Excerpt from Hades, Argentina by Daniel Loedel, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

At first the sight of her confused me; I assumed it was a look-alike, the product of some mental overreaching. But when she languidly raised her eyes at my approach, there was no question, only a rush of emotions I couldn't disentangle or describe, except to use her name: Isabel. She was just standing there smoking a cigarette.

Or had been—when I reached her, she threw it away almost unburned and gave it a stomp, saying, "Tastes like shit."

"I don't believe it," I said.

"Don't you, though? You're here," she pointed out. "Do you want to get a drink? I haven't had one in ages."

She went ahead without waiting for my response. And why wouldn't she? It was the most obvious thing in the world that I'd follow her wherever she went. I always had.

Excerpted from Hades, Argentina by Daniel Loedel. Copyright © 2021 by Daniel Loedel. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.