Sometime in 2024, I received a review copy of a new horror book called We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer. It was an intriguing novel that had been on my radar, and one that I was excited to read. Due to that, I got to it as soon as possible, and devoured it. Afterwards, despite not being sure about what I read, I wrote it a deservedly glowing review which the author himself liked. It was honestly one of my favourite reads of that year.
For that reason, it goes without saying that I was excited to read his next book: The Caretaker. As soon as I saw it online, I requested it, and was surprised to see a copy at my doorstep one day this winter because I hadn’t heard back. I was grateful and excited, though, and started it not long after receiving it. This book was both my last read of 2025, and my first completion of 2026.
The Caretaker is another horror novel, and one that is set in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, although the author resides in the nearby province of British Columbia, Canada. Taking place close to the Oregon coast, rain, water and cliff sides play a large role in its unsettling narrative. So, too, does a feeling of perverse dread, which carries through the nearly 300 page story.
Things begin with a bang, and in a way that made me wonder if this was going to end up being one of the best books I’d ever read.
In the opening, an older man gets out of bed in the middle of the night after hearing knocks on his front door. However, he’s prepared for this. You see, this aged individual shares that he’s received visions of impending doom, and has been told that he must perform Rites in order to prevent it from coming to fruition. This involves answering phone calls and doing what he’s told, as well as following and dealing with visitors who knock on his door at odd and darkened hours. This particular routine deviates from the norm, though.
The Caretaker then moves ahead in time, and introduces us to a young woman named Macy Mullins. In her early twenties, she finds herself in a tough situation. Having lost her father in an automobile accident, she and her 17 year-old sister live in a tiny and crappy studio apartment in a converted old motel. Struggling for money, they have very little to their names, and mostly just have each other. Of course, both are looking for work without much luck — something that is common for younger people these days.
While looking on Craigslist (I guess that’s still a thing in the United States), Macy comes across a strange advertisement for a job. In it, the author states that she is looking for someone to look after her aged and unwell husband. Despite not being trained for this — having grown up working for her late father’s struggling landscaping company — she answers the ad, gets an interview and then makes the lengthy and cumbersome commute to the wealthy neighbourhood where these folks reside.
Upon arriving at this neighbourhood that borders the ocean, Macy learns that the ad wasn’t entirely accurate. You see, David has passed away. His wife is actually looking for someone who’s willing to look after their house while she’s gone for a weekend. This means humouring her late husband and performing his Rites, after taking a recorded VHS tape home and watching it to learn what to do. These Rites are very strict and kind of odd, and involve making sure all of the first and second floor lights are off between 3am-4am, keeping doors locked, tidying the house and not letting visitors inside. There’s also talk of different coloured rabbits.
Macy originally decides not to take the absurd sounding job on, but money sways her. Grace offers $6000 for the weekend, plus a potential $3000 bonus if she completes the Rites and keeps the red sun from rising. The homeowner is desperate, and needs to get away, she says, in order to visit grandchildren in Florida.
Grace leaves Macy with instructions, after taking her on a tour, and our caretaker is left knowing that there are three “In case of emergency” letters in a tray atop the fridge; each with its own topic. That, as well as a heads up about the unfriendly cat, a $100 per day meal stipend and not much else.
All alone in a relatively large and foreign house, Macy finds herself left with strange rules, a weird job to do and the grief that she still feels over the loss of her father. That, plus the weight of having to earn enough money to feed, clothe and home her teenaged sibling. It’s a lot, but she settles in to do the task at hand, and do it well. However, things don’t go as planned. That’s all I’ll say out of fear of spoilers, and not wanting to ruin this book for anyone else.
From the start, The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer reminded me of the novel Old Country by Matt and Harrison Query. That’s because both involve having to do certain things at certain times, as Rites or rituals or precautions. However, in that story, a couple who move to the middle of nowhere USA must do (and deal with) different things depending on the season at hand. This includes a naked man being chased by a predatory bear, strange scarecrows and more. They’re similar.
Although the reviews for Old Country surprised me, it’s something that I really enjoyed reading, and is also something that I think of surprisingly often. Let’s just say that it stuck with me, much like Marcus Kliewer’s previous novel; so much so that I bought Old Country in trade paperback (new), hardcover (25 cents at the local library), and digitally when it was $2. However, this isn’t a review of Old Country, or those authors’ follow-up, which I wrote about almost a year ago.
I digress, and apologize.
As I said above, The Caretaker was a highly anticipated book — at least for me. The way it started had me hooked badly, too. The problem was that I started reading it an hour before I had to pick up my grandparents and take them to a family Christmas dinner. Needless to say, the beginning of this novel had its grips on me during supper and dessert.
The good thing is that this talented author has delivered once again, with yet another high quality and memorable horror story. He’s a very good writer, with a great imagination, and I also respect the topics he writes about. Before you begin this particular tale, you’ll be greeted by a content warning, which talks about how there’ll be elements of death, mental illness, mental health and grief within its pages. Normally, I dislike these things — despite suffering from mental illnesses for most of my life, and having a lot of respect for things that tackle them honestly and respectfully, as well as those who are open about their mental health struggles. I respect why trigger warnings exist, but they often feature spoilers without meaning to. Marcus Kliewer’s, however, is very tastefully done, and is very well written. It’s the best one I’ve ever read.
Be warned though, that this book may not be for everyone as a result of the above.
The bad (well, actually, there’s nothing bad about this book) is that I may have unintentionally overhyped The Caretaker for myself. Perhaps I expected too much based on the author, or the great opening. Then again, maybe my expectations just weren’t fair or realistic. Either way, I must admit that I didn’t absolutely love this novel like I hoped to. It’s quite good, it’s memorable, it’s respectful of difficult subjects and human experiences, and it’s very well written. I’m just left wanting more.
The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer features a great premise, a very interesting story and a pretty good main character who’s got depth. However, I feel like it doesn’t fully take advantage of these things. The result is a good book, but I feel like there was the potential for more here, especially with that premise. The opening part, featuring David Carnswel, ended up being the best part. After such a great opening, the rest of the story just didn’t reach the same heights. I wish there was more to the Rites, and that the ending was a bit more clear. Still, I quite enjoyed this novel, and feel that it was really good first completion of 2026. It just could have been better. Then again, perhaps I expected too much after the opening, or due to the author’s first book.
I hope that makes sense. The last thing I want to do is dissuade anyone from reading this. After all, it’s a high quality horror story, and one that I won’t soon forget. It just had the potential to be even better.
As stated, Marcus Kliewer is a very talented writer and one of the best voices in modern horror. This is made obvious here, thanks to really good writing, and some great comparisons that’ll leave you wondering how the author came up with them. There’s some really good and unsettling imagery within, and the author did a good job of creating tension, atmosphere, questions and the like. He had me interested from the first word to the last.
I can’t wait to see what else Marcus Kliewer has in store for us.
With all that having been said, I definitely recommend checking out The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer. I enjoyed reading it, will think about it a lot even now that I’ve completed it, and hope to add a hardcover or trade paperback first edition to my collection once it’s released. I’m glad I was sent this advanced reader copy, and am mad at myself for dropping it and banging it up a bit. It’s something I enjoyed and care about.
This review is based on a copy of the book that we were provided with.