Review of 'All the Dead Lie Down'

The Haunting of Bly Manor meets House of Salt and Sorrows in award-winning author Kyrie McCauley’s contemporary YA gothic romance about a dark family lineage, the ghosts of grief, and the lines we’ll cross for love.

The Sleeping House was very much awake . . .

Days after a tragedy leaves Marin Blythe alone in the world, she receives a surprising invitation from Alice Lovelace—an acclaimed horror writer and childhood friend of Marin’s mother. Alice offers her a nanny position at Lovelace House, the family’s coastal Maine estate.

Marin accepts and soon finds herself minding Alice’s peculiar girls. Thea buries her dolls one by one, hosting a series of funerals, while Wren does everything in her power to drive Marin away. Then Alice’s eldest daughter returns home unexpectedly. Evie Hallowell is every bit as strange as her younger sisters, and yet Marin is quickly drawn in by Evie’s compelling behavior and ethereal grace.

But as Marin settles in, she can’t escape the anxiety that follows her like a shadow. Dead birds appear in Marin’s room. The children’s pranks escalate. Something dangerous lurks in the woods, leaving mutilated animals in its wake. All is not well at Lovelace House, and Marin must unravel its secrets before they consume her.

Review

Definitely a genre jump for Kyrie McCauleys, whose previous works (If These Wings Could Fly & We Can Be Heroes) were more contemporary and focused on magical realism to tell emotional stories, All the Dead Lie Down does not pale in comparison.

Strong Setting

Instantly I was hooked. McCauley is a masterful storyteller, building up the gothic scene and atmosphere from the beginning. All the Dead Lie Down is said to be “The Haunting of Bly Manor meets House of Salt and Sorrows,” which couldn’t be closer to the truth.

Marin Blythe is a recently orphaned young woman. One of the few survivors of a train crash that took her mother’s life, she discovers a letter from Alice Lovelace, an acclaimed horror novelist who turns out to be an old friend of her mother’s. Alice offers her a lifeline, a job as a governess for her two young daughters. Marin jumps at the opportunity with no other prospects while being a huge fan of Alice’s work.

The moment Marin pulls up to the too-large mansion, an unsettling feeling builds, ensnaring the reader. There is something wrong with Alice, and her children are no walk in the park either. Thea, the youngest, buries her dolls while Wren does everything she can to drive her away. When dead birds appear in her room, in her closet, and mutilated animals roam the forest, the reader knows something is wrong with the Lovelace house.

But she is drawn in by the girls, by Evie in particular, the oldest daughter who has returned from school, always prim, always proper, and always wearing gloves.

The unsettling gothic atmosphere builds and builds as the tension steadily rises. Alice’s outburst becomes more frequent, and Marin discovers the family secret that haunts the walls of Lovelace, one that drove her mother to run away from her childhood home and friend.

That building tension just grips you, making you look another way. McCauley keeps the reader engaged by building up that tension and atmosphere and keeping the story unpredictable. There are plot twists that make the reader gasp, and the romance that builds between Marin and Evie works in balance with the gothic. It adds to the story without distracting the plot and the creepy, haunting atmosphere McCauley worked so hard to build up. It was effortlessly written, all of it.

Final Thoughts

All the Dead Lie Down is such a fantastic novel. I devoured it and couldn’t put it down. I loved everything about it and have no complaints.

• Writing Quality : 10/10
• Character Development : 10/10
• "Couldn't Put It Down"-ness : 10/10
• Intellectual Depth: 10/10
• Originality: 10/10
• Overall Rating: 5 out of 5.

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About the Author

Cynthia Bujnicki graduated from Emerson College with a BA in Writing, Literature and Publishing. She has always loved to read since she was a child. A contributing writer for YA Fantasy Addicts, she is also the Editor-in-Chief for Cyn's Workshop. She lives in sunny South Florida with her husband, son and daughter and their two cats.