The Whispering Dead (Gravekeeper, 1)

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

“There’s something evil here. Something evil...something evil... something evil...”

Keira is being hunted and doesn’t know why. She finds shelter in an abandoned groundskeeper’s cottage via the assistance of a friendly pastor.

She discovers that she has a strange connection to the dead who walk among the gravestones in the cemetery next to her cottage.

One in particular is begging for help, so Keira embarks on a quest to put this spirit to rest.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The coziness, the eerie encounters scattered throughout, the friendships, and the determination Keira exhibits. I was here for it, and I am so glad this is a series, because I want more!

This is a book I can share with my older kids, which makes me giddy to no end. Not too scary, but adventurous enough to keep you flipping the pages. The perfect balance.

Darcy Coates’ books will be filling my shelves in no time, you can bet on it!

I don’t think this was the proper Darcy Coates book to start with. The Whispering Dead was definitely entertaining, but it also felt kind of hollow and weird. Maybe this is because it’s going to be a series and there’s a lot to be fleshed out through the upcoming books? It’s kind of hard to say honestly.

That being said, I really did enjoy my first foray into Coates’ work and I am super excited to venture into her other novels. Just go into this knowing that there are a lot of unanswered questions/several dangling threads of this story. Overall, it was worth the read. At no point was I bored or considered marking this a DNF. This will be more of a middle rating at 3 stars.

Unconvincing in ways that don't involve the paranormal, like how she's able to just live in an empty/dusty house on her own while the first two supporting characters - a pastor and a med school student - are very casual about the entire situation. A bone thin woman with injuries and amnesia and their response is "Well you don't want police, so you can stay in this dead guy's house." Also another annoying case of the main character having a very deep wound and being able to calmly sit through stitches without anesthetic. "It hurt less than the antiseptic had" is literally part of the narration. Also the wound that needed stitching was "nearly down to the bone," but all Keira's narration told us was that it hurt a little? No blood coming out of an open wound that deep? It took until Chapter 3 for her to acknowledge it and her only response was, "I forgot I was injured there too." And all that I've brought up is only the beginning of the book - within the first 50 pages. Lots of smiling and laughing between her and the med school student (with green eyes that are mentioned at least twice per page) even when something isn't funny. Keira's one-liners while talking to herself are also exhausting. None of my issues have to do with the paranormal aspect of the book, but rather how the living characters are written. None of them are convincing people that I want to read about. They're all stupid, actually. Giving it two stars because I really enjoyed the sentence flow and ease of reading. But unfortunately, that's the only thing. Other people can obviously get past the absurdity given the positive reviews, but if you're a critical reader, you'll likely find yourself very frustrated within the first handful of chapters.

This one was probably the best one in the series but was still just meh. More like a teenage R.L Stine book is what it reminded me of.

I love this author and this book. The entire series was amazing.

Darcy Coates has rapidly become one of my favorite authors. Love this story, how she develops her characters and their adventures are fun and surprising. Started reading the next book in the series and already loving it too!

I have read many books by this author and have loved every single one and this one definitely did not disappoint. This storyline felt different than other books I have by this author. It felt lighter and more wholesome than scary, which shockingly I really loved. I was addicted to this story, to the town of Blightly and all its residents. I wanted to know each and everyone of their stories, those dead and alive. This was a super fast read, that will keep you guessing even after the story ends. It had a little bit of everything, you had humor with Zoe, hints of possible romance with Mason and of course lots of paranormal suspense. I highly recommend this book and this author to everyone.

Enjoyed this book. It had more of a young adult feel to me but kept me intrigued. Loved the characters and their development. Can't wait to get started on the second in this series. I borrowed this book from my library.

I haven’t read the rest of this collection but I did read this one maybe & year ago & totally loved it. Especially the kitty. 🐈‍⬛❤️

This is badly written. It reads like a middle school book report.