“Monstrilio inhabits an interstitial space among smart horror, folklore, literary fiction and the kind of weird, often multicultural narratives that usually get labelled magical realism for lack of a better term… Sámano Córdova has created an outstanding debut; for all the ground being broken in genre-bending horror, his is a distinctive, exciting new voice in fiction.” ― Los Angeles Times

“A Promethean fable about reconstruction, reinvention, and the occasional human-sized snack.” ― Kirkus Reviews

Grieving mother Magos cuts out a piece of her deceased eleven-year-old son Santiago’s lung. Acting on fierce maternal instinct and the dubious logic of an old folktale, she nurtures the lung until it gains sentience, growing into the carnivorous little Monstrilio she keeps hidden within the walls of her family’s decaying Mexico City estate.

Eventually, Monstrilio begins to resemble the Santiago he once was, but his innate impulses― though curbed by his biological and chosen family’s communal care― threaten to destroy this fragile second chance at life.