Tom Mathews’s Reviews > The Possession of Alba Díaz > Status Update

The reason these men made deals with the Devil was because they could not otherwise harness the power for the acts they wished to undertake, and so they bargained with the only immortal thing they might ever possess: their souls.
They were lazy.

She had no eyes.
Dark holes gaped in her face like a corpse’s, like a skeleton’s, black and deep and endless and growing and gorging themselves on darkness.

"The fainting bride had died yesterday afternoon. Coffins began to appear soon thereafter, carried on slumped shoulders through the winding streets of the city."

*The Matlazahuatl epidemic was a series of hemorrhagic fever outbreaks that plagued Mexico, particularly during the 18th and 19th centuries, also known as cocoliztli in the 16th century. The disease caused high fevers, bleeding, and a high mortality rate.

She flipped her fan open and batted it gently before her face, as if she were warm. A coquettish gesture, another piece of a game they played.

This was the way it was: warm words , the practiced dance of flirtation. Enough to make any onlooker in Zacatecas believe that they were such lucky young things , to be marrying for love instead of money.

If Carlos was a candle, Alba was the shadow it cast. Always a half step behind, flickering with unease at his every move.