My Rating
The Ravenous Dead is book #2 in the Gravekeeper series and even though one can read this without reading book #1 as the major events have been mentioned in this, I would strongly suggest reading in order as the little town called Blighty, its pastor named Adage, the loving and friendly residents and the haunted cemetery comes alive in its entirety.
Thankfully I had read The Whispering Dead and knew the premise of the story going in. Keira, the girl with no memory of her origins except her name has shared her talent of seeing ghosts with Adage but no one else is aware of her gift. Darcy Coates has multiple mysteries running in parallel in the Ravenous Dead just like the previous one. For starters, Keira is intent on finding the identity of a John Doe buried in the cemetery but she has to literally grapple with a malevolent and angry spirit intent on consuming the energy of people and ghosts alike thus increasing his strength. Meanwhile, there is also the mystery of her predicament of having no memory and being hunted by persons unknown.
Her friendship with Zoe the quirky and paranoid conspiracy addict is the highlight of the novel. Zoe is a loving character whose story is yet to be explored completely. In fact, Keira’s identity and Mason’s backstory are still kept in the dark. I wished that at least Keira’s story had moved a step further from the first book but the suspense of the ghosts makes the Ravenous Dead quite an interesting read and seeing that Zoe is researching the insignia of the organization targeting Keira, hopefully, this mystery will get revealed in the next one. The romance also is slow step progress as Mason’s care and concern for Keira is evident but nothing much happens to take it further.
This is a mild horror novel, the scary parts are not too terrifying and thus would not make the gore-loving horror fans happy but I am surely in love with this series by Darcy Coates. It was thrilling to see the growth of trust between the three friends and how Mason and Zoe have begun to help Keira in her attempts with ghost hunting. The fog-enshrouded cemetery and woods are quite atmospheric and the author has worked wonders with the elements.
Looking forward to reading the next adventure by Keira and her friends.
Many thanks to Net Galley, Poisoned Pen Press, and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.
He’ll never let go…
Keira, hired as Blighty Graveyard’s new groundskeeper, lives surrounded by the dead. They watch her through the fog. They wordlessly cry out. They’ve been desperately waiting for help moving on—and only Keira can hear them. But not every restless spirit wants to be saved.
Sometimes the dead hate the living too much to find peace.
As Keira struggles to uncover the tangled histories of some of the graveyard’s oldest denizens, danger seeps from the darkest edges of the forest. A vicious serial killer was interred among the trees decades before, his spirit twisted by his violent nature. He’s furious. Ravenous. And when Keira unwittingly answers his call, she may just seal her fate as his final intended victim.
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My review for THE WHISPERING DEAD (Gravekeeper #1)