I unfortunately had to set this one aside, but this is a case of "it's not you, it's me". This story focuses heavily on a child with terminal illness which is not something I am comfortable reading about right now with an 8 month old. The writing seemed like something I could enjoy at another time though, so I might be interested in picking this up int he future. Definitely no fault of the book, just not the right time for me!

After the death of his daughter and the dissolution of his marriage, Mario is offered a job by his friend and former co-worker turned drug dealer, Brian, to become a hired gun. When he's introduced to Brian's friend Juanca, the three form a pact to hit a cartel run coming across the border - the infamous "one last job" that promises to set each of them up for life, if they can survive.

Gabino Iglesias has steadily built a name for himself in the small-press world with barrio noir-horror cross-genre hybrids like Zero Saints, the absolutely sublime Coyote Songs, a number of short stories across a wide-range of horror, noir, and bizarro anthologies, and a spate of awards. The Devil Takes You Home marks, I believe, Iglesias's Big 5 debut by way of Mulholland Books, and firmly showcases the talent of this rising star.

Mario is a wonderfully three-dimensional protagonist. Life's given him a raw deal, but he keeps stubbornly pushing ahead, even when that means doing bad things (albeit some of those bad things are done to worse people, so maybe it balances out in an end justifies the means kinda way). He's also surprisingly self-aware and reflective (fitting for an author who writes with his heart on his sleeve), his own grief and guilt dogging his heels with regularity, and deeply in-touch with his emotions. Rather than pushing what he feels down into the recesses of his soul, he firmly embraces what his heart and mind is telling him, even if he doesn't always listen to his better impulses, or the visions and omens warning him of what's to come.

The Devil Takes You Home reads like Dante's Inferno by way of Cormac McCarthy. It exists in the arid desert landscape of the Mexico-US border, an interstitial landscape of predation and heady mysticism, where the criminal and supernatural underworlds become inextricably entwined. This is a dark world of omens and portents where cartels and brujas carry equal threatening weight, religious superstitions are made real, deadly creatures burrow into the walls of drug tunnels, and violence lurks around every corner, in every shadow. And, like Dante, Mario descends deeper and deeper into this realm of bestial violence, guiding us through one hellacious circle after another as his sins mount.

Gabino Iglesias has created a genre straddling tale that fits both into the horror category as well as the thriller category, and it both terrifies and mesmerizes. I was kept on the edge of my seat, and was continuously blown away by the horror moments, reaping horror from the supernatural and real world alike. The supernatural thrills were unnerving and well conceived, with moments of fleeting imagery, or urban legend tales, or very visceral moments of ambiguity as well as violence, and not quite knowing what was going on just added to the built up dread. But it was the real life horrors, be it cartel violence, or systemic oppressive systems, or flagrant racism, or a dying child, that really cut me to the bone and got under my skin. Iglesias has this lyrical way about him that made Mario's journey feel both grounded in a dark reality, but also steeped in a strange dreamlike quality. The words just flow and ground you in the story. It ends a little abruptly, and with few answers, but ultimately it is a satisfying, if not somewhat bleak, horror tale about desperation. It's a rough read at times, but horror fans would do well to check it out.

The Devil Takes You Home is brutal and violent and I absolutely loved it. Gabino is an author to watch out for. His books are great and I'm happy he's moved further out of the indie world and into the mainstream. Definitely, a must read.

The Devil Takes You Home is brutal and violent and I absolutely loved it. Gabino is an author to watch out for. His books are great and I'm happy he's moved further out of the indie world and into the mainstream. Definitely, a must read.

I've been a huge fan of Gabino's work since I devoured Coyote Songs (which I recommend picking up as soon as you finish this sentence if you haven't read it yet; it's that good). Needless to say, I was beyond thrilled to receive an eARC of The Devil Takes You Home.

From the publisher via Goodreads: Buried in debt due to his young daughter’s illness, his marriage at the brink, Mario reluctantly takes a job as a hitman, surprising himself with his proclivity for violence. After tragedy destroys the life he knew, Mario agrees to one final job: hijack a cartel’s cash shipment before it reaches Mexico. Along with an old friend and a cartel-insider named Juanca, Mario sets off on the near-suicidal mission, which will leave him with either a cool $200,000 or a bullet in the skull. But the path to reward or ruin is never as straight as it seems. As the three complicated men travel through the endless landscape of Texas, across the border and back, their hidden motivations are laid bare alongside nightmarish encounters that defy explanation. One thing is certain: even if Mario makes it out alive, he won’t return the same.

I loved this book.

Let me start by saying what Iglesias does with his storytelling is nothing short of masterful. It would be so easy to fall into the trope of "sick or dying child motivates parent to do things they never thought they'd do," but TDTYH never falls into what I refer to as the Liam Neeson territory. This is not a cookie-cutter read, so if you're expecting that predictable dynamic, you might as well throw that mentality into a flaming trash can right now. Pain does propel the plot, true, but the depth to which it is used to examine grief and identity in the wake of choice and consequences is really something special.

Iglesias' writing is superb, switching beautifully between English and Spanish to create an immersive reading experience that is layered with meaning, exploring the dynamics of Othering and racism juxtaposed with cultural identities and societal expectations. No spoilers, but Mario's character is as much a tool of observation as he is the center of an action-packed story.

And reader, it is brutal. I don't say this lightly. There are scenes in this that rivaled the absolute devastation and horror I felt the first time I watched Se7en. This is the stuff of nightmare fuel, and while I had to put it down to process, I didn't want to stop reading.

Overall, The Devil Takes You Home should be at the top of everyone's list this year. Add it to your TBRs immediately and then come sit by the fire and have a good cry with me.

Huge thanks to Mulholland Books and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for honest review consideration.

I absolutely love this book and author. Everything he puts out is amazing. This has got monsters, folklore, cartels, vengeful father and alot of other cool things. I highly recommend

Okay, let’s front foot things: if you’re a mystery lover who only reads bloodless cosies and can’t handle stark violence laid out on the page, you may struggle with this poetically brutal novel from Texas storyteller Gabino Iglesias. If however you like serial killer thrillers, rural noir, and crime that veers towards horror, you’re in for something brilliant.

The Devil Takes You Home is the harrowing tale of Mario, an office worker and father spiralling downwards following his beloved young daughter’s cancer diagnosis. Strangled by a profiteering US healthcare system, bad decays to worse, and Mario finds himself taking up old insurance company colleague turned junkie Brian’s job offer. Money at the end of a gun; Mario a hitman who goes from desperately reluctant to enjoying the violence he inflicts on bad men. But is he purging his rage at God and circumstance, or stoking it? Then, the offer of a near-suicidal mission with a life-changing payoff: hijack a cartel cash shipment before it crosses back to Mexico.

Iglesias deftly straddles crime and horror in a page-chewing tale of a desperate man on a nightmarish journey. This is a confronting novel: the racism, poverty, and injustice of modern America as much as some nasty events. Unforgettable characters entwined with despair, revenge, extreme religious beliefs, and monsters imagined and real. Excellent.

[This review was first written for Good Reading magazine in Australia]

From nearly the very first words and continuing throughout, these pages are infused with grief, guilt, sadness, racism, poverty and overall REALness. Gabino Iglesias pulls no punches, nor would I want him to. That said, these punches are packing enough power to break your heart. Several times.

The story steps right off into nothingness when a young couple's little girl is diagnosed with cancer. Not only is that word scary, it's expensive. This is the tale of Mario, his wife and daughter, their predicament, and Mario's attempts to provide for his family.

"A sad woman is a blade hanging over the world, threatening to fall at any moment."

The honest truth is hiding here, if you're brave enough to face it. The world is a hard place.

"Sometimes things go wrong and there's nothing you can do about it. And yet, we mostly refuse to give up. Instead we invent gods to help us push forward. Pain invades us and we find reasons to carry on. Death approaches, bony arms outstretched, and we fight it with that inexplicable desire to keep living."

I think the story told here is not that unusual. Parents want to provide for their families, they want their children to be healthy and to have things other children have. Those wants become needs and sometimes it's hard to do what is needed and sometimes nothing can be done at all.

"True pleasure is not wanting anything. Sure, some things feel great when we do them, but we often take for granted what we have, and sometimes what we have is enough. The laughter of your child, for example, is something no degree of poverty can touch."

One more quote that really struck me:

"The truth often sneaks up on you. Things you should have seen suddenly jump at you, covered in insults and screaming, asking how you could have missed them when they were so obvious."

What is obvious to me right now, is that Gabino Iglesias is a talented man with serious writing chops. If you are not familiar with his name, I feel secure in saying you soon will. Especially if dark fiction that doesn't shy away from...well, anything, is your cup of tea.

THE DEVIL TAKES YOU HOME broke my heart and stole a piece of my soul and as such gets my highest recommendation!

*Thank you to the publisher for the E-ARC in exchange for my honest feedback. I pre-ordered a copy of this book, even though I received an ARC, because I loved it THAT MUCH AND I want to support this author in any way that I can.*

Gabino Iglesias is back with yet another powerhouse book. I didn’t know it was possible to improve upon the experience I had with Coyote Songs, but The Devil Takes You Home is perfect. It’s horror. It’s barrio noir. It’s like it’s been bled into existence rather than written. I’m not giving away any details and I’ll likely write a longer review later, but I wanted to get this in so others know to preorder as soon as possible. I love Mario. He is flawed and messed up and human. I’ve been grossed out, I cried, I cheered, I watched what was happening on the page in awe. Love it.

The Devil Takes You Home is a gripping, propulsive thriller with a dark supernatural edge. We follow Mario, a man grieving his young daughter’s death, as he struggles to survive under a mountain of medical debt. He turns to crime as a way to make ends meet, and soon finds himself enmeshed in a dangerous world of cartels and hit men.

This book is dark and its plot unfolds with the precision of a timer counting down the moments to an explosion. Everything that happens is simultaneously shocking and inevitable. I found myself cheering for Mario’s survival even though he did terrible things—he’s a compelling and sympathetic narrator. The supernatural elements were really well done: I loved that they also felt like a bizarre yet inevitable part of the hellish Texas/Mexico landscape. There is no explanation offered for them—they simply are, and like Mario, they exist in a nightmarish dream world where the devil really might follow you home. Highly recommend this one!

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for an early copy of this book.

<i>The devil takes you home<i/> is a gruesome thriller which belongs to a difficult to define genre. The protagonist Mario is an ordinary man who runs into financial difficulty and he decides to be a hitman to deal with his debt. <i>The devil takes you home<i/> is written by the prolific author and critic Gabino Iglesias.

Mario’s precious daughter becomes very ill and Mario does all he can to make sure she receives the best treatment possible. Unfortunately, she dies and Mario is plunged into severe debt and serious martial issues. To overcome his problems Mario is persuaded by a friend to become a hitman. He becomes involved in many crimes until finally he is asked to do one last crime, which will solve all of his money problems. To do this he must team up with two other criminals and, with very little information, they all travel to Mexico to execute the crime and make their last big score. Needless to say, things do not go as expected.

The gruesome parts of this book are a bit too much for me. There are parts of the book that are quite mystical while other parts are quite realistic. This switching back-and-forth between a real heart rendering story about Mario and what appears to be gruesome ghost stories is a bit confusing for me.

The transition between Spanish and English is distracting. There are a few Spanish expressions, which is fine, but then there are full paragraphs of Spanish with no translation which I find disconcerting and I feel they break the flow.

This book is for those that like macabre and violent stories and it is not for the faint of heart. I give this book 3 on 5. I want to thank NetGalley and Mulholland Books for providing me with digital copy of this story. I give this review voluntarily.

This is about a man who tried very hard to live right, but after what happens with his daughter and wife, decides that being bad is how he is going to be. He was not a sympathetic character and while you do not hope that he gets a relatively happily ever after, what does happen is just mean. I would have been ok with him going back and trying to get Melisa to forgive him.

I would have loved to have this veer more into the supernatural, have there be an evil making people act this way, but alas, we are stuck with humans being humans.

I want to point out that I do not speak one iota of spanish but did not have any issues figuring out what was being said. This was written well and the words read smoothly.

A Savage tale of intrigue and suspense. A wild ride for sure. I was on the edge of my seat the entire book. Look forward to more by this author.

If you loved Razorblade Tears then you have to pick up The Devil Takes You Home. This book was a roller coaster! This book does not hold back. Mario is great protagonist and I kept asking myself if what would I do if I was in his shoes? Mario switches from English to Spanish often but dont let that stop you from reading this fast paced thriller. The book is haunting, dark, and gritty, and will stay with you long after you finish.

"You can wrap a shotgun in flowers, but that doesn't make the blast less lethal." These are not the first words in Gabino Iglesias's The Devil Takes You Home, but they reside on the first page and ensure the reader will never be able to look away from the tragic journey of Mario.

Mario is a father whose beloved daughter succumbs to cancer. He and his wife Melisa grow distant, not helped by a more violent side that breaks free of Mario at one point – in what he claims is an accidental strike against Melisa. While violence may not be Mario's desired passion, it is absolutely something he is good at. With his life in ruins, Mario takes a job as a hitman.

There is nobody who writes quite like Gabino Iglesias. His prose combines lush, gorgeous, poetry with brutal metaphors in ways no other author has quite mastered. Iglesias offers the reader flowers with one hand, luring them in with beautiful prose. In the other hand, Iglesias holds a club, ready to swing at the reader with a blunt and brutal statement that reminds them of the harsh world they truly inhabit.

His characters are brilliantly fleshed out. Mario, it should be noted, is as unreliable a narrator as you get. To hear him tell it, he's a loving father and husband thrown in a situation against his will. To watch the brutality unfold, Mario is just too good at violence, too good at getting into trouble for this to be accurate. Iglesias forces us to see the world through the eyes of a brutal hitman claiming he is justified, to challenge our preconceptions and everything we know as the journey takes a descent into the supernatural, paranormal and ever-increasing violence.

Violence, in Iglesias's works, is not merely something you do. It is something that consumes you. To shed blood is to stain yourself and eventually drown yourself. You cannot escape it. There are scenes of such savagery and action that keep the reader's heart racing despite the gruesome content. Redemption is a concept explored, with twists that keep the reader guessing.

But violence is something that inevitably consumes those who engage in it and Iglesias knows better than to engage in maudlin sympathies. Juan Carlos, Mario's partner and a cartel-adjacent killer, is a scary character. He's violent, clever, cruel and omnipresent. Inescapable.

And when you think you have these characters figured out, you don't. Mixed in are insightful commentaries on the tragedies of racism, systemic oppression, the inhumanities of capitalism and the medical system. It's a tragic, beautiful novel and just the latest in a series of beautiful tragedies from Iglesias.

Nitroglycerin on paper.
Gabino Iglesias' The Devil Takes You Home is a gripping crime/horror novel that takes the reader through an enormously wide range of emotions. It is at once heart-wrenching, terrifying, almost grotesquely horrifying, thrilling, and ultimately shocking.
A tale of human loss, angst, redemption, revenge, and almost-salvation interwoven through a world of drugs, cartels, gun-runners, and the supernatural, The Devil Takes You Home is nothing short of brilliant.
Particularly masterful, at least to me, was the inclusion of Spanish (in several dialects) that serves to not only enforce the concept of multiculturalism, but also aids greatly in understanding the characters. And it is never forced--that's what impressed me.
DO NOT let this put you off the book.
Yes, I speak a bit of Spanish; no, you do not have to understand the language to understand the context of it in the book. Trust me, you'll pick up on the words and you'll know precisely what's going on without a translator standing nearby.
I have seen Iglesias' writing described as "barrio noir," which would suggest the overall feel of his work is drawn from Latino neighborhood life with a focus on a fatalistic, morally ambiguous, cynical existence. And The Devil Takes You Home would definitely fit into this "nuevo-niche," but I think you do a disservice when you pigeon-hole a book or a body of work into an existing genre or a new one. This book is a LOT more than could easily be defined in any list of divisions.
It's that good. Read it.

Wow, I feel like I just got gut punched. THE DEVIL TAKES YOU HOME by Gabino Iglesias is a roller coaster of emotions, packed to the brim with revenge, and has elements of crime, thriller, horror, and more. When this has been described as genre-defying in blurbs and other reviews it means just that. Iglesias cannot be placed into a single box and this book proves that. It's loaded with themes of revenge, poverty, racism, systemic oppression, fatherhood, and more. It had my heart pumping almost the entire time. And it broke that same heart a few times. From bolt cutters and disembowelment to gun trafficking and the supernatural, The Devil Takes You Home is a dangerous ride that will definitely have you questioning all sorts of things when you're done. There's a little Breaking Bad going on and a little S.A. Cosby vibes, too. But there's 100% Gabino Iglesias happening and he never holds back. This is fast-paced, brutal, and gut-wrenching at times. The Devil Takes You Home is absolutely making my Top 5 of 2022.

It took a loved one's leukemia diagnosis for Mario to fully appreciate just how much of a terrible hand he's been dealt. Before that came in, he had a good job, useful insurance, a loving wife, and a beautiful daughter. That special little girl is unfortunately too special, a member of that fraction of a percentage of children afflicted with a disease that is non-responsive to treatment. As the struggle against the disease carried on and on, Mario lost that good job, lost that useful insurance, and thanks to the rotten situation and a few terrible choices on his part, he ultimately lost his family. With no support system, it's a short slide into meth use. With all compunctions compromised, it's a shorter slide into working for his pal Brian, killing men for small fees. So, when Brian brings him an offer that seems almost too good to be true, Mario suspects its bullshit. Surprise, surprise, it seems to be for real. Mario stands to make two hundred grand for being part of a small team of men taking down a truck that brings drugs into the US and takes money back to the cartels. It's a suicidal scheme, of course, but one that is attractive to a man with little to lose and everything to gain. His share of the multi-million dollar haul might be enough to tackle the bills, win his ex-wife back, and start a new life from the ashes.

However, the money is not simply waiting there. He's going to have to work to get it. This work takes a lot of shapes, including holding his white boy pal Brian out of reach of their hotheaded partner Juanca, dealing with the casually racist pricks he encounters who have the tools and things he needs and attitudes he does not, or witnessing the ritualistic mutilation of a kid whose body may well be blessed with some kind of bullet resistant charms, or doing the work of killing men who are trying to actively kill him first.

Gabino Iglesias' newest novel is yet another glimpse into the intersection of subtle supernatural thriller and ballsy crime fiction, a barrio noir that echoes some of the themes and motifs of the author's previous works, Zero Saints and Coyote Songs. Here we have the story of a man who is well and truly finding himself neck deep in trouble, drowning in grief and turning to bloody violence as a means of pulling himself together. Mario is not a gangbanger as the novel opens. He's an educated guy with a job in insurance, and the machinations of plot (or quite possibly the whims of chance or fate) draw him into a bleaker side of existence. He is, in many ways, the classic hardboiled character. The opening sections make for some harrowing reading, as we get a glimpse of Mario's life falling into the whirring blades of a Cuisinart. The relentlessness which the author applies, compounding the situation with Mario's little angel of a daughter is merciless, and builds a lot of sympathy fast. It's something of a necessity as we see the protagonist's subsequent slide into a very personal hell, a part of the book where he becomes less sympathetic. We never fail to empathize with Mario, even if we recoil from his actions. He's a challenging character, well written and with a defined arc, but the deeds he is a part of are often repellant (as befits good crime fiction).

The novel eases up on the relentless pacing when it enters into the job that will maybe give Mario the chance to start over. Then, the book becomes much more concerned with the journey into a far more brutal hell, allowing out character numerous opportunities to step out of the situation. He cannot leave this ride early, however. This long road toward confrontation and reward are something he must see through for several reasons.

Iglesias had applied his talents for crime and horror to a novel that reads, more or less like a road story. This is Barry Gifford territory, quirky and grotesque and funny and chilling in equal measure. The author makes the material his own, giving us an eyeful of the sorts of crooks and civies who populate the American southwest and Mexico as well as giving us a look at the tunnels that run along the border. There are monsters aplenty here, some human and some criaturas (creatures), none of which would be out of place in an EC Comics cautionary tale.

This is not to suggest Iglesias' novel is cartoonish or campy. It's got a pulp vibe to it, but it takes its material seriously. There may be some humorous exchanges between the characters, but there are no knowing winks or nods to the reader in the narrative itself. This is a solid crime thriller with supernatural touches and an impressive mean-spiritedness. We don't read this kind of book to see the characters treated with kid gloves or kindness. We read it to see the characters suffer, to have their worlds blown open, and to find out how they will cope with a new perspective. Such fiction is often populated by doomed people, whose fates are written out ahead of time. Iglesias always keeps some hope alive throughout his work. Yes, there are betrayals, pains, tortures, and torments, but we can always cling to a shred of belief that Mario will make it out. Maybe not as whole as he came in, maybe not with the money he's been promised, but alive. Whether or not this is true, I shall not spoil, but we nevertheless keep that hope until the final revelation. Balancing the cruelties Mario sees and performs with this optimistic vein is a trick many authors have difficulty doing. Iglesias does a fine job.

As with his previous books, the author is not afraid to pepper the text with Spanish dialogue. Some characters can switch mid-sentence, while others are monolingual. Iglesias has solid chops at weaving the two languages together, and the flow of language is fluid. Most of the passages are given enough context and subsequent translation for us to piece out general and specific meaning. This level of immersion is not for everyone, but it is certainly effective.

Another nice touch is how clear a sense The Devil Takes You Home has with its locations. Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico all make appearance in the novel, and Iglesias paints them with a grounded sense of their individual characters. Where the magic really shows up are those places that are not familiar, such as the creepy tunnel systems along the border. These are the sorts of places that a film like Belzebuth (2017) make use of. It's ripe territory for writing that emphasizes the dark, claustrophobic aspects and the sensory impressions that visiting such places can evoke. The author does a solid job

The Devil Takes You Home is one hell of an engaging read. I love the way this author merges crime and the supernatural, weaving a seamless tapestry of quality characterizations, strange circumstances, and plot twists to deliver a thrilling and often heartbreaking page turner with both brains and guts.
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Thank you to Netgallley and Mulholland Books for allowing me the opportunity to read Iglesias' new novel ahead of publication. I was supplied with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Though I've read some of Gabino's short fiction, The Devil Takes You Home, was my first novel from the author. Its landscape is gritty and dark. Mario's backstory is heartbreaking. I've always loved crime and horror blends, so this was right up my alley. The supernatural elements are of a light touch for the most part, but when they come, they come hard. For me, the horror is Mario's life; I couldn't do it. I have kids and would kill myself if I lost them. The fact that Mario continues on and even daydreams of reuniting with his wife to "try another miracle" was difficult for me to grasp. Aside from this disconnect with the main character, his story sucked me into its darkness and held me there from start to finish. I also appreciated the authenticity of the dialogue and beliefs expressed throughout the novel. Using my Kindle translator for the Spanish conversations was rewarding and made the story more interactive and real.

I devoured this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone.