[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/croak_damico.png]]

''Croak'' is a YoungAdultLiterature series by Gina Damico.

The story is about a [[UsedToBeASweetKid juvenile delinquent]] who gets [[OffToBoardingSchool sent to stay with her uncle]] in an effort to rehabilitate her. Unbeknownst to her parents, however, her uncle is actually a GrimReaper and the town of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Croak]] is actually a [[CelestialBureaucracy town housing and regulating their jobs]].

Lex goes on to make friends and enemies, Kill people, and stand at the center of the most chaos the Grimsphere has faced in centuries.

For more of Damico's work, see ''Literature/{{Wax}}''.

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!!This series contains examples of the following:

%%* AbusiveParents: Almost every Grim comes from this type of household.
%%* AddictiveMagic: [[spoiler: Damning is this. Lex admits that it feels good and only Damning inanimate objects isn't satisfying.]]
%%* AngstySurvivingTwin: [[spoiler:Lex to Cordy after book one.]]
%%* BarredFromTheAfterlife: This is [[spoiler: Lex's/Zara's]] power, in a nutshell.
* BerserkButton: [[spoiler:Zara gets Lex to unlock her Damning power by killing her twin sister.]]
* BlessedWithSuck: [[spoiler:Lex's natural abundance of Killing power is actually a result of her power to Damn souls.]]
* CelestialBureaucracy: While it's not quite a ''celestial'' bureaucracy, the town of Croak does run the Grim Reapers.
%%* ChekhovsGun: Hey, remember [[spoiler: the nest in that tree in a town where no animals will live]]?
%%* ChekhovsSkill:
%%** [[spoiler: Pip's climbing ability.]]
%%** [[spoiler: Lex's EscapeArtist abilities get her out of captivity in the climax]].
* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: The Grims who didn't come from abusive households tend not to have had parents at all.
* CoolCar: The Stiff. Part hearse, part Batmobile. All awesome.
%%* CoolOldGuy: Corpp and Pandora.
%%* {{Delinquents}}: Every Grim becomes this when they come into their powers.
* {{Descriptiveville}}: Croak, [=DeMyse=], Necropolis...
* EasyAmnesia: The Grimsphere keeps up TheMasquerade using this. A concoction distilled from spider venom wipes out a period of the victim's retrograde memory, which they then fill in with, shall we say, 'friendly suggestions'.
* EnemyToAllLivingThings: While Grims aren't technically enemies, animals avoid their towns like the plague because they can sense the death.
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: When [[spoiler: Driggs and Lex]] get together, [[CoolOldLady Pandora]] announces to the entire diner that it's about time.
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The majority of the in-world terminology falls under this.
* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler: Damning, where a person's soul is sent to FireAndBrimstoneHell for an eternity of burning torture.]] Though, there's also a Fate Worse Than a Fate Worse Than Death, which is [[spoiler: Annihilation, which is when a person's soul is sent to TheNothingAfterDeath]].
* {{Fingore}}: [[spoiler:The Wrong Book can only be read right by Grotton--specifically, when he waves his hand over it or holds it. Since he refuses to let them read it freely, Pip and Bang decide to cut off his finger and put it in a jar so they can hold it by the book whenever they need to read it.]]
%%* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler: Zara.]]
%%* GoodParents: Mr. and Mrs. Bartleby, mostly.
* HairTriggerTemper: See Delinquents. For some reason the Grim powers make the teenagers misanthropes until they move to one of the Grimsphere towns.
* HealingHands: As of Scorch, [[spoiler: Driggs]] is a combination of this and PowerLimiter for [[spoiler: Lex]].
* HurricaneOfPuns: Every single location in Croak, including the town itself, with the exception of the library.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Lex, who used to have a HairTriggerTemper and beat people up, but only as a result of being a Grim. She's still rather snarky but has become much nicer.
%%* MamaBear: Corpp, Pandora, and Mort all fall into this category at one time or another.
* TheMasquerade: While Grims don't leave their towns except for the yoctosecond-long journeys they need for their jobs, they do collect spider venom to make a serum called [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Amnesia]], which they use to [[EasyAmnesia erase people's memories of their time in the Grim towns]].
%%* MomentKiller: Mort for Lex and Driggs.
%%* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: [[JustifiedTrope Somewhat justified]] in that they're basically extensions of powers the characters already had.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Lex accidentally gives Zara the power to Damn people.]] And again when [[spoiler:Lex accidentally gives Norwood the power to Damn.]]
* OddNameNormalNickname:Lex and her twin sister Cordy have the full names [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution Lexington and Concord]].
%%* OffToBoardingSchool: The kick-off for the whole series.
* PowerIncontinence: Crosses with AddictiveMagic; [[spoiler: Lex Damns Corpp]] on accident. [[spoiler: She was aiming for Zara.]]
* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler: Driggs]]. His parents were incredibly abusive, and his father intended to kill him after Driggs fought back by breaking his nose, but he managed to grab the gun out of his father's hands and knock him down. He killed his mother first, [[BoomHeadshot one right between the eyes]]. And then his father, one in the head and four elsewhere on his body.
%%* ShipperOnDeck: Pandora for Driggs and Lex.
* SignificantAnagram: [[spoiler:"Bone the sick scythe bandit" can be rearranged to spell "the cabin beyond the sticks".]]
* TeamDad: Ferbus calls Corpp their "collective grandpa." %%His wife Pandora also qualifies.
* ThemeTwinNaming: Mrs. Bartleby named her daughters after the first two battles of the Revolutionary War.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: Lex was a model child before her teenage years.
%%* VigilanteMan: [[spoiler:Zara]], before suffering [[spoiler:MotiveDecay]] due to [[spoiler:Damning being addictive]].
* VivaLasVegas: Via an {{Expy}} of the city located in the Grimsphere, literally described as "Las Vegas times ten. On crack."
* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Zara]] wants to rid the world of murderers, rapists and other criminals.]]
* YouAreWorthHell: In the final book, [[spoiler:Lex makes a HeroicSacrifice to close the final gate, and Driggs decides to go to TheNothingAfterDeath with her. Though she could have just used another death to close the gate, like [[{{Jerkass}} Norwood]], who was ''trying to [[FateWorseThanDeath Damn]] them''.]]
* YouDidntAsk: This is literally [[spoiler:Pip's]] explanation as to why he didn't tell anyone about his [[LeParkour climbing skills]].
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