When a demonic presence awakens deep in a Mexican silver mine, the young woman it seizes must turn to the one man she shouldn’t trust… from bestselling author Isabel Cañas.

In 1765, plague sweeps through Zacatecas. Alba flees with her wealthy merchant parents and fiancé, Carlos, to his family’s isolated mine for refuge. But safety proves fleeting as other dangers soon bare their teeth: Alba begins suffering from strange hallucinations, sleepwalking, and violent convulsions. She senses something cold lurking beneath her skin. Something angry. Something wrong.

Elías, haunted by a troubled past, came to the New World to make his fortune and escape his family’s legacy of greed. Alba, as his cousin’s betrothed, is none of his business. Which is of course why he can’t help but notice her every time she enters a room or the growing tension between them… and why he notices her deteriorate when the demon’s thirst for blood grows stronger.

Thanks to the publisher for the free audiobook of this title. All thoughts are my own.

I first came across Isabel Cañas when I read The Vampires of El Norte a year or two ago. That one leaned heavier on romance with a side of horror, and while I liked it, I wanted more teeth. This book flips the balance. It’s horror first, romance second, and that shift made all the difference for me.

The book takes place in 1765 in Zacatecas, Mexico, and a plague is sweeping through the town. Alba and her family flee with her fiancé, Carlos, to his family’s remote home near a silver mine. It’s a place that promises safety, but instead becomes a breeding ground for something much darker. As the days pass, Alba begins to experience hallucinations, violent convulsions, and an unsettling sense that something is crawling inside her. You don’t need to be a horror fan to know that never ends well. Meanwhile Elias, Carlos’s cousin, finds himself attracted to Alba in ways he shouldn’t be. (Cue the forbidden romance music.)

The dual POV between Alba and Elías is what really pulled me in. Alba, who is already suffocating under family expectations, becomes the vessel for something monstrous. And Elías, a man haunted by his own past, watches her unravel while fighting the pull of a forbidden attraction. The way their voices slowly piece the story together made it impossible to look away. Each chapter added a new layer of dread. You think you know what’s happening, but then the narrative cracks just enough to let something colder, sharper bleed through.

The atmosphere is off the charts. Cañas knows how to use history as fuel instead of a weight. The 18th-century setting doesn’t bog the story down; it magnifies the terror. The isolation of the mine. The religious fervor. The lack of medical understanding. Everything about the time period makes the possession feel even more dangerous and inevitable. I don’t say this lightly: not since The Exorcist have I read a possession story that felt so raw and unnerving.

And while this is horror through and through, the thread of romance keeps it interesting. It’s not a sweeping love story. It’s a fragile, flickering spark between two people who shouldn’t want each other, but can’t look away. That tension makes the haunting even more brutal, because it reminds you of what’s at stake.

One thing that deserves a shout-out is the audiobook. I listened to most of this story, and the narrators, Carolina Hoyos and Anthony Rey Perez, are phenomenal. They don’t just read Alba and Elías, they embody them. Hoyos captures Alba’s descent into terror with chilling precision, while Perez grounds Elías in mystery and passion. The performances added another layer of immersion.

If you’re searching for a book to rattle you during Halloween season, this is it. It’s haunting, atmospheric, and refuses to let you look away. Isabel Cañas proves here that she can write horror that claws at you. This is more than a creepy fall read. It’s the kind of story that sticks with you. If possession stories creep you out, prepare to be thoroughly unnerved. This one earns its place on the Halloween shelf.

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