The Caretaker, Marcus Kliewer’s follow up to his debut, We Used to Live Here, is perhaps one of the most highly anticipated horror books of 2026. Of course I grabbed it as soon as I could! And I was not disappointed.
Young Macy is struggling financially to support herself and her younger sister. Macy is still waiting on an insurance payment from her father’s recent death, and needs money quickly. Against her better judgement, she takes a well-paid house-sitting job with some weird circumstances. There are rules to follow, rites to perform, and emergency envelopes to open if things go wrong. And guess what? Things go wrong! Badly and quickly!
I feel like we’re all Macy. So many of us are trying our best to keep it together in seemingly impossible circumstances. Macy’s terrors verge on the supernatural, and are genuinely scary. The dread is constant, and the shocks come thick and fast. I read this in about three sessions; I just wanted Macy to be safe!
I really enjoyed Kliewer’s previous novel (as I think a lot of people did!). It felt like a new, exciting idea, and I genuinely still find myself thinking about it. While I love a book where there are rules that MUST be followed, The Caretaker didn’t feel as unique as his previous work. But that just meant I enjoyed The Caretaker for different reasons. It is a different book, after all.
California Reading 