The Dangers of Smoking in Bed

These stories are grounded in horror—there's no shortage of zombies and ghosts. But this collection isn't merely a genre exercise. Enriquez uses these stories to interrogate ideas about fascism, family, and desire. Argentina's troubled political history is foregrounded, lending each story a darkness that's richer and more disturbing than the monsters of run-of-the-mill horror. When the macabre is mixed up with real-world threats, there's a creepiness that stays with the reader long after they've put the book down.

I came to the book almost a year late, which is astonishing, as I am a great fan of Enriquez’s short fiction. The short stories in this collection met my expectations, combining gothic (or, shall we say, neo-gothic) elements with a vivid ramble through Buenos Aires, where the stories are based.

Enriquez is a master of the arts of the short story, and the hearts of human beings. These unsettling narratives of witchcraft, revenge, disappearances, and madness seem to be so far from our ordinary middle-class existence, and yet, they tell you more about our lives than the usual fiction… show more.

A collection of sinister, menacing stories, each hinting at death or danger, with some alluding to the supernatural. Several are set in threatening urban locations. Others offer ominous settings that unsettle the reader: a well, a remote quarry pool, a derelict lookout tower. Most are delivered by narrators who casually describe the no-hope lives of the characters and scenarios in a nonchalant, streetwise way.

The narrative style invites the reader to speculate what will or may happen, adding suspense and discomfort. An example is the novella Kids Who Come Back, in which children who have been reported as missing return… show more.