Hades, Argentina

It’s 1986, and our protagonist Tomás Orilla returns to Buenos Aires after nearly a decade gone in New York. Soon, he is enmeshed in his past — literally enmeshed, because Daniel Loedel’s debut is more than just a political/historical novel, but rather a ghost story. Hades, Argentina is about Tomás’s journey to reckon with what happened in 1976, when a coup occurred and a military junta came to power. Thousands of Argentinians were “disappeared,” never to be seen or heard of again. His old friend the Colonel takes Tomás back to the past, entering a sort of Hades: “You know there are no dead in Argentina, Tomás. Only disappeared,” he explains.

So, back to 1976 we go: Tomás, a Jewish med student, is not involved in politics — but when he falls back with his childhood crush, Isabel, he gets wrapped up in her world (she’s involved with the Montoneros, a leftist urban guerrilla group), and she pushes him to get involved in work that makes him question his morals and who he is. The book goes in and out of the past, and leaves you constantly questioning what is actually happening (in a good way). It’s a gorgeously told tale of really tough subjects — terror, betrayal, love, and more — and gives you a portrait of how awful it is to live under dictatorship. Loedel writes that this novel is inspired by his half-sister, Isabel Loedel Maiztegui, a Montonera who was disappeared on January 17, 1978 at the age of 22.

Rating: ★★★★