This book is the literary equivalent of passing an open doorway into a dark room and out of the corner of your eye thinking that something is standing in the corner, watching.

I completely loved this!!! It’s so rewarding as a reader when you hype up a read in your head and it delivers. I absolutely adored We Used To Live Here and The Caretaker was my most anticipated read of 2026.

Have absolutely no idea what happened but I had a really great time!!!

I am truly grateful for Random House/Transworld for the opportunity to receive an arc copy of this fantastic book, thank you so much!

r/OldHouseArchive… I am sure you’re going to love this. I am so excited for this book to release so I can delve into theories once again!!!

I'll automatically read anything Marcus Kliewer writes, he just has a way of hooking you on the story and not letting you drop your book (or kindle as the case may be). The thriller elements are so well done and really make so much sense, they all add up.

An excellent take on the creepy haunted house trope

I haven’t read Marcus Kliewer’s début We Used to Live Here , but I remember seeing buzz about it online and admiring the cover art (by Snowy Campbell, I think) and when my wife pointed me to The Caretaker, the description grabbed me straightaway.

The Caretaker is an interesting setting, for sure, with a protagonist struggling to handle both the emotional and the practical consequences of her single-father’s death a couple of years previously. She recognises that the titular job offering sounds both weird and that the pay is too good to be true, but circumstances mean she can’t turn it down. Anyway, obviously these ridiculous “rites” must be bollocks, right? And, as the description points out, “Besides, it’s only three days’ work…”

Kliewer does an excellent job of ratcheting up the tension and the creepy, so much so that I had to pause my reading at 62% when it was obvious that what was almost certainly coming next was not gonna be something I wanted to read immediately before going to sleep. Several developments made me literally gasp and cover my mouth. I can’t wait to see the upcoming film adaptation, as well as seeing people’s reactions to consuming both versions.

A strong recommend for anyone who enjoys creepy psychological horror. Content notes for grief (death of a parent, death of a child), suicidal ideation (and reference to others’ suicides), body horror and murder, animal death, reference to animal cruelty, and maybe the end of the world…

I received an advance copy from NetGalley in the expectation of an honest review.

Brutally creep envoking, this will leave you quaking in your boots. A simple scenario but the most complex of emotions this brought forward for me. A truly twisted terrifying tale.

This has instantly taken a spot in my top 5 books of all time. This was phenomenal! The storyline was brilliant and was written to perfection. I have never been so terrified reading a horror book before. From the very beginning to the very end I was utterly scared and my heart was racing non stop. I had to stop, think and compare to other horror books I’ve read and I can safely say with confidence that the happenings isn’t even as scary as other books I have read but the way the writing keeps you on the edge of your seat and breathing so heavy constantly, is incredible and the most horrifying. It was so clever and calculated. This is the best horror book in my opinion that I have read and I will not stop recommending it when it comes out!!!!

Wow, just wow.
If you're into intense and slow burning horror this is the book for you.

Here Marcus Kliewer has crafted an absolutely bonkers yet immensely captivating drama.
Macy has been having a hard time in her life. What with the recent death of her Father and now caring for her younger sister. Shes desperately looking for work but stops an advertisement for a caretaker on Craiglist.
She jumps at this chance, even though there are plenty of red flags and an altogether crazy checklist she has to follow.
Could this be what she needs to turn her life around?

This story touches on many harrowing themes, that of love, loss, mental health and self doubt. All themes are dealt with real panache and help us delve deeply into the MC's state of mind.

For me the slow build up of events and with it the occasional reveal alongside the tension building and building was the real success of this novel.

As always im trying to be spoilers free, so you'll have to read for yourself to find out what Macy has to deal with. Trust me, its well worth finding out!

𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧. 𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵. 𝘐𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦.. 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥…

…what could possibly go wrong?

This book is literally the 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞 of those horror movies that have you spending the whole time screaming “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” This was an absolute fever dream of a book: complex, deeply unsettling, atmospheric beyond words & completely impossible to put down.

Having read & loved Kliewer’s debut, 𝐰𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, last year (highly recommend, several scenes still haunt me to this day!) I went into this with high hopes & I was not left disappointed. Kliewer expertly weaves together a uniquely disturbing horror story with a raw, intense exploration of grief, adding an additional layer of emotion.

This was everything I love in a horror— mind-bending, skin-crawling, beautifully written & utterly anxiety-inducing. Aside from the very unresolved ending (be prepared, if you too aren’t a fan of these!) this was a claustrophobic, brutal psychological horror that not only haunts, but hits hard, and would make a brilliant movie 👏🏽

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞:
➔ Atmospheric, isolated settings
➔ Phycological horror
➔ Imaginary Friends by Stephen Chbosky
➔ Unresolved endings
➔ Books that feel like a fever dream
➔ Singular POV

This was one of my most anticipated books of 2026 and it sure as hell did not disappoint.

Superbly written, twisty in all the best ways and genuinely creepy. There were moments in this that made me shudder and the whole second half was building tension that had my heart racing.

The main character is flawed and real, oddly relatable and just trying her best. This book is as much about her grief, trauma and inner hatred as it is the events of the house. The two play off each other perfectly.

If this isn't in my top ten reads of 2026 I will be shocked.

I loved this authors last book, although it did scare me half to death, so I was so excited to read The Caretaker. Wow. This was better than I ever hoped it would be. It genuinely terrified me and had me unable to read it at night which is definitely a sign of a great horror book. Some of the themes ran a little bit close to home for me but the way they were explored really added to the overall build up of the suspense and sense of dread right from the start. I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time.