The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer
I would like to thank Bantam for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Bantam
Published – Out now
Price – £18.99 hardback £5.99 eBook
EXCITING OPPORTUNITY:
Caretaker urgently needed. Three days of work. Competitive pay. Serious applicants ONLY.
Macy Mullins can’t say why the job posting grabbed her attention―it had the pull of a fisherman’s lure, barbed hook and all―vaguely ominous. But after an endless string of failed job interviews, she's not exactly in the position to be picky. She has rent to pay, groceries to buy, and a younger sister to provide for.
Besides, it’s only three days’ work…
Three days, cooped up in a stranger’s house, surrounded by Oregon Coast wilderness.
What starts as a peculiar side gig soon becomes a waking nightmare. An incomprehensible evil may dwell on this property―and Macy Mullins might just be the only thing standing between it, and the rest of humanity.
Follow the Rites...
Follow the Rites...
Follow the Rites...
We may have all watched a horror movie and mocked a character for making an obvious mistake. We have seen this so often how could any character now not know this will end badly? Splitting up in a haunted house is such a good idea. And yet let us be honest we all make bad decisions which a series of events usually lead us to making. Marcus Kliewer’s new horror novel has a fascinating look at this but sadly soon descends into a too predictable horror tale.
Macy Mullins is desperate for a job as she faces eviction from her rundown apartment which would put her and her sister out on the street. A Craigslist ad brings her to a remote coastal settlement for the rich where an enigmatic woman wants her to housesit, but she must follow instructions each night of her stay. For three days and nine thousand dollars there is no choice to be made but soon she finds the Rites are needed and have consequences if not followed.
I was ultimately disappointed here as a good idea was for me not fully utilised. Macy is a well-constructed character in those early scenes. Very much an old before her years character who Kliewer shows us has many layers – still grieving her father’s death, struggling to parent her younger sister, having to navigate a terrible jobs market in a small town. She is desperately broke and yet as a narrator is sharp and has a dark sense of humour but also feels lost. Kliewer makes us understand a bad decision that even her sister says she should not be doing. The die gets cast, but we see why its all inevitable. That was initially refreshing. Sadly what was not was the rest of the story.
With mysterious rabbits, strange figures, flashing lights the actual wider plot feels quite predictable. Indeed, we see each instruction leads to more instructions if broken and guess what? Yes they all seem to go wrong for Macy. It feels sad that after such an interesting star and main character she is just being placed in the horror novel version of the Mousetrap game. The pace unfortunately is leaden and may have worked better as a short story or novella but there is not that much here than bad things happen to Macy.
The ultimate feeling was a missed opportunity that led me more to think what could have been. Not particularly scary nor as inventive as I had initially hoped. Unfortunately, not one I can recommend
