The Haunting of Alejandra

Castro (Mestiza Blood) puts a unique twist on the Mexican legend of La Llorona in this eerie contemporary horror story of a woman’s struggle against both her inner demons and the demons of her family’s past. From the outside, Alejandra has the perfect life, complete with a well-off husband, a nice house in Philadelphia, and three healthy children. But on the inside, Alejandra has lost her sense of identity and finds herself falling deeper into a hole of darkness and despair. Alejandra fears she’s losing her mind when she starts hearing voices and sees the ghostly apparition of a crying woman in a white dress. She reaches out to Melanie Ortiz, a therapist and curandera, and together they uncover that the curse of La Llorona, the crying woman, has plagued the women in Alejandra’s family for generations. Alejandra must draw on her own inner strength and the strength of her ancestors, who readers meet in flashbacks, to break the cycle of torment. Castro cleverly uses Mexican folklore to shine a light on multigenerational trauma, but the jumping timelines and stilted dialogue create a level of remove from the more visceral chills. Still, horror fans who prefer psychological scares will find plenty to enjoy here. (Apr.)