Twelve stories in which the terrifying seeps into the everyday. Twelve disturbing tales that take the horror genre to a new dimension.
A girl unearths bones in the garden that turn out not to be animal; the idyllic summer scene of girls bathing in a natural setting turns into a hell of jealousy with unsettling consequences; a despised beggar spreads misfortune in a wealthy neighborhood; Barcelona becomes a disturbing backdrop, marked by guilt and impossible to escape; a ghostly presence seeks a sacrifice at a spa; a girl feels a fetishistic attraction to sick hearts; a rocker who died in a gruesome way receives a tribute from his fans that goes beyond imagination; a boy who secretly films couples making love and women walking the streets in high heels receives a proposal that will change his life.
In the twelve superb stories that make up this volume, Mariana Enriquez unfolds a full repertoire of classic horror story elements: spectral apparitions, witches, séances, caves, visions, the dead coming back to life... But, far from offering a mere archaeological revisitation of the genre, she reworks this material with a unique and radically modern voice. Drawing on the best tradition, she takes it a step further, with stories that explore the sinister lurking in the everyday, reveal a murky eroticism, and create powerful images that leave an indelible mark.
Those who discovered Mariana Enriquez with Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego now have in their hands an earlier book, in which the universe of a writer who connects with modern masters of horror literature like Shirley Jackson, Thomas Ligotti, or her compatriot Cortázar is already perfectly drawn. Enriquez peers into the deepest abysses of the human soul, the hidden currents of sexuality and obsession...
