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Book: “The Vengeful Dead” by Darcy Coates
Publishing Info: Poisoned Pen Press, February 2025
Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publisher.
Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound
Book Description: How far will she go to save the damned?
Keira is caught in a deadly battle. Her ability to help ghosts move on from the mortal world has made her a threat to Artec, a powerful corporation intent on trapping the tortured dead for profit. They’ve been tracking her for years and now, finally, there’s nowhere left for her to run.
Artec fears Keira and everything she’s capable of. They will stop at nothing to eliminate her―including sending armed men after everyone she holds dear.
Desperate and quickly running out of time, Keira races to hone her abilities as she searches for a way to destroy the twisted organization for good. But at least now she’s no longer alone. Her friends have offered to follow wherever she leads, even if that means a direct strike deep into the heart of Artec’s central base…and to the certain death waiting for them there.
Review: Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for sending me an ARC of this novel!
It’s been about two years since I started Darcy Coates’s dark fantasy/horror “Gravekeeper” series, and we have now reached the end with the fifth book “The Vengeful Dead”. What started as a story about an amnesiac who can see ghosts in a quirky small town has grown into something more, involving found family, corporate conspiracy, and… well, still a quirky small town. I am always interested to see where a series lands once all is said and done, and I am happy to report that “The Vengeful Dead” was a successful wrap up to a series I’ve enjoyed for the past two years!
As a satisfying wrap up of an ongoing series, I thought that this book really does a good job of not only tying up the Artec arc that has been plaguing Keira since we first met her, it also gave us one last stand alone ghost story, involving an old sanatorium and the ghosts of women who were, perhaps, victimized there. I wasn’t certain that we were going to get one more story where Keira helps ghosts that are unable to move on, be it due to unfinished business or Artec holding them hostage to drain them of their energy, and when it became clear that she was going to have one more mission in that regard I was very pleased. I also thought that the Artec story, which grew and became more fleshed out as the series went on, had a really well done climax and conclusion here. When I started this book I never imagined that Keira’s biggest hardship would involve a corporation trying to exploit resources and beings to create a profit, but man, what a storyline for everything else going on in the world at the moment. Coates had a lot of build up and I had high hopes, and I felt that the way it all wrapped up in “The Vengeful Dead” was deeply, deeply satisfying for this reader who has been all in since Keira first arrived in Blighty four books ago.
But the strongest aspect of “The Gravekeeper” series for me was always the characters, and I was really hoping that we would get a good send off for Keira, Zoe, Mason, Daisy the cat, and all of the quirky (and sometimes villainous) people of Blighty. One of my favorite themes of these books was the way that Keira made herself a found family and found herself in such a kind and loving community, with crabby recluses, charming florists, mysterious coffee shop owners, and others, and to see so many of these characters, main and supporting, have moments to shine and moments to let the readers say goodbye was so heartening. We got nods to previous plot points, we got couples finally officially getting together, and we got to see Keira, Zoe, and Mason work together through the toughest times and keep their bonds alive with heart and humor as well as the freaky moments that come with horror stories. I always found this series to be more on the cozy side because of all of the characters, and while I’m certainly going to miss them, I was so thrilled with all that they were able to do in this last story.
I would love it if Darcy Coates comes back to Keira, Zoe, and Mason in the future. But if this is really goodbye for our “Gravekeeper” Scooby Gang, what a lovely and satisfying ending it was.
Rating 8: An action packed and satisfying conclusion to a charming horror series, “The Vengeful Dead” sticks the landing for sure.
Reader’s Advisory:
“The Vengeful Dead” is included on the Goodreads list “Horror Books 2025”.
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