Critical Praise
"Manuel Muñoz has written a novel that is gripping to read and illuminating in what it says. What You See In the Dark begins with a sweet romance and a dark surprise as it traces the winding path of violence in our dreamy American longings. How beautifully the pieces of this book fit together, and how radiantly original it is."
—Joan Silber, author of Ideas of Heaven and The Size of the World
"In his dazzling debut novel, Manuel Muñoz takes into the heart of small-town 1950s California with pathos, sensitivity, and astonishing beauty. The book is a love story, a tragedy, and a cautionary Hollywood tale all in one. Be forewarned: once you pick up this gorgeously riveting book, you won’t be able to put it down until it’s done."
—Cristina García, author of The Lady Matador’s Hotel
"A riveting work for any fan of intelligent suspense…truly one of the year’s most compelling and nuanced books."
—Instinct
"What You See In the Dark is beautifully written and perfectly told, an irresistible novel about desire that will keep you reading through the night. It is a true romance and a True Romance, and Manuel Muñoz has the wisdom to know the difference."
—Laura Furman, author of The Mother Who Stayed and series editor of the PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories.
"Manuel Muñoz’s vividly suspenseful first novel is a fine blend of Hitchcock’s chilly elegance and the sordid passions of James M. Cain: a dark, intimate, heartbreaking tale about four very different women, each one longing to escape the confines of her everyday life through the romantic illusions concocted by Hollywood. Their voices will haunt me for some time to come."
—Julia Glass, author of The Widower’s Tale and Three Junes
"A powerful portrait… What You See In the Dark is a gem, full of drama and keen social observation, worthy of a movie treatment of its own. It’s imbued with the noir sensibility of James Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice and Mildred Pierce."
—Edmonton Journal
"What You See In the Dark strikes emotional chords so deep and with such precision, it almost makes you believe you’ve discovered a new art form."
—Austin Chronicle
"Muñoz has hit upon a killer premise: the making of Psycho set against the real-life murder of a young Latina singer in Bakersfield... 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
"[A] refreshingly innovative first novel...Muñoz has upended the conventional crime novel, lauding a cinematic master while downplaying his own crime scene and concentrating on a secondary victim. Nice work."
—Kirkus
"It strikes emotional chords so deep and with such precision, it almost makes you believe you’ve discovered a new art form"
—The Austin Chronicle
"A performance in literary night vision … Drawing on tremendous empathy and an exacting eye for detail, Muñoz conjures up a vanished era in which the people nevertheless feel indelibly real. Through a small cast of characters, he gives the reader an intimate look into dark places both literal and metaphorical … Muñoz’s lean, graceful prose, shot through with quiet bursts of poetry, enlivens every page."
—AARP VIVA
"Through exceptional details, Muñoz brings this biblical, Eve-eating-the-apple truth to light…[The] tension between wanting to see and wanting to stop seeing, to live a life of the imagination, keeps the novel suspenseful and fresh."
—Culture Mob
"[A] stellar first novel...The author brilliantly presents the Actress’s inner thoughts, while he handles the violence with a subtlety worthy of Hitchcock himself. 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, starred review
"The making of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho would seem out of place in a serious literary novel about small-town California, circa the late 1950s. But just as the groundbreaking director managed to pull off that oh-so-infamous shower scene, Manuel Munoz pulls off this strange juxtaposition with stunning success in What You See In the Dark, an audacious debut novel."
—Cleveland Plain Dealer
"For this elegantly structured piece of noir, Whiting Award-winner Munoz has woven together multiple stories to tell a bigger tale about what we don’t see when we think we see everything … Like the terrors of psycho, the real wonder of this novel sits just outside the frame."
—OUT Magazine
"Manuel Munoz's debut mystery, What You See In the Dark, takes flight from one of the cleverest suspense conceits I've encountered in a long time: Two young lovers become entwined in a doomed affair, while, at the same time, Hitchcock and his minions begin setting up their equipment in sleepy Bakersfield. Munoz uses the noir form to meditate on the evil spell that murder on the big screen casts on susceptible minds "in the dark." This atmospheric tale of twisted minds and small-town murder would've put a demented gleam in The Master's eye."
—Maureen Corrigan, NPR.org
"An eerily cinematic novel."
—O: The Oprah Magazine
"Muñoz’s recreation of a famous movie scene from its participants’ perspective deliberately builds to a crescendo unmatched by any other word or gesture in What You See In the Dark, pulling in the townspeople’s disapproval and The Actress’ fears for her career and reputation, and blending them into a creation story more beautiful than terrifying, regardless of the result."
—The Onion
