THE HACIENDA by Isabel Canas (Berkley, May 2022) Hardcover, 345 pages.
Synopsis on the Goodreads website . . . . .
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...
In the overthrow of the Mexican government, Beatriz’s father is 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 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 its 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 help 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.
My Five-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .
If I was judging THE HACIENDA strictly by story content I would be satisfied leaving a Four-Star Rating. However, considering how impressive this is as a debut novel I feel it earns Five-Stars handily. Good characterization, with two engaging protagonists who serve as narrators that you can't help rooting for. Grounded in history, readers really feel as if they are there because of the descriptive skills and details provided by Isabel Canas. A creepy, disturbing atmosphere from the get-go which Canas continued to build on chapter after chapter. Utilizing supernatural, gothic and ghostly themes that are genuinely unsettling. This was a nail-biter in several places. Also, the vivid imagery was top notch, and I've included several examples . . . . . . .
Notes:
DECEMBER 04: An impressive debut novel. Canas writes an engaging and eerie story. The short first chapter gives a good indication of what lies ahead, and leaves me guessing as to how this might end. That's not a bad way to begin. Also the atmosphere is established early with some great imagery in the paragraphs. Some examples of my favorite lines:
Page 1: "Behind me, high white stucco walls rose like the bones of a long-dead beast jutting from dark cracked earth."
Page 44: "Long grasses whispered against one another, gossiping like aunts as I crossed to the back wall of the garden."
DECEMBER 05:
At Page 127, Chapter 13. This is building up in tension and getting creepy. The priest is another character I like.
Page 87: "He knew. Intuition was a cool hand on my fevered brow."
Page 93: "But the thought of facing another night alone tightened my throat like a slipknot yanked taut."
DECEMBER 07
At Page 163, Chapter 16. This became intense. I'm enjoying it.
Page 139: "The house watched me leave, its stare baldly appraising."
Page 140: "The earth at the house's foundation was saturated with sickness, a blight, its black veins leading up the hill to the gate and tangling under it like the roots of a cursed tree."
Page146: "Shouldis an oddly powerful word. Shame and anger have a way of flying to it like coins to lodestone.”
DECEMBER 09
At Page 223. I am fully engaged in the story at this point. Supernatural elements on steroids. And a bit of a mystery to be solved, which is like putting whipped cream on top of that great dessert.
Page 166: "Andres nodded slowly, carefully, as if his head were made of blown glass and shaking it too hard would cause it to shatter."
Page 167: "Paloma's voice snapped through the air with the finality of a book being shut."
Page 170: "The house sat differently on its foundations. Whereas before it had been slumped and rambling, the limbs of a hibernating beast curled around a central wing, now . . . Now it was awake.
Page 209:
"The closing of the circle was but a slap of plaster on a crack in a swollen dam. Water surged behind it, ready to burst forth; the crack grew wider and wider with each passing hour.”
DECEMBER 12
Finished this today, couldn't put it off any longer.
One final admirable sentence to share, from Page 324: A long moment passed where only the wind spoke. It lifted and whispered through the grasses, passing the quiet gossip of the valley to the hilltop.
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