Fantasy Book Critic: The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer (Reviewed by Shazzie)

Nothing less than the survival of humanity is at stake.

From Marcus Kliewer, a new “titan of the macabre and unsettling” (Erin A. Craig, #1 New York Times bestselling author), comes a supernatural horror about a young woman who accepts a caretaking job from Craigslist, only to discover the position has consequences far greater—and more dangerous—than she ever could have imagined.

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...

AUTHOR: Marcus Kliewer is a writer and stop-motion animator. His debut novel We Used to Live Here began life as a serialized short story on Reddit, where it won the Scariest Story of 2021 award on the NoSleep forum. Film rights were snapped up by Netflix, and it was acquired by Simon & Schuster for publication even before it had been extended into a full-length novel. He lives in Vancouver, Canada.

Follow him on Instagram @marcus_kliewer for exclusive book updates / writing things / stop motion animation & a lot of pet videos.

Publisher: Atria Books (April 21, 2026), Bantam (April 23, 2026)

Page Count: 320 pages

Formats: hardcover, ebook, audio

REVIEW: I thought this was really clever.

It's one of those that does the jump scares well, and provides a compulsive story that gets more and more intense and heads to a bang of a finale. Before anything else though, be warned, it contains a protagonist who suffers from depression and has tendencies of suicidal ideation.

Macy has had a bad life so far, and there seems to be nothing bright lined up. She is unemployed, responsible for her younger sister after the unexpected death of their father, and everything she does only takes a turn for the worse. Until she finds a three day gig to take care of a huge mansion and follow strange rites to the T. The pay and bonus are unbelievable, so despite her sister's insistence to stay away, she accepts it.

The more I think about it, the more I think I like it. I want to say so much about this, but that will spoil it. It delivers well on the combination of horror with mental health. The main character can be annoying and seems to get more and more incompetent as the book progresses, which kind of is the point. It's a horrifyingly good metaphor for how downward spirals can be, when every action seems pointless and the only consistent feeling is that of being a failure.

After all, what is the more terrifying than your own mind working against you?