The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer - Horror Thriller Review

Another nail-biting, edge of your seat read from Marcus Kliewer!

The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer is now available to buy, click below.

Macy is at rock bottom – she’s the lone guardian for her teenage sister and can’t seem to hold down, or even get hold of, a job. Under the threat of eviction, she takes on the last job she finds – a caretaker for an elderly husband in a remote home on the Pacific Northwest. It’s only when she accepts the job that she finds it’s not quite as it seems – housesitting an empty house where she must complete a series of strange and ominous Rites – but she’ll do anything for the suspiciously big amount of cash they’ll give her. Or will she?

I absolutely devoured Marcus Kliewer’s last book, and this one was no different. I read it in two quick sittings across 24 hours. The pacing makes it easy to pick up and not want to put down again – although at times, I wanted to throw the book across the room and scream NO at the main character! It’s got classic creepy haunted house vibes that have you not wanting to switch the lights off after you read it.

But it’s not just a “haunted house” – it’s far more, and this mind-bending plot takes twists and turns that you can definitely see coming, but you don’t want to see them! Like his last novel and true to the horror genre, there are parts which we’re not fully meant to comprehend – I feel like a bigger explanation would make it seem to rational, it’s better left unexplained and letting you wonder in parts.

You still get the author’s r/nosleep vibes from this story, which is what drew me to him in the first place, so I’m very pleased about that. I only knocked it down a star as I’m comparing it to his first book which I think was better than this one. I really enjoyed this and would absolutely read another from the author, but this story didn’t have quite as much dimension as the last – it took a bit longer to come to the truly terrifying climax and that part seemed to be over quickly, but the creepy, eerie vibes were building throughout and you had a constant sense of impending doom. You know it’s not going to be the type of book where it’ll be one big happily ever after right from the beginning!

Macy was a great character – she was well imagined and realistic. You could feel her desperation through the page. There are plenty of dark sides to her past, but you really feel for her and understand why she took this ridiculous job, and why she tries to stick to it too.

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I’m definitely a big fan of the author now and hope he has more in the future – I have a feeling that he’ll become an auto-buy author for me!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for an ARC of this book.