The first takes place in 1869 where William Day is an officer aboard The Reckoning, a ship searching for a Northwest Passage through the Arctic icepack.

Day learns that Stevens's wife, Olive, a psychic, had requested the rescue and will be aboard the ship as a passenger to help locate her husband.

Wilkes explained that she worked with a sensitivity reader specializing in historical Inuit-European relations, but added, "while recognizing my own privilege and position as a white British author, I hope I’ve done my best to shine a small light on these areas, too.

"[4] The reviewer complimented Wilkes on her handling of the book's two timelines, and said she "crafts rich physical and psychological landscapes that deepen her terrifying tale as it barrels toward an unforgettable crescendo.

[4] Becky Spratford wrote in Library Journal that Where the Dead Wait's plot develops slowly, and is full of detailed descriptions of the ships, the characters, and the frozen landscapes.

It stated that despite its good start, "with raw, energetic prose and a sense of adventure undercut by dread that’s downright thrilling", after not too long, the plot becomes "repetiti[ve]".

[7] Slayton felt that Day spends "too much time" agonising over his past and obsessing over Stevens, and the story relies too much on the horrors of cannibalism.