{"id":6430,"date":"2026-05-26T10:33:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T10:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=6430"},"modified":"2026-05-26T10:33:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T10:33:00","slug":"mortal-vengeance-a-grim-tale-by-alejandro-torres-de-la-rocha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=6430","title":{"rendered":"Mortal Vengeance: A Grim Tale by Alejandro Torres De la Rocha"},"content":{"rendered":"

The devil isn\u2019t just an abstract construct of our imagination. He is much closer than you think.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In Mortal Vengeance: A Grim Tale, <\/em>Alejandro Torres De la Rocha spins an emotionally compelling tale on how abuse, when left unchecked, can spiral into something even more sinister.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This story follows the lives of students caged within the suffocating walls of Excelsior Academy. They are subjected to mandatory confessions and public shaming, reduced to labels such as \u201cliar\u201d<\/em><\/strong> and \u201cdisobedient.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Complex emotional struggles are watered down to binary categories of sin and payment of penance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

De la Rocha renders these moments as deliberately uncomfortable, forcing readers to come face-to-face with the environment, which eventually breeds violence. From the outset, it is clear that this is not a story about victims but about \u201carchitects\u201d<\/em><\/strong> who built the killer \u201cbrick by brick\u2013out of whispers, cruelty, and silence.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIs it okay to lie, Juli\u00e1n?\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Juli\u00e1n\u2019s psychological battles amid his growing obsession with the Grim Cojuelo (a Grim Reaper-like entity drawn from Dominican folklore) alongside Alex, who experiences a quieter, psychological descent, represent two different yet intersecting storylines used by De la Rocha. Alex\u2019s mother, being a suffocatingly religious woman who manages to turn normal adolescent experiences into moral failings that demand correction, doesn\u2019t help him at all. \u201cConfess. Repent. Do your penance. Your father and I will be waiting in the car.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fernando emerges as one of the strongest supporting characters due to his protectiveness toward Julian and constant fear of being outed with a father who declares, \u201cI would rather have a murderer as a son\u2026 than a maric\u00f3n.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The story is rich with psychological complexity to each character, such that the plot doesn\u2019t linger too long on a singular perspective; this keeps things fresh and engaging.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With characters frequently saying things they wouldn\u2019t need to say for the benefit of the reader, as when flagellation is explained to a character who has attended the school for eight years, a bit of an exposition problem is created.\u00a0<\/p>\n

De la Rocha uses chapters to shed much needed light on how institutional violence has been endemic to Dominican societies for centuries, while also using this story as a platform to critique Jesuit-style learning popular in Catholic institutions. An interesting perspective indeed. The downside is that these historical chapters interrupt the tension at critical moments, even though they are in line with the themes of the book.<\/p>\n

Whether in depicting the oppressive silence of the school halls or institutionalized punishment rituals and the trauma of it, these emotionally charged perspectives force readers to experience events from within the characters\u2019 psychological viewpoint, enhancing the story\u2019s impact and strengthening readers\u2019 connection to these characters. Mortal Vengeance: A Grim Tale<\/em> is as disturbing as it is immersive, painting a story where evil lies in cruelty, silence, and neglect.<\/p>\n

This is not simply a tale of revenge; it is a diagnosis of the system that makes revenge inevitable.<\/p>\n

The post Mortal Vengeance: A Grim Tale by Alejandro Torres De la Rocha<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The devil isn\u2019t just an abstract construct of our imagination. He is much closer than you think. In Mortal Vengeance: A Grim Tale, Alejandro Torres De la Rocha spins an emotionally compelling tale on how abuse, when left unchecked, can spiral into something even more sinister.\u00a0 This story follows the lives of students caged within […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6430"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6430\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}