I may be somewhat biased, because Raul is my colleague and I like him a lot, but I enjoyed this novel so much. It’s the story of a guy named Hugo who lives in Miami and works as a spiritualist without really believing in what he practices, and who is being eaten away by debt, particularly from the medical bills that piled up as his (uninsured) wife was dying. So when the collector calls and offers him a clean slate in exchange for cleansing his haunted house, it seems like a golden opportunity. Of course, things get complicated.
The book has all the pleasures of good genre fiction — it’s absorbing, plot-twisty, and has a healthy dose of cynical humor. It doesn’t take itself too seriously. And there’s a nice bit of creepy stuff that is just the right amount of scary (for me anyways): a pleasurable shiver rather than nightmare fuel. But it also has a keen intelligence and — there’s really no better way to say it — a tremendous amount of heart. Without being sentimental, it really wins you over into caring about the characters, even the ones who are jerks. Everyone in the novel has their flaws, but there are also always these little details that make them seem so recognizably human and therefore sympathetic, even when they are social-climbing debt collectors. There are some genuinely sad moments, and also some wonderfully joyful ones. It’s a really satisfying and absorbing book!
Kasia Reads 