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What the Dead Keep
Book 1
C. M. Whisler
The dead don’t steal. They trade.
Every Samhain, Isolde “Izzy” Vela leaves the same offerings on her family’s graves: mezcal, rosemary, a cigarette, and a letter she never sends. She knows the rules—never ask for more than one secret, never read the book aloud, never check the graves at dawn—but this year, the dead are greedy. The offerings vanish before midnight. The Book of Given Names writes itself in her ancestors’ handwriting, its pages filled with confessions that rewrite her memories. And the black marigolds on Luz’s grave bloom only for those who don’t know they’re dead.
When a skeptical journalist, Dante Morales, arrives to expose the town’s “haunted” tourism scams, he catches Izzy pulling a locket from her sister’s sealed casket. But the real fraud isn’t the graves—it’s the lie Izzy tells herself to keep breathing. Because the Collector is coming for the last piece of her: the name she buried herself under.
Now, with the book’s ink bleeding into her veins and the tide pools whispering in a language only she understands, Izzy must decide: Is she the girl who drowned, the ghost who got away, or the monster the dead made her?
A haunting, lyrical tale of memory as currency, grief as a bargain, and the lies we tell to stay alive—even when we’re not.
This book is available for:
Kindle Unlimited
Additional Book Details
Major Tropes:
Amnesia/Mistaken Identity, Slow Burn
Tropes:
- **Unreliable Narrator** – Izzy doesn’t realize she’s dead; her memories are being rewritten.
- **Haunted Artifact** – The *Book of Given Names* writes itself in the dead’s handwriting and erases Izzy’s past.
- **The Dead Lie** – Ancestors trade secrets for offerings, but their "truths" are manipulative.
- **The Collector** – A masked figure (Luz) who gathers debts from the living—objects, memories, names.
- **False Resurrection** – Izzy thinks she survived drowning, but she’s a ghost who forgot she died.
- **Bargain with the Dead** – Offerings left on graves are trades, not gifts—the dead always take more than they give.
- **The Watcher** – Something (Izzy herself) is always observing her through reflections, tide pools, and shadows.
- **Cursed Location** – The cliffside cemetery is a liminal space where time and memory don’t behave normally.
- **Truth in Reflections** – Mirrors, photos, and tide pools show Izzy what she refuses to see (e.g., her shadow doesn’t move).
- **The Book of the Damned** – The ledger rewrites itself, and the ink is made from the living’s memories.
- **Grieving Survivor (Who’s Actually Dead)** – Izzy’s grief for Luz is a lie; she’s the one who drowned.
- **The Skeptic Who Knows Too Much** – Dante, a journalist, recognizes the real rules of the dead’s bargains.
- **Twin/Sister Swap** – Luz and Izzy are mirrors: one is a ghost, the other is trapped as the Collector.
- **Love Interest Who Sees the Truth** – Dante is the only one who notices Izzy’s lies (missing shadow, impossible photos).
- **Mentor Who’s the Villain** – Abuela Rosa taught Izzy to lie to the dead and started the book’s cycle.
- **Town That Knows (But Won’t Say)** – Locals pretend Izzy is alive because they need her to tend the graves.
- **Decaying Coastal Town** – Salt-corroded buildings, lantern-lit streets, and a radio that only plays static after dark.
- **The Sea as a Character** – Tide pools whisper, waves sound like voices, and the cliffs "breathe" when the dead are restless.
- **Light That Shouldn’t Be There** – The lighthouse beam is always watching Izzy, even when it’s impossible.
- **Flowers That Shouldn’t Bloom** – Black marigolds grow on graves, signaling the dead’s claim on Izzy.
- **Static That Speaks** – Radios and cameras pick up voices from the dead, fragmented and deceitful.
- **Photographs That Lie** – Polaroids show Izzy in places she shouldn’t be, with impossible dates.
- **The Mask** – The Collector’s skull mask is a false face for a stolen role (Luz is trapped in it).
- **Grave That Shouldn’t Exist** – A fresh, nameless grave hints at Izzy’s true fate.
- **Time Loop (Memory Loop)** – Izzy relives the same three nights every Samhain, rewriting the book each time.
- **Memory as Currency** – The dead trade secrets for pieces of the past.
- **The Lie That Becomes Truth** – Izzy’s false memory of surviving has rewritten reality.
- **Cost of Being Remembered** – The town needs Izzy to stay "alive" to keep their traditions going.
- **Cycle of Grief and Guilt** – Izzy’s grief for Luz is a lie; she’s grieving her own death.
- **Book as Metaphor** – The *Book of Given Names* shows how stories shape reality and lies become truth.
Representation:
None
Spice:
None
Content:
Level 2
Content Warnings:
- **Unreliable narrator** (protagonist unaware of her true state)
- **Memory manipulation/erasure** (forced forgetting, rewritten personal history)
- **Dissociation/depersonalization** (detachment from reality, unrecognizable reflection)
- **Gaslighting** (by supernatural forces and deceased family)
- **Grief and survivor’s guilt** (self-blame, unresolved mourning)
- **Suicidal ideation (implied)** (characters chosen to "replace" the dead)
- **Body horror** (decay, shadows detaching, unnatural aging/stasis)
- **Possession/invasion** (dead inhabiting living bodies, rewriting minds)
- **Drowning/water horror** (tide pools as portals, reflections of alternate realities)
- **Mirror horror** (reflections moving independently, showing past/future selves)
- **Cursed objects** (self-writing book, sentient mask, altering photographs)
- **Psychological torture** (false confessions, manipulated environments)
- **Sacrificial themes** (dead demanding names/lives to sustain themselves)
- **Self-harm (ritualistic)** (blood offerings, burning personal items)
- **Familial murder (implied)** (protagonist may have killed her sister)
- **Cultural/folklore horror** (Mexican Gothic elements, *brujería*, colonial trauma)
- **Confinement** (lighthouse, tide pools, and graves as traps)
- **Sound-based horror** (radio static forming words, whispers in dead languages)
- **Tactile horror** (wet fabrics, sticky substances, cold that burns)
- **Toxic familial bonds** (manipulation beyond the grave, obsessive relationships)
- **Non-consensual memory sharing** (experiencing others’ trauma through objects)
- **Unresolved endings** (ambiguous fates, repeating cycles)
- **Circular timeline** (events repeating with variations)