The Caretaker

This underwhelming horror outing from Kliewer (We Used to Live Here) follows a chronically unlucky protagonist who gets a chance at turning her life around—but at the cost of a possible apocalypse. It opens on David Carnswel, a man who knows he must repetitively perform a mysterious set of Rites on his property to preserve humanity and to keep the otherworldly entities who emerge from the neighboring woods, whom he terms Visitors, from crossing his threshold. The plot then cuts to months later, when hapless heroine Macy Mullins, who is out of both a job and money, responds to an ad posted by David’s widow seeking a new caretaker for the house. Ignoring her sister’s warning that the job sounds more dangerous than it appears, Macy takes the gig, eager to escape debt. Things on the property immediately go from weird to horrifying, and soon Macy will have to face a Visitor of her own. The setup is eerie and exciting, but the payoff disappoints, with most questions still left open at the novel’s end. Worse, Macy proves a flat and frequently grating protagonist who is thwarted at every turn by her own incompetence. Readers will struggle to get invested. (Apr.)