Death is missing

Her father is trapped between worlds

Luckily, Ada is reckless enough to try and find both…

Sixteen-year-old Ada Martin never knew her father. He left when she was a baby and Ada has spent her life turning absence into anger. When her mom insists they travel to Mexico and say goodbye to the man on his deathbed, Ada agrees on the condition she can let him know all the ways he’s done her wrong.

But when she arrives, nothing makes sense: her father isn’t just dying, his soul is trapped between this world and the next. And he’s not the only one. No one in town has died in weeks.

Determined to get in the final word, Ada travels to Mictlán, the land of the dead. There, myth comes to life with rivers that threaten to drag her for eternity, mountains that crush the lost, and star demons who whisper her darkest fears. Joined by a half-sister she doesn’t know, a boy determined to play hero, and a sharp-tongued skeletal cat, Ada must cross nine levels before time runs out in the world above.

But for Ada, finding Death isn’t about saving anyone. Death may be the only one powerful enough to give her what she’s always wanted. Answers.

One final conversation with her father to learn the truth about why he left and who she really is before demons destroy the world.

Death & Other Things Below is a Coming of Age YA fantasy about grief, identity, belonging, and how far we’re willing to go for answers.