Where the Dead Wait

An eerie, atmospheric Polar Gothic following a Victorian explorer in search of his lost shipmate and his own redemption--from the author of the "vivid, immersive" (The Guardian) horror novel All the White Spaces.

William Day should be an acclaimed Arctic explorer. But after a failed expedition, in which his remaining men only survived by eating their dead comrades, he returned in disgrace.

Thirteen years later, his second-in-command, Jesse Stevens, has gone missing in the same frozen waters. Perhaps this is Day's chance to restore his tarnished reputation by bringing Stevens----the man who's haunted his whole life--back home. But when the rescue mission becomes an uncanny journey into his past, Day must face up to the things he's done.

Abandonment. Betrayal. Cannibalism.

Aboard ship, Day must also contend with unwanted passengers: a reporter obsessively digging up the truth about the first expedition, as well as Stevens's wife, a spirit-medium whose séances both fascinate and frighten. Following a trail of cryptic messages, gaunt bodies, and old bones, their search becomes more and more unnerving, as it becomes clear that the restless dead are never far behind. Something is coming through.

Author: Ally Wilkes
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 12/05/2023
Pages: 400
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 9.06h x 6.30w x 1.50d
ISBN: 9781982182823


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 07/01/2023 pg. 4
Library Journal 10/01/2023 pg. 112
Publishers Weekly 10/16/2023
Kirkus Reviews 11/01/2023
Booklist 11/01/2023 pg. 33
BookPage 12/01/2023

About the Author
Ally Wilkes, the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of All the White Spaces, grew up in a succession of isolated--possibly haunted--country houses and boarding schools. After studying law at Oxford, she went on to spend eleven years as a criminal barrister. Ally now lives in Greenwich, London, with an anatomical human skeleton and far too many books about Polar exploration. You can follow Ally on Twitter @UnheimlichManvr.