Infested

May 22, 2023
Puerto Rican 17-year-old Manny Rivera is furious at his mother and stepfather: after revealing their sudden decision to move from Manny’s San Antonio hometown to the Bronx, they are only giving him a week’s notice to pack up his entire life. Moreover, they now expect him to help his stepdad finish setting up the luxury condo he’s managing there. On top of dealing with contractors who keep ghosting him and contending with a large cockroach infestation, Manny finds himself in a contentious relationship with Afro-Latina teen Sasha Betancourt, who protests the gentrification that the condos represent. Though his budding friendship with elderly German immigrant Mr. Mueller, the building’s kind exterminator, lifts his spirits, Manny is soon plagued by roach-related nightmares, uncharacteristic bursts of intense rage, and a sneaking suspicion that the condo might be the site of something more sinister than just waylaid new construction. Swiftly moving prose peppered with quippy, multilingual dialogue propels debut author Colón’s tightly paced paranormal thriller. Manny’s acerbic but good-humored first-person POV perceptively renders grounded scenes exploring familial tensions and racism alongside gruesome instances of body horror and abject life-threatening terror. Age 14–up. Agent: Jon Michael Darga, Aevitas Creative Management.

June 1, 2023
Col�n weaves a frightening tale of possession in his young adult debut. No one wants to move across the country to an unfamiliar neighborhood in an unfamiliar city the summer before their senior year, and Manny is especially cross when he learns that his mom and stepdad are moving the family from San Antonio to the Bronx. Though it's where his Puerto Rican mom grew up and where they still have family, the Bronx is not home, and living in a nearly empty apartment building to help get it ready for new tenants is not how Manny wants to spend his summer. He begins to develop an unlikely friendship with Sasha, an Afro-Latina neighbor protesting the new building, but things are falling apart at home. For starters, Manny begins to sense a looming presence. Then there are the inescapable cockroaches and outbursts of anger that feel completely out of character for him. The novel works on several levels: The new apartment complex represents a potential wave of gentrification as the cockroaches infest the building, even terrorizing Manny, and as a malevolent force seems to take control of Manny's emotions and behavior. Though regular readers in the genre will likely see the twist coming early on, those who appreciate body horror will find plenty to make their skin crawl. Creepy-crawly body horror with a dash of social commentary. (Horror. 14-18)

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