It's about a lighthouse keeper named Samuel Vance who did something terrible-he deliberately extinguished his lighthouse during storms so ships would wreck on the reef, and he could collect and keep or sell the salvage. Over the years, 42 sailors died because of him. The story takes place when he's an old man in prison in Georgia. A dying cellmate gets placed in his cell-a sailor who survived a shipwreck and has spent years haunted by watching his crewmates drown. Being trapped with this man forces Samuel to finally stop hiding from what he did. It's dark, but it's ultimately about a man who spent his whole life turning people into numbers finally having to see them as human. Here's how it connects to False Light: Samuel has a daughter named Clara. She's the one who caught him in the act and testified against him in court-turned in her own father. False Light is Clara's story. The novel follows her and the lighthouse world. "The Keeper" is a companion piece that shows what happened to her father after she sent him away. So you're getting the villain's ending before you get the main story.