Macy Mullins is not just broke. She is borderline homeless, which is hardly ideal when one doesn’t factor in the fact that Macy also has a younger sister to take care of. So when an ad pops up asking for someone to take care of an elderly man, Macy jumps at the opportunity. But when she arrives for the interview she is surprised to learn from the wife of the elderly man that not only has he passed but that the job is actually house sitting.

For three days.

For nine thousand dollars.

Macy is more than a little stun but she can’t afford to say no, even when the wife reveals a series of odd rituals that Macy must perform every night without rail or face horrible consequences.

But when Macy begins her three days she discovers that not only are the rituals real but their consequences are very, very real.

I did enjoy Marcus Kliewer’s last book, We Used to Live Here, so I was excited to pick up this one. Compared to that one I enjoyed The Caretaker much more. Macy as a character was very interesting and her struggle with grief, depression, anxiety, and OCD felt very real and genuine.

Additionally, I thought her decisions were fairly reasonable. Sometimes in horror/thriller books the characters make some truly head scratching decisions but Macy’s reasoning for why she does the things she does made sense to me. In the same vein when Macy fails a ritual it was for reasons that could feasibly happen.

The story read very quick and I was able to finish it in one weekend. The ending was a little more open ended that I prefer, hence why I knocked off half a story, but I think a lot of readers might enjoy it.

Overall, The Caretaker was a scary ride that kept me invested until the end. It was very atmospheric and I found myself looking around my own home for a rabbit (if you know you know)

4.5 out of 5 stars