The Evil Hour (Spanish: La mala hora) is a novel by Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez, first published (in an edition disowned by the author) in 1962. Written while García Márquez lived in Paris, the story was originally entitled Este pueblo de mierda (This Town of Shit or This Shitty Town). Rewritten, it won a literary prize in Colombia. Some of the same characters and situations found in La mala hora later re-appear in Cien años de soledad.