If you’ve spent any time scouring the "Gothic Horror" or "Sapphic Mystery" tags on TikTok lately, you’ve probably seen the name All the Dead Lie Down floating around. It’s a mouthful of a title. It sounds heavy. Honestly, it is. Writing about Kyra Lucie’s debut novel feels a bit like trying to describe a fever dream you had after watching Rebecca and The Haunting of Hill House back-to-back while nursing a mild case of the flu. It is strange, sticky, and deeply atmospheric.
Most people come for the ghosts. They stay for the messed-up family dynamics.
We’re living in a bit of a Golden Age for "New Gothic" literature. Authors like Silvia Moreno-Garcia and T. Kingfisher have paved the way, but Kyra Lucie does something slightly different with All the Dead Lie Down. She strips away the polished, Victorian politeness we usually expect from the genre and replaces it with raw, messy grief. It isn't just a "scary book." It’s a book about how losing someone can actually make you lose your mind.
What is All the Dead Lie Down actually about?
Let's look at the setup. It’s 1947. Our protagonist, Marin Blythe, is basically at rock bottom. Her parents are dead—killed in a tragic accident—and she’s left with nothing but a trunk and a letter from a distant relative she’s never met. That relative is Alice Rice, a famous horror novelist who lives in a crumbling estate called Lovelorn in Maine.
Marin goes there to be a nanny for Alice’s daughters. Standard setup, right?
But Lovelorn isn't your typical spooky house. It’s overgrown. It’s decaying. And Alice’s daughters, Thea and Wren, are... unsettling. They don’t act like children. They act like they know things they shouldn't. And then there’s Evie, Alice’s eldest daughter. She’s beautiful, temperamental, and clearly hiding a massive secret about what happened to the girls' previous nanny.
Basically, Marin walks into a situation that screams "leave immediately," but because she has nowhere else to go, she stays. That’s the core of the Gothic tradition: the trap.
The atmosphere is a character itself
Lucie doesn't just describe the house; she makes you feel the dampness. You can almost smell the rot and the salt air coming off the Maine coast. There is a specific scene involving a "burial" of a doll that honestly made my skin crawl. It’s not about jump scares. It’s about the creeping realization that the rules of reality don’t quite apply inside the gates of Lovelorn.
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Why the romance in All the Dead Lie Down works (and why it’s controversial)
If you read the reviews on Goodreads, you’ll see people fighting about the relationship between Marin and Evie. Some love the "slow burn" intensity. Others find it toxic.
Honestly? It is toxic.
That’s the point.
Gothic romance isn't supposed to be healthy. It’s supposed to be obsessive. Marin is grieving and vulnerable; Evie is manipulative and haunted. When they collide, it’s not a "happily ever after" vibe—it’s more of a "we are both drowning and I’m grabbing onto you" vibe.
The Sapphic Gothic element
There has been a huge surge in queer Gothic fiction recently. Think Plain Bad Heroines or The Death of Jane Lawrence. All the Dead Lie Down fits perfectly into this niche. It explores the idea of being an "outsider" not just because of ghosts, but because of identity. Marin feels like she doesn't belong anywhere in the world, which makes her the perfect prey for a house that wants to swallow her whole.
The "Dead" in the title isn't a metaphor
Without spoiling the ending—because you really need to experience the final sixty pages for yourself—it’s worth noting that the title is a bit of a lie.
In this book, the dead do not just lie down.
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They linger. They influence. They demand things.
Kyra Lucie leans heavily into the "weird fiction" aspect of horror. There are elements of the story that border on folk horror, especially regarding the history of the Rice family and the land they live on. It asks a very uncomfortable question: How far would you go to bring back someone you love?
If you’ve read W.W. Jacobs' The Monkey’s Paw, you know the answer is usually "too far." Marin finds herself caught in the middle of a family legacy that views death as a temporary inconvenience rather than a finality.
How this book ranks against other modern horror
If you’re a fan of The Haunting of Bly Manor, you will love this. The parallels are obvious—the nanny, the strange kids, the isolated estate. But where Bly Manor is poetic and sad, All the Dead Lie Down is grittier. It’s more visceral.
The pacing is a bit of a gamble. The first half is a very slow build. It’s all about the mood. If you’re looking for a slasher or a fast-paced thriller, you might get impatient. But if you like that feeling of "something is deeply wrong here and I can't put my finger on it," the payoff is massive.
Why critics are talking about Kyra Lucie
As a debut author, Lucie shows a surprising amount of restraint. She doesn't over-explain the magic or the ghosts. She lets the reader wonder if Marin is actually seeing things or if the grief has finally snapped her psyche. This ambiguity is what makes the book stay with you long after you finish it.
Common misconceptions about the book
"It’s just another YA novel." While the protagonist is young, the themes and the level of gore/horror lean much more toward Adult or New Adult. It deals with some heavy psychological trauma that might be a bit much for younger readers.
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"It’s a retelling of Rebecca." It shares DNA with Daphne du Maurier’s classic, but it’s its own beast. It’s much more supernatural than Rebecca ever was.
"The ending is predictable." Trust me, it’s not. There is a twist regarding the nature of the "haunting" that most people don't see coming until it's literally staring them in the face.
Practical steps for readers and book clubs
If you’re planning on picking up All the Dead Lie Down, or if you’ve already finished it and are wondering "what now?", here is how to get the most out of the experience.
Read it in the right environment
This is not a beach read. This is a "rainy Sunday with a blanket" read. The atmosphere is half the fun, so don't rush through it in a bright, loud coffee shop.
Pair it with similar titles
If you finish this and need more of that specific "creepy house" energy, check out:
- Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling
- Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
Look for the clues
On a second read (or if you’re just starting), pay close attention to the way Alice Rice describes her own books. Lucie uses Alice’s "fictional" horror novels to provide a meta-commentary on what is actually happening in the house. It’s a very clever bit of foreshadowing that’s easy to miss the first time around.
Check the content warnings
Honestly, this is important. The book deals with gore, body horror, self-harm themes, and intense grief. It’s a dark story. Don't go in expecting a light paranormal romance.
The real power of All the Dead Lie Down lies in how it handles the "monsters." Usually, in horror, the ghost is the enemy. Here, the ghost is just a symptom of a much deeper, more human rot. It’s about the things we inherit from our families—the secrets, the traumas, and the literal and figurative ghosts that we refuse to let rest.
Go find a copy. Turn off the porch light. Start reading. Just don't be surprised if you start hearing footsteps in the hallway around 2:00 AM.