The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**4.5-stars**
I will not be cured…but neither will I be caged.
🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
In 1765, a plague sweeps through Zacatecas, Mexico, forcing our MC, Alba, along with her family, to flee the city and seek refuge at a property owned by her fiance, Carlos’s, family.
The property is an active silver mine and many of Carlos’s family members are there, involved in the day-to-day operations, including a black sheep cousin, Elias, whom Alba finds quite intriguing.
Living there is a bit of shift in lifestyle for Alba, but she’s not hating it. One day on a tour, she actually gets to venture into the mine, and wanders off a little on her own to explore.
Big mistake and let this be a lesson to us all.
Alba has a disturbing first experience in the mine, including auditory hallucinations that shocked and confused her. She became disoriented and feared herself lost. It’s after this initial exploration that events start trending into negative territory for Alba.
She begins hallucinating, sleepwalking and experiencing strange convulsions. She also starts having dark thoughts that are completely out of the norm for her.
Fearing for her sanity and her life, Alba ends up befriending the last person she should, and seeking solace through his company. As the two try to figure out what’s going on with her, they boldly face enemies from all sides.
Heck, yeahhhhh! Isabel Cañas has done it again. The Possession of Alba Diaz is dripping in atmosphere, and full of an unsettling dread. How does Cañas make me love Historical Fiction?
Answer: With the atmosphere, that’s how!
Granted caves, or anything cave adjacent, such as, oh, I don’t know, silver mines, are definitely a real life fear of mine, so Cañas played right into that with this novel.
I have had great success with Cañas’s novels in the past and this one did fall more into my comfort zone, as far as content goes, than the previous two. I love a possession story, and although this is a very slow burn, I feel it paid off.
Cañas definitely has a feel, or a formula, to her work. I’d be able to tell it’s one of her novels, even if I hadn’t seen her name on the cover. Her MCs have similar vibes, but I like it. I always know what I’m getting myself into and it keeps me coming back for more.
In addition to following Alba, we also get Elias’s perspective and I adored him. I’m so glad that it was a dual narrative, because I felt like he brought so much.
His backstory was very interesting, and though he was such a sweet cupcake, he was treated terribly by his family, but that’s a whole other thing. Both he and Alba were out of their element at this place, and I liked that they were able to be there for each other through some crazy stuff.
At the end of the day, this was a very satisfying reading experience. I always appreciate how much time and care it seems Cañas takes with the settings of her stories and building a sense of uneasiness.
I also like the real history she peppers throughout, and how the land/area always feels like such an important part of the story. I would probably put this last out of her three books in overall enjoyment order, but I still really, really liked it. I’m just an Isabel Cañas stan; what can I say?!
Thank you to the publisher, Berkley, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I can’t wait to see what this author releases next. We’ve had haunted properties, vampires and possessions, what are we getting next!?
I will be on the edge of my seat until we find out. Whatever it is though, you better believe I will be first in line for a copy.
I cannot wait!