“A supernatural thriller, a murder mystery, and a rumination on personal and environmental catastrophe—The Devil of the Provinces is none of these things and all of these things. With skillful economy, Juan Cárdenas crafts a story where everyone is complicit, even the reader. A brilliant, ambitious novel that searches for meaning in the shadows of a dangerous and ambiguous world.”

“Cárdenas generates queasy intrigue from something as strange as the birth of a devil child and as mundane as a text message that has been read but not replied to. . . . Briskly paced, thoughtful, and truly weird: a whodunit that takes on the very idea of blame.”

“...a dizzying and beguiling yarn of a middle-aged man’s return to his Colombian hometown after 15 years abroad. It’s a crime story, but one without clear answers or culprits. (...) South American fiction fans will love this.”

“Catastrophe and grace intertwine throughout The Devil of the Provinces, as do the horror and beauty of what remains hidden. The result, in the hands of Juan Cárdenas, is hypnotic, disturbing, memorable.”

“This eerie psycho-noir opens with a biologist who has reluctantly returned to his Colombian hometown to live with his mother. Though he’s found weed from a sociable drug dealer, and work as a substitute teacher at a boarding school, he remains haunted by reminders of his brother’s still-unsolved murder ten years prior. As inexplicable events crop up around him — students who vanish, a girl from a powerful cult who gives birth to a baby covered in thick black hair— he becomes a begrudging detective exploring a web of conspiracy fueled by religious fanaticism and late capitalism. ”

“A delightful read, no matter how you look at it.”

“Effective and delightful prose.”

“An outstanding and original voice.”

“El diablo de las provincias is a masterful literature lesson that multiplies politics times nature and divides its factor by the quotientes of skepticism and irony. Apt for readers of a 7.5 level of exigence on the Valente scale (from 0 to 9 here and in Colombia).”