DISPOSSESSED: A Very L.A. Ghost Story
by STAFF
An irreverent coming-of-age comedy with the chills of slow-burn horror. Get ready for pumpkins, turkeys, Santas, and fiery-eyed demons! DISPOSSESSED is the perfect holiday “evergreen.”
DISPOSSESSED: A Very L.A. Ghost Story – a novel by Guillermo X. Márquez
How to describe the novel? Let’s see. Take the fun parts of A Haunting in Connecticut, toss in some pizza and Gen Z angst, and drop it in the storied cultural wilderness of Los Angeles. It’s a touching and irreverent yarn of love, friendship and, of course, demonic possession. The story takes us through a relentlessly scary Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas season for a broad-audience narrative that screams feature film or streaming series. Wryly playful, cinematic, and ultimately moving, DISPOSSESSED has all the feels.
Márquez takes us to the telltale heart of L.A. and a young mixed-race couple, man-child Alejandro “Alex” Olvera and his girly girlfriend, Tempest Wirth. Defying parental edicts, they’re looking for their first place together. The pair bumps into a tumbledown rent-to-own Victorian mansion that will just fit their meager budget, if nothing goes wrong… but of course, it does. Repairs are endless. Their employer cuts their pay, sending their finances sideways just when the city piles on fines and liens against the crumbling hulk. Eerie events stack up. And the old house has wicked plans of its own. Something horrific lurks within its walls; a thing long dead that enthralls Tempest and, little by little, is consuming her soul. Soon Alex is dealing with the twin terrors of battling monsters in the shadows and dancing on a financial knife’s edge. It’s hard to say what’s more scary: the death or the taxes.
When Alex discovers the original owner’s grisly secrets, hushed for a century by money and buried in conspiracy, he realizes Tempest is in mortal danger. It’s up to Alex, with help from his colorful friends, to break the spell and rescue his beloved from the clutches of a romance-novel-handsome hunk from hell who’s horning-in on their relationship.
The story is at once lavishly lyrical and over-the-top, never stooping to cheap gore or gratuitous sex. DISPOSSESSED glides between campy and unexpectedly deep, and is as creepy as glowing red eyes in an attic window. The richness of its spook-house scares were clearly born of the author’s own experiences in an extremely haunted Hollywood mansion and propelled by his wonderfully twisted and endlessly fertile imagination.
Márquez demonstrates power as a keen observer of human folly, filtered through an energetic genre conceit that doesn’t skimp on the scares — or the bodily noises. The author proves that real evil doesn’t just lurk under our beds, but within the finely appointed halls of power.
Márquez artfully weaves the sordid true history of Los Angeles, skeletons, social justice, and laugh-out-loud humor to create an ornate tapestry that grabs readers by the pith and smacks them hard in the pathos. It’s spooky, snarky fun that crackles with a greater message about family, fairness, friendship, and the undeniable power of the perfect string of emojis. A good read that won’t insult your intelligence, and one that moves from horror to hilarity with the grace of an Olympian.
More by Guillermo X. Márquez
EVIL’S EDEN: Only Murders in Los Angeles
Author site: GXMarquez.com
Genres: Supernatural / Comedy / Holidays / Los Angeles / Romance
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