What You See in the Dark

Bakersfield, California in 1959: a dusty, gossipy little town, just close enough to L.A. to know how desperately unglamorous it is by comparison. That's the setting of What You See In The Dark, a noirish novel about race, violence, and inevitable change by Manuel Muñoz.

The most eligible man in Bakersfield, Dan Watson, starts dating Teresa Garza, the Mexican woman who works at the shoe store. The entire town, both Anglo and Latino, is deeply scandalized. The farm worker who had hoped to marry Teresa is cast aside. The girl who longed to attract Dan's attention is furious. Arlene Watson, Dan's mother, won't let him bring Teresa around. The relationship ends in shocking violence.

At the same time, an Actress arrives in Bakersfield, along with a Director, to scout locations. Any reader who likes old movies will soon know who they are, but since the author doesn't identify them by name, I won't spoil the surprise. The Actress observes the Bakersfield townspeople and struggles to find a way to play a dishonest character while retaining the sympathies of the audience.

The townsfolk struggle, too - with the new freeway that will soon bypass the old motels, the new consciousness of racial minorities, and the crime that has taken place in their midst. In one passage, Arlene "tried to think back to the day when everything had gone wrong . . . She looked as hard as she could into the dark, but she couldn’t see it."

What You See in the Dark doesn't have a tight plot or a straightforward narrative arc; there's no mystery to be solved or question to be answered. There's just a dusty, bitter little town, haunted by its own secrets. It's an unusual and daring novel, beautifully written - check it out.