House of Bone and Rain

Iglesias’s (The Devil Takes You Home) beautifully haunting coming-of-age noir features five young men journeying into the heart of a hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico. Childhood friends Gabe, Bimbo, Tavo, Paul, and Xavier would do anything for each other, so when Bimbo’s mother, Maria, is murdered, they all seek revenge. Bimbo, overwhelmed with grief, does not care that his mother’s killers are connected to a powerful crime boss and drags his friends along on a terrifying ride. As the sky darkens and monsters walk the night, the storm descending on the five friends threatens to consume them all. Only in the universe created by Iglesias can the grittiest crime fiction seamlessly meld with folkloric and cosmic terrors. Narrator Jean-Marc Berne’s portrayal of Gabe, the main protagonist, cements him as the group’s (and the book’s) moral center, a person who knows the price of killing but will also do anything to help his friends. Daya Mendez voices characters who helplessly watch the destruction of Puerto Rico and the potential destruction of these five men.