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A December 2024 IndieNEXT List Selection
When the death of her aunt brings Liz Remolina back to San Ojuela, the prospect fills her with dread. The isolated desert town was the site of a harrowing childhood accident that left her clairvoyant, the companion of wraiths and ghosts. Yet it may also hold the secret to making peace with a dark family history and a complicated personal and cultural identity.
Setting out on the train with her younger sister Mary in tow, she soon finds herself hemmed in by a desolate landscape where monsters and ancient gods stalk the night. She’s relieved at first to find that her childhood best friend Julian still lives in San Ojuela, but soon realizes that he too is changed. Haunted.
Yet she’ll have no other choice than to seek out his help as the darkness closes in.
“Sundown in San Ojuela confronts the sense of futility that comes with trying to end a generations-long, deeply embedded cycle of abuse.”—Independent Book Review (starred)
“A strange, haunting, brutal study of the intersection between heritage and identity.”—Charlie Marks, Bookseller at Fountain Bookstore
"A ferocious debut, heartbreaking and visceral.”—The Rumpus
“A wild ride of brujas and old Aztec gods, chupacabras and haunted houses.”—SFWA Grand Master Nalo Hopkinson
“If you read one horror book this year, let it be this one.”—Nell Gehrke, Bookseller at Country Bookshelf