Mexican Gothic Horror: The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas

The Possession of Alba Díaz
by Isabel Cañas
August 19, 2025
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Gothic fiction, vampires, horror, Mexican Gothic,
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 the growing tension between them every time she enters the room…and why he notices her deteriorate when the demon’s thirst for blood gets stronger.

In the fight for her life, Alba and Elías become entangled with the occult, the Church, long-kept secrets, and each other… not knowing that one of these things will spell their doom. 

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Isabel Cañas’ Mexican Gothic-meets-The Exorcist new novel, THE POSSESSION OF ALBA DÍAZ (Berkley Hardcover; August 19, 2025) has been building buzz all summer, and now finished books have arrived—would you like one?

**BookRiot put it best: “Any book that combines blood-thirsty demons, the church, and the occult is one I’m going to need in my greedy little hands.”

**Publishers Weekly said: “chilling.... the richly layered narrative offers much to hold readers’ interest as it probes themes of colonialism, patriarchy, and autonomy.” 

**Isabel will be the cover story of Writer’s Digest in the September/October issue ** “Isabel Cañas has quickly become a superstar of historical fiction, and this one looks like the best yet!”—CrimeReads 

About the Author:
website-FB-Twitter
InstagramIsabel Cañas is the breakout writer of horror novels including The Hacienda (2022), Vampires of El Norte (2023), and now The Possession of Alba Díaz (August 19, 2025). She is best known for reclaiming traditional horror tropes, once the sole playground of “pale and male” writers, and giving them a feminist and Latinx perspective. A rising star who will be on the cover of Writer’s Digest this September/October, Isabel has cemented her status as an exciting, dynamic author at the forefront of the horror wave with her signature blend of frightening set pieces, well-researched and insightful takes on the history of Mexico, and a temperature-raising romance between lead characters. She has been praised by outlets like The New York Times “a thing of uncanny, chilling beauty”, NPR (“one of the best new voices bridging the gap between romance and speculative fiction”), Vulture, Esquire, Paste, The Washington Post, and many more.

Book Review: Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas

Vampires of El Norte
by Isabel Cañas
August 15, 2023
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: vampires, Gothic, horror, thriller
ASIN: B0BNMFVYYZ
ISBN: 9780593436721
As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead.

Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago.

Believing Nena dead, Néstor has been on the run from his grief ever since, moving from ranch to ranch working as a vaquero. But no amount of drink can dispel the night terrors of sharp teeth; no woman can erase his childhood sweetheart from his mind.

When the United States invades Mexico in 1846, the two are brought abruptly together on the road to war: Nena as a curandera, a healer striving to prove her worth to her father so that he does not marry her off to a stranger, and Néstor as a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros. But the shock of their reunion—and Nena’s rage at Néstor for seemingly abandoning her long ago—is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh.

And unless Nena and Néstor work through their past and face the future together, neither will survive to see the dawn.

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Nena decides to go look for a buried treasure that Néstor’s abuela mentioned in the tales of the supernatural she told the children. Néstor decides to help her. While out looking she is attacked by something that bites her and drinks a bit of her blood. When he brings her home and he thinks she is dead, socNéstor flees in horror and thinking it is his fault.

Except she never died.

Years later, Néstor has grown up and works cattle. He learns Nena is not dead, but has forgotten the incident with the monster. Nena believes he had abandoned her.

When war breaks out between the Mexicans living in Texas and the Mexican Army and Americans, there are creatures like what bit her and she had forgotten: vampires.

A story that is romantic and sexy combined with horror and legends, it is a smart, good story with a hero and heroine you will care for, along with history of Mexico and Texas in its early days.

I gave Vampires of El Norte 4 sheep.





Reviewed by Pamela K. Kinney

Check out Pamela's review of The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

About the Author:
website-FB-Twitter
Instagram
Isabel Cañas is a Mexican-American speculative fiction writer. After having lived in Mexico, Scotland, Egypt, and Turkey, among other places, she has settled (for now) in New York City, where she works on her PhD dissertation in medieval Islamic literature and writes fiction inspired by her research and her heritage.

Book Review: The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

The Hacienda
by Isabel Cañas

May 3, 2022

Publisher: Berkeley
ASIN: B09CD81MFZ 

ISBN: 9780593436691
Mexican Gothic meets Rebecca in this debut supernatural suspense novel, set in the aftermath of the Mexican War of Independence, about a remote house, a sinister haunting, and the woman pulled into their clutches...
During the overthrow of the Mexican government, Beatriz’s father was executed and her home destroyed. When handsome Don Rodolfo Solórzano proposes, Beatriz ignores the rumors surrounding his first wife’s sudden demise, choosing instead to seize the security that his estate in the countryside provides. She will have her own home again, no matter the cost.
But Hacienda San Isidro is not the sanctuary she imagined.

When Rodolfo returns to work in the capital, visions and voices invade Beatriz’s sleep. The weight of invisible eyes follows her every move. Rodolfo’s sister, Juana, scoffs at Beatriz’s fears—but why does she refuse to enter the house at night? Why does the cook burn copal incense at the edge of the kitchen and mark the doorway with strange symbols? What really happened to the first Doña Solórzano?

Beatriz only knows two things for certain: Something is wrong with the hacienda. And no one there will save her.
Desperate for help, she clings to the young priest, Padre Andrés, as an ally. No ordinary priest, Andrés will have to rely on his skills as a witch to battle the malevolent presence haunting the hacienda.

Far from a refuge, San Isidro may be Beatriz’s doom.

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Beatriz marries Don Rodolfo Solórzano and travels with him to his hacienda. There she learns that his first wife had either been abducted by bandits or something else, but she ignores the rumors, feeling she finally has a place of her own.

 

But visions and voices began invading her new safe place, making it dangerous for her. Rodolfo’s sister, Juana, makes fun of Beatriz’s fears, and yet, Juana never steps inside the place much. Her husband says she can contact the local church for help. The young priest, Padre Andres, agrees to help, even though he was once told to leave that place and never return.

A tense supernatural thriller of a house seems alive reminding me of The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, where a house haunts the people inside it. If you enjoy a good ghost story, forbidden romance, and historical novels, Isabel Cañas has written a story that combines all three into one scary package.

I gave The Hacienda 4 sheep.

Reviewed by Pamela K. Kinney

About the Author:

website-FB-Twitter

Instagram

Isabel Cañas is a Mexican-American speculative fiction writer. After having lived in Mexico, Scotland, Egypt, and Turkey, among other places, she has settled (for now) in New York City, where she works on her PhD dissertation in medieval Islamic literature and writes fiction inspired by her research and her heritage.