Hall of Mirrors

Book 3 of The Coil Series

The dead do not rest. They journey.

Private investigator Néstor Buñuel has spent five years trying to forget what he witnessed—a man pulled back from the edge of Mictlán by something that should not exist. He never crossed the threshold himself. But he got close enough to know that the Aztec lords of the underworld were watching.

When Steven Puttock—the Night Drinker, convicted of two ritual murders and suspected of many more—requests a final interview from his cell at Otisville federal prison, Néstor agrees. It's a mistake that will cost him everything.

During a catastrophic blackout inside the facility, both men are plunged into Mictlán. Not as symbols. Not as particles of light. As flesh and blood, in a place where no living body should exist.

Inside the nine levels of the ancient Mexica underworld, time moves differently. Months pass. Maybe years. Néstor and his most dangerous adversary are forced to journey together—deeper and deeper toward something called the Hall of Mirrors—while back in a fracturing, surveilled, dystopian America, the world Néstor left behind is already burning.

How long can you survive in the underworld before it becomes the only world you know?

The Coil Series reading order:

1. 13 Secret Cities
2. 9 Lords of Night
3. Hall of Mirrors

About the Author Cesar Torres is the creator of the Aztecverse—a dark fantasy multiverse rooted in Mexica cosmology and queer identity. They are the author of the How to Kill a Superhero saga and The Coil Series. Find them at cesartorres.me.

Pre-order ships July 8, 2026.