The Hollow Dead Summary: Ghosts, Memories, and Corporate Horror
Introduction
Keira is not a typical groundskeeper.
She sees the dead. Her quiet life in the town of Blighty is a fragile peace, built on the graves she tends.
This peace shatters when a friend’s mother dies.
A corporate van steals the body.
Darcy Coates’s The Hollow Dead follows Keira and her friends as they uncover a horrifying truth: a corporation is using the dead as batteries.
Book Snapshot
| Genre & Subgenre | Gothic Horror / Paranormal Mystery / Urban Fantasy |
| Core Narrative Tropes | Amnesia/Lost Memories, Hidden Magical Gift, Corrupt Corporation, Found Family, Small-Town Gothic Secrets, Necromancy/Spirit Communication |
| Tone & Atmosphere | Cold, mist-shrouded, and suspenseful. The setting contrasts the cozy sanctuary of the groundskeeper’s cottage with the chilling, industrialized dread of high-tech facilities. |
| Primary Conflict | Keira and her allies battle to dismantle Artec, an organization trapping and commodifying human souls, while avoiding lethal corporate forces. |
| Pacing Style | Steady, atmosphere-focused setup that rapidly accelerates into high-stakes action. |
| ISBN | 978-1728239248 (ISBN-10: 1728239249) |
| Pages | 304 |
TL;DR: The Dead Are Not Resting
This is a gothic horror story about the commodification of souls. Keira and her friends fight a powerful company that traps ghosts to generate energy.
The plot involves a chase, an infiltration of an abandoned amusement park, and a final act of sabotage.
It is a fast-paced, atmospheric novel focusing on friendship and the fight against a corrupt system.
The Hollow Dead Summary: A Fight for Restless Souls
SPOILER WARNING: This summary details the entire plot.
Keira, a woman with amnesia, can see and speak to the dead. She lives in the town of Blighty. Her friends are Zoe and Mason. They are investigating Artec. Artec is a renewable energy company. In reality, it traps spirits in their graves to harvest their energy.
The conflict becomes personal when Zoe’s mother, Kim, dies. Kim had an Artec funeral plan. An Artec van takes her body. Keira and her friends chase the van.
Keira jumps onto the moving van. She finds Kim’s body and spirit inside. A rune is drawn on the corpse’s chest. It binds the spirit to the body. Keira uses her own blood to alter the rune. This frees Kim’s ghost. Keira jumps from the van and escapes.
The friends find a connection between Artec and an abandoned amusement park called Five Suns. Keira, Zoe, and Mason travel there. A conspiracy theorist named Fish Face Guy helps them. Another ally, Harry, serves as their lookout.
Keira sees hundreds of hollow ghosts at the park. They are victims of Artec’s early experiments. Their souls have been severed. The group discovers Artec’s headquarters is in a hotel on the property.
To create a distraction, Keira blows up a Ferris wheel carriage. The friends enter the hotel. Keira and Mason go to the basement archives. There, they find records of Artec’s experiments. Keira discovers a private office. Inside are four screaming shades pinned to a wall.
A man named Schaeffer arrives. He is the founder of Artec. He reveals a secret. Keira’s parents were Artec scientists. They hid her pregnancy from him. This is why she has her abilities. Schaeffer murdered them. Their spirits are the shades on the wall.
Schaeffer tries to shoot Keira. Her cat, Daisy, appears and distracts him. Keira disarms him. When she touches Daisy, the cat merges into her chest. Daisy held her lost memories. Keira’s past and present selves become one. She escapes and reunites with her friends.
Keira uses her power to knock out a dozen guards. Harry rescues them in Mason’s car. They flee. Keira explains her past. She was sabotaging Artec power stations when she lost her memory.
She directs them to a nearby power station. They plan to destroy it. This will free the trapped spirits, including her parents. Keira enters the station to paint reversal runes. A killer named Gavin Kelsey has followed her.
He tries to shoot her. The power station explodes. Gavin is killed. Keira guides his spirit to peace.
The reversal works. The trapped spirits at Five Suns are freed. Keira’s parents are freed. The novel ends with a funeral for Zoe’s mother. Keira and Mason share their first kiss.
They prepare to continue fighting Artec.
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Summary by Chapter
SPOILER WARNING: This section details each chapter.
The book has 35 chapters. This summary is for readers who want a detailed breakdown of events.
Chapter 1
Keira, Zoe, and Mason meet at a café. They discuss their fight against Artec. The mood changes when Zoe receives a call. Her mother has fallen. Mason drives Zoe home.
Chapter 2
Keira walks home. She buys flowers from Harry Kennard. She sees an argument between Gavin Kelsey and his father. Back in her cottage, she finds old newspaper clippings. They are about an abandoned amusement park built by a company called Brightwater.
Chapter 3
Keira tends to graves. She meets the ghost of Cora Wentworth. The spirit is unhappy. Her surname is wrong on her grave marker. Pastor Adage explains Cora’s history. She married a poor poet named Phillip.
Chapter 4
Keira gets a text from Mason. Zoe’s mother has died. An Artec van has taken her body. They chase the van. Keira jumps from the car onto the moving van.
Chapter 5
Keira enters the van. She finds the ghost of Kim Turner. She tries to unravel the spirit’s tethering thread. It will not budge. Artec has already trapped her.
Chapter 6
Keira finds a holding rune on the body. She uses her blood to alter it. This frees Kim’s spirit. Kim gives a final message for Zoe. Keira jumps from the van.
Chapter 7
Keira reunites with her friends. She shares Kim’s final message. They discuss Artec’s methods. They stop at a pub for food.
Chapter 8
Inside the pub, they discuss Zoe’s wish to bury her mother in Blighty. Keira feels uneasy. They return to Blighty. Keira shares her clippings with Zoe.
Chapter 9
Mason bandages Keira’s injured thumb. They have a moment of romantic tension. Zoe reveals the abandoned development is heavily patrolled. They decide to investigate.
Chapter 10
Keira speaks with the spirit she thought was Cora. The ghost is actually Henrietta, Cora’s mother. The spirit becomes angry and creates a storm. Daisy leads Keira to safety. She sees a figure at the forest’s edge.
Chapter 11
Zoe identifies the angry spirit as Henrietta Yates. The funeral home calls. They are returning Kim’s body to Blighty. Zoe wants to go to the abandoned development immediately.
Chapter 12
Harry Kennard appears at the window. He overhears their plans. He volunteers to help as a lookout. They agree to let him come.
Chapter 13
They visit Harry’s mother, Polly. She gives her permission. They stop at Zoe’s house for gear. They are confronted by Zoe’s brother, Tyler. She rejects his funeral plans. They leave.
Chapter 14
During the drive, Zoe receives a dossier. It details the history of Five Suns. The project failed and was abandoned. They crest a hill and see the valley.
Chapter 15
They enter the desolate valley. A local woman named Gina is suspicious. A neighbor whispers about white trucks. Keira uses her second sight. She sees hundreds of motionless spirits.
Chapter 16
Keira describes the ghosts. They are recent and hollow. She sees a figure on a hill. They notice a man watching them with an unsettling gaze. They realize the ghosts are all young adults.
Chapter 17
They meet Fish Face Guy. He provides a map. He will distract the guards. They set up radio call signs. They prepare to breach the fence.
Chapter 18
The friends slip into the park. Keira sees thousands of static ghosts. They find a hall with thousands of metal boxes. The boxes contain cremated remains. The ghosts have no chest threads. Their souls have been severed.
Chapter 19
They see more boxes in a restaurant. Keira climbs the Ferris wheel platform. She finds an energy-gathering rune. She sees a red light in a distant hotel window.
Chapter 20
Three white trucks enter the park. The friends watch them. Zoe reveals she has brought C-4 explosives. Keira suggests using it on the Ferris wheel as a distraction.
Chapter 21
Keira climbs the Ferris wheel. She slips and cuts her arm. She plants the explosive. She descends safely.
Chapter 22
Mason bandages Keira’s arm. They wait by the portcullis gate. When the trucks leave, they detonate the explosive. The crash draws the guards away. They run into the hotel lobby.
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Chapter 23
The friends hide in the lobby. Zoe accesses security computers. The password is on a Post-it note. Keira finds a directory. The archives are in the basement.
Chapter 24
Keira and Mason enter the archives. Keira finds a private office. She discovers four tormented shades pinned to a wall. She finds a folder with her name on it.
Chapter 25
Keira finds childhood photos. She sees her parents. She learns they are dead. The office door locks. The elevator opens.
Chapter 26
The man is Schaeffer. He reveals he murdered Keira’s parents. The shades on the wall are their spirits. He takes out a pistol. He aims it at Keira.
Chapter 27
Daisy appears and distracts Schaeffer. Keira disarms him. She takes his key card. Daisy merges into her chest. Keira’s memories return. She uses her blood to draw an unlocking rune.
Chapter 28
Keira finds guards holding her friends. She siphons their energy. She unleashes a shockwave that knocks out the guards. They escape. Harry crashes the car through the fence to rescue them.
Chapter 29
They drive away. Keira pulls Daisy out of her chest. She explains her past. She was sabotaging Artec power stations. Her next target is a nearby station.
Chapter 30
They plan to abandon the car. Keira explains the power station will free her parents. She draws runes on her friends. She confesses her feelings to Mason.
Chapter 31
Keira enters the power station. The diversionary fires work. She paints runes on the floor. She paints a reversal rune on the main cable. Gavin Kelsey appears.
Chapter 32
Gavin tracked Keira with a GPS app. He aims a gun at her. She warns him about the surge. He does not listen. The system explodes. Gavin is killed instantly.
Chapter 33
Keira guides Gavin’s spirit to peace. She escapes. She confirms the spirits at Five Suns are freed. Mason reveals he sank his car in a lake. Mason holds her hand.
Chapter 34
Pastor Adage drives them back to Blighty. Keira declares she will go on the offensive against Artec. Mason and Zoe pledge their support.
Chapter 35
The town gathers for Kim Turner’s funeral. Zoe gives Keira a book and tools. Keira and Mason vandalize the gravestone to appease Henrietta. Henrietta’s ghost finds closure. Keira and Mason share a kiss.
Characters In This Book
| Character | Role |
| Keira | The amnesiac groundskeeper who sees the dead and is the daughter of former Artec scientists. |
| Zoe Turner | Keira’s loyal friend who is determined to expose Artec after they take her mother’s remains. |
| Mason | A former medical student and Keira’s friend who provides support and serves as the primary driver. |
| Kim Turner | Zoe’s terminally ill mother whose spirit Keira saves from being trapped. |
| Harry Kennard | The gothic florist’s son who volunteers as lookout and getaway driver. |
| Pastor Adage | The supportive pastor who provides Keira with her cottage and understands her abilities. |
| Gavin Kelsey | A sociopathic killer who stalks Keira and is killed in the power station explosion. |
| Schaeffer | The founder of Artec who murdered Keira’s parents and uses their spirits as trophies. |
| Vivienne and Michael Collis | Keira’s deceased parents and former Artec scientists who defected to protect her. |
| Henrietta Yates | An overcontrolling mother whose ghost remains in the cemetery, desperate to change her daughter’s legacy. |
Books Like The Hollow Dead
- Grave Sight (Harper Connelly Series Book 1) by Charlaine Harris: Centers on a woman who can locate the deceased and perceive their final moments.
- Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters: A dark southern gothic tale about a girl who can summon ghosts to uncover family secrets.
- The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James: A dual-timeline paranormal thriller about a haunted motel and a search for a missing aunt.
- The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman: Follows an orphan raised by spirits in a graveyard while hiding from a ruthless organization.
Memorable Quotes from The Hollow Dead
“Papers can’t be leaked if they never exist, now can they?”
“Stop being a minor character in everyone else’s story and be the main character in your own.”
“I may only be a pastor, but even shepherds will fight a wolf if it comes near their flock.”
“Whatever it takes,” Mason said. “We’re with you to the end.”
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