Kliewer’s novel We Used to Live Here was really good, and messed with my head (in the best way) so I was eager to dig into his next novel when I had the chance, and The Caretaker does not disappoint.

Once again, the story gets under your skin and creeps you out.

Macy Mullins is having a tough time keeping her and her sister financially secure. Things aren’t great. So when she responds to an ad for a caretaker in the middle of nowhere that will pay her nine thousand dollars, she and Jemma may be able to stave off poverty just a while longer.

What Macy finds is not what she expected. She’s left with a list of Rites she has to follow through the course of her stay. The reader, just like Macy, is a little anxious about what the Rites entail, and whether or not things can mean what they seem to, or if it’s all just some strange happenings.

As things begin to go sideways for Macy over the course of her stay, it gets more and more upsetting, more tense, and more unnerving because what if it’s all real?

The novel is a quick, fast read, but it gets increasingly upsetting because you’re left wondering what’s real or not, and then you also understand the choices she makes and why she makes them.

Kliewer knows how to craft a sentence and create a sense of dread. It’s really well done, and there are truly upsetting and terrifying moments that just seem to escalate. There’s a sense of taking the everyday and twisting it just enough to make it truly upsetting.

This one is just the right length, and as much as I loved We Used to Live Here, and embraced how much it messed with my mind, The Caretaker works even better. It’s smart, scary, and grounds it all in a reality that begins to slip out from beneath our feet.

From this point on, I am in on Kliewer. I cannot wait to see what he delivers next, and if it will freak me out as much as either this novel, or We Used to Live Here. And man, the ending on this one… so good!

This one pulled me right in, and Kliewer’s storytelling style works brilliantly, slowly freaking Macy and the reader out, and wow, it works so well. Marrying in Macy’s own trauma and heartbreak to how the narrative moves forward makes everything all the more impactful on an emotional level, and though you don’t want her to muck up the Rites, you can see it happening, and dread the reprecussions of each one.

Keep them coming Mr. Kliewer!