The Devil Takes You Home

This book scared the crap out of me. I guess that's the whole point, so well done to Gabino Iglesias.

Winner of this year's Bram Stoker Award, as well as being a Shirley Jackson Award nominee, THE DEVIL TAKES YOU HOME comes with some well-deserved hype. It takes place around the El Paso, Texas / Jaurez, Mexico border, with a man that couldn't possibly be any more down on his luck... until he is. This tale takes our antihero down an ever-darkening tunnel as he deals with death and loss in ways that make matters go from bad to worse. There may be a way for him to salvage some of the wreckage left of his life, if he can pull off one last job that will take him into the heart of drug cartel warfare, and deeper still into black magic and folk religion.

My favorite thing about this book is how seamlessly Iglesias weave Spanish and English in and out of each other. You don't need to speak Spanish at all to read this book because of the context in which it is masterfully used. The author makes what's happening very clear without blocky, exact translations, or condescending explanations - just perfect, and not an easy thing to pull off.

Overall, THE DEVIL TAKES YOU HOME did its job and scared me like a horror book should. I thought that it was well written, and I'll definitely read more Gabino Iglesias in the future. I did have a hard time with the main character, in that I wanted so badly to like him and pull for him, but it was rendered pretty much impossible. The nice part about that is that I was really able to sit back and enjoy the ending without worrying one way or another because of emotional attachment.