What Moves the Dead

An Instant USA Today & Indie Bestseller
A Barnes & Noble Book of the Year Finalist
A Goodreads Best Horror Choice Award Nominee

From T. Kingfisher, the award-winning author of The Twisted Ones, comes What Moves the Dead, a gripping and atmospheric retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's classic "The Fall of the House of Usher."

*A very special hardcover edition, featuring foil stamp on the casing and custom endpapers illustrated by the author.*

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.

What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.

Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.

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Published Jul 12, 2022

Average rating: 7.45

128 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

Gias_BookHaven
Dec 30, 2025
5/10 stars
Creepy, unsettling and disturbing imagery? Check. It seemed to make my mind draw a mixed comparison to Alice in wonderland and Miss Havisham's house. The body horror will linger in my mind for days, I am sure. 

But would I want to read it again or continue this series? 🤷🏾‍♀️ idk.
Rannaluv
Aug 11, 2024
7/10 stars
A gothic thriller! Loved it!
Cayse
Aug 17, 2023
10/10 stars
Another weird one from T Kingfisher BUT I AM HERE FOR IT. A short read but a super weird and fun one. It's been a while since I've read a good creepy Gothic fiction. This is a much better homage to Fall of the House of Usher than *another* recent gothic fiction I read. 4.5 stars but GR doesn't allow them. Please read this book!
BaronBrickmiser
Jul 28, 2023
8/10 stars
I love a good EAP re-imagining.
LillianK4015
Apr 28, 2023
4/10 stars
Didn’t really seem to capture my attention. Wasn’t bad, it was interesting, just wasn’t one of my favorites. Kinda felt like it was predictable

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