#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway 113: Piñata by Leopoldo Gout

Today I am offering an ARC of an upcoming Nightfire title that comes out 3/14/23. I reviewed this title in the January 2023 issue of Library Journal. Details below, but first, here are the details on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American public library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here to see giveaway #112. Our winner was Jessikah from Syosset [NY] Public Library. Now to this week's giveaway.

I first read Leopoldo Gout back in 2009 when I listened to Ghost Radio [click here for my review from way back then]. That book, especially in audio, blew me away. I still suggest this title to readers. Although I will note from that review, I no longer list Dan Simmons as a readalike for anything because he is a horrible human being. 

Piñata is his return to adult fiction and horror (after success in YA). It is out March 14, 2023, from Nightfire (who you can thank for this giveaway copy). My review of Piñata appeared in the January issue of Library Journal. You can read my draft review here or below.

Piñata by Leopoldo Gout 

Three words That Describe This Book: vengeance is mine, horrors of colonialism, immersive dread

Draft review: A New York architect originally from Mexico, Carmen Sanchez has raised her family in the states, but when her firm needed someone to oversee the renovation of an old Mexican church into a hotel, Carmen jumped at the chance to bring her 11 and 16 year old daughters for the Summer. However, from the start of their trip, an angry force from ]seems drawn to Luna, the younger daughter. When the renovations open up a hidden room, revealing an ancient piñata, made of pottery and filled with viscera, part of the complex religious practices of the conquered Nahua, the wronged spirit is able to seep out into the modern world with very real consequences. A slow burn where the omniscient narration is spread around allowing the characters and historical details to realistically build and laying a strong foundation for the dread that permeates every page. Gout succeeds in presenting a thought-provoking, violent and immersive revenge horror story, but he excels in restoring the rich history of an erased people.

Verdict: A great choice for readers who enjoy novels where the true horrors of colonization and human rights atrocities are corrected in gruesomely riveting fashion while retaining the utmost respect to the victims as seen in the works of V. Castro, Stephen Graham Jones and Tananarive Due.

Enter today and stay entered until you win. If you are a past winner (and there are a LOT of you), as long as it has been a month since you won, you can enter again. Good luck.