The Field Of The Rooted Dead

Never take one for yourself.

Never answer if the field says your name.

For 129 years, the people of Blackthorn County have obeyed three rules.

They don't talk about the hundred acres of black-throated flowers beyond the trees. They don't disturb what lies beneath them. And above all, they never answer when the field calls.

Because the field remembers.

When ground-penetrating radar uncovers a vast network of roots beneath the Hollow Field—roots arranged like the nervous system of something impossibly alive—botanist Elias Voss is brought in to investigate.

Then they find the body.

A man buried more than a century ago.

Standing upright.

Still alive.

And growing from his skull is a flower no scientist can explain.

The people of Blackthorn know exactly what Elias has stumbled into. They have known for generations. Their ancestors made a terrible bargain with something beneath the earth, and the dead buried in that field were never simply victims.

They were keeping something contained.

Now the rules are beginning to fail.

The flowers are turning toward the living.

The roots are spreading.

And something beneath the field has started calling people by name.

Elias came to Blackthorn expecting a scientific mystery.

What he finds instead is a centuries-old secret, a town built around an impossible act of sacrifice, and an ancient presence that has been waiting patiently for someone to open the door.

Because the dead beneath Blackthorn were never meant to wake.

And once the field learns your name, it doesn't need you to come to it.

Shorter, punchier version for Amazon

If you want something more commercial and immediately hooky, I actually prefer this version:

THE FIELD OF THE ROOTED DEAD

For 129 years, Blackthorn County has obeyed three rules:

Never step on a flower.

Never take one for yourself.

Never answer if the field says your name.

Nobody remembers who made the rules.

Everyone knows what happens when they're broken.

When botanist Elias Voss arrives to investigate a mysterious field of black-throated flowers, he expects strange biology. Instead, he discovers a hundred acres of roots forming a vast underground network—and a century-old corpse standing upright beneath the soil.

The body isn't dead.

It's holding something down.

Something the people of Blackthorn have spent generations keeping asleep.

Now construction has disturbed the field. The flowers are turning toward the town. The dead are beginning to speak. And a teenage girl has started hearing a voice that knows her name.

A voice that sounds exactly like someone she loves.

THE FIELD OF THE ROOTED DEAD is a slow-burning supernatural horror novel of ancient secrets, buried sacrifice, impossible biology, and the terrible things that happen when the dead are disturbed.

Some doors should never be opened.

Some doors are buried.

And some doors know your name.