The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer

TL;DR: Such a fantastic horror representation of depression.
Source: NetGalley, thank you so much!

Plot: Macy has to follow the rituals or the dark will take over, and the red sun will rise.
Characters: It’s primarily Macy and her slow decline trapped in this job, this house trying to fight off the dark.
Setting: A house that doesn’t seem to want the character nor can the character control.
Horror: Depression. That’s the horror. Creeping depression you cannot stop even though you try.

Summary:

EXCITING OPPORTUNITY:
Caretaker urgently needed. Three days of work. Competitive pay. Serious applicants ONLY.

Macy Mullins can’t say why the job posting grabbed her attention—it had the pull of a fisherman’s lure, barbed hook and all—vaguely ominous. But after an endless string of failed job interviews, she’s not exactly in the position to be picky. She has rent to pay, groceries to buy, and a younger sister to provide for.

Besides, it’s only three days’ work…

Three days, cooped up in a stranger’s house, surrounded by Oregon Coast wilderness.

What starts as a peculiar side gig soon becomes a waking nightmare. An incomprehensible evil may dwell on this property—and Macy Mullins might just be the only thing standing between it, and the rest of humanity.

Follow the Rites…

Follow the Rites…

Thoughts:

I can’t rate this one without waffling. So whatever I put down in various places, take it with a grain of salt. Catch me at one moment I’ll say 2 stars, I didn’t like it. But give me an hour or two and I’ll change my mind to 4 stars. This book is a lot, and it’s especially a lot for someone like myself who has dealt and still does deal with depression.

This one is about Macy who is desperate for work, so she takes the first job she can. She is housesitting for a woman who leaves her only the instructions her late husband left. They’re boiled down to ‘Follow the Rites’. If Macy follows these Rites, everything will be okay. But reader… things are not okay.

Macy is struggling and over the course of the novel we see her drown in that. She slowly spirals out. In the Rites, in her mind, in grief, all of it. It slowly consumes her, beating her down until the inevitable. This book is hard to read and it’s scary at times. For me it was overwhelming because the way she spirals out. The depression of it all, that was so true to my own experiences and brand of depression it hurt.

So go in knowing this one is a hard one. That the representation here is intense. You’ll be okay, just be careful. Don’t step off the path, look out for rabbits. And follow the rites…