finding that feeling was in Death on the Scaffold by Nanette Becerra and A Killer Among Us by Manuel A. Melendez. Both contained the mysterious, edge of your seat, what's going to happen next aspect of the Akashic noir series I have come to love.
What I was not left wanting for was the dirty, poor and often (in my opinion) over sexually explicit aspects of the stories in this book. While that is to be expected in a noir book, to some degree, I felt the sex was over done and not necessary to many of the stories.
What I was not left wanting for was the dirty, poor and often (in my opinion) over sexually explicit aspects of the stories in this book. While that is to be expected in a noir book, to some degree, I felt the sex was over done and not necessary to many of the stories.
May 20, 2017
A good collection of noir (crime infused, dark, despair) short stories that are set in Puerto Rico and written by writers of Puerto Rican heritage. From the panty-stealer trying to save a dog from his cruel, criminal owner to the story that brings San Juan to life like a character I found myself carving out time every day to sneak in at least one story.
--from Book Riot's Unusual Suspects newsletter: Calling Nancy Drew Fans, October Releases, and More in Mysteries/Thrillers
--from Book Riot's Unusual Suspects newsletter: Calling Nancy Drew Fans, October Releases, and More in Mysteries/Thrillers
October 3, 2016
Anthologies. Hit or miss with me, sometimes in-between. This was the latter. First half was fab, second half didn't appeal to me. That doesn't mean it won't to a different reader. Noir is grim, no levity for the most part. Gritty and grimy. That definitely describes the stories in this book. Gut-wrenching, sad, angry.
December 27, 2016
Very uneven stories set in and around San Juan. As a former resident of the area, I was excited for the atmosphere and setting, but came away disappointed in the lack of suspense and excessive focus on prostitution. Perhaps my definition of "noir" differs from the editor's, but for me there were maybe two stories fit to the genre.
January 3, 2017
A good compilation of stories--each with an edge and surprising twist. The editor did an excellent job of gathering the stories and assembling them into one book. It's a good read for anyone who enjoys noir fiction.
July 18, 2019
Great collection of short stories! En español!
me recordó muchos sitios que conozco y mas que nada, me recordó cuanto me gustaba leer cuentos cortos! Lo recomiendo!
they also have it in english edition.
me recordó muchos sitios que conozco y mas que nada, me recordó cuanto me gustaba leer cuentos cortos! Lo recomiendo!
they also have it in english edition.
November 3, 2016
Great book
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews