A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens

A Novel

By: Raul Palma

Narrated by: Emmanuel Chumaceiro

Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

A genre-bending debut with a fiercely political heart, A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens explores the weight of the devil’s bargain, following the lengths one man will go to for the promise of freedom.

Hugo Contreras’s world in Miami has shrunk. Since his wife died, Hugo’s debt from her medical bills has become insurmountable. He shuffles between his efficiency apartment, La Carreta (his favorite place for a cafecito), and a botanica in a strip mall where he works as the resident babaláwo.

One day, Hugo’s nemesis calls. Alexi Ramirez is a debt collector who has been hounding Hugo for years, and Hugo assumes this call is just more of the same. Except this time Alexi is calling because he needs spiritual help. His house is haunted. Alexi proposes a deal: If Hugo can successfully cleanse his home before Noche Buena, Alexi will forgive Hugo’s debt. Hugo reluctantly accepts, but there’s one issue: Despite being a babaláwo, he doesn’t believe in spirits.

Hugo plans to do what he’s done with dozens of clients before: use sleight of hand and amateur psychology to convince Alexi the spirits have departed. But when the job turns out to be more than Hugo bargained for, Hugo’s old tricks don’t work. Memories of his past—his childhood in the Bolivian silver mines and a fraught crossing into the United States as a boy—collide with Alexi’s demons in an explosive climax.

Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens explores questions of visibility, migration, and what we owe—to ourselves, our families, and our histories.

©2023 Raul Palma (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"A sparkling gem of a novel…Palma writes with precision and wit, bringing out a story that’s genuinely compelling and insightful.” —CrimeReads, “The Best Debuts of October”

“The tension mounts steadily, with spine-tingling moments of horror intensifying as Hugo’s anger and remorse towards Alexi come to the forefront…Palma’s fresh interpretation of timeless themes makes this a winner.” —Publishers Weekly *starred*

“Metaphors that would be heavy-handed in another writer’s hands, Palma deploys with ease, swirling together ghosts, debt, colonialism, and guilt to create something greater…A masterful tale of demons, trauma, and debt.” —Kirkus *starred*

loved the narrator

the story got lost many times. I stayed with it but still, the end was confusing