Scary Books

Review: The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer

~ megs14malloy ~ Leave a comment

The CaretakerThe Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**4.5-stars**

Follow the rites…

The Caretaker is one of those books that I’m blessed enough to get a chance to read early, and then I can’t wait for everyone else to read because I need to talk about it!

This story captured my full attention and did not let up the entire way through. I read it in a day and it left me with A LOT to think about. I was doing mental gymnastics trying to keep up with everything Kliewer was throwing at me, and honestly, it was exhilarating.

Macy Mullins, our MC, is a young woman a bit down on her luck, who needs to scramble to support not only herself, but her little sister, Jemma. After a string of failed job interviews, Macy is still on the hunt when an enticing ad on Craig’s List catches her eye:

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

Macy applies and ends up securing an interview. She meets with the woman who she would be working for, and although it’s an unusual meeting, to say the least, Macy can’t afford to be picky.

As an outside observer, I may have been screaming at Macy to not agree to take the job, but I also can’t pay Macy’s bills, so she does what she has to do and she accepts.

It’s only 3-days work, where she’ll have to stay at the woman’s house in the wilderness of Oregon and take care of her house. How bad could it possibly get?

Y’all, it can get bad. I think we all know this. Even Macy probably knew this, but like I said, she really didn’t have much of a choice. The first thing that really captured me about this book was how realistic and well-developed Macy was as a protagonist.

While I’ve never experienced some of the things that Macy had been through, I couldn’t help by feel connected to her struggles. I had such empathy for her while she was just working through her own thoughts.

I also felt like I was going on this journey with her. The house, the property, the weirdness of the whole circumstance was seeping off the page and into my brain. It felt tactile to me. I was feeling it all; transported.

The synopsis describes this as a waking nightmare, and I can’t think of a better way to put it. There were scenes that played into some of my own fears and left me absolutely chilled to the bone and my blood pumping.

I need to get a physical copy, because I’ll be reading it again. It’s twisted, layered and I would love to take more time with it. Now that I know the end, I feel I could pick up more of the smaller pieces I may have missed on this first go.

Upon completion, I sat and just stared at the wall for a good 4-to-5 minutes. Yes, that’s a good thing. If this doesn’t leave you with an existential crisis, I’m not sure what will.

At this end of the day, I found this wildly-entertaining. It’s highly-consummable, gripping and disturbing. It’s going to stick in my mind for a long, long time.

Thank you to the publisher, Atria, for providing me with a copy to read and review. This is the first I’ve read from this author, but you better believe I’ll be picking up more.

View all my reviews

Review: Her Last Breath by Taylor Adams

~ megs14malloy

Her Last BreathHer Last Breath by Taylor Adams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

💙💜💙💜💙💜💙💜💙💜💙

Her Last Breath, like Taylor Adams’s last novel, The Last Word, has firmly secured Adams fate as one of my top Thriller authors. Wild and wickedly-entertaining, both of these books kept me glued to the seat and flipping pages.

Taylor Adams has knocked another one out of the park!

Caves, and caving more particularly, petrify me. I was interested in this book as soon as I read the synopsis. I figured it would be harrowing, and easily get my heart racing, and boy and boy, did it ever.

We’re following best friends, Tess and Allie, who go on a caving trip, supposedly a day trip, but it turns into so much more than that. Though Allie is an experienced caver, and knows the cave they are going into like the back of her hand, Tess is a complete amateur.

She goes more because she wants to please Allie, than due to any desire of her own. From the start it doesn’t go well. They have a bit of a confrontation with a mysterious stranger lurking just inside the cave entrance, and from that moment on, the vibes seem off.

As the two women descend into the depths, they soon realize they aren’t alone. The stranger has followed them, and he’s not planning to let them back out alive.

24-hours later, a hospitalized Tess walks a clever Detective Washington through the culminating events of their ill-fated adventure. Together, the two begin to determine that the events weren’t as random as they initially appeared.

Y’all, my claustrophobia was fully initiated by 30% into this novel. It was stirring a bit ahead of that, as even thinking of entering this cave makes me feel queasy, but by 30%, I needed to get up, walk around and stretch.

The way that Adams drew me in, it felt effortless. It was so well written, to keep me fully engaged and keep me guessing. Tess and Allie are both complex characters and I wasn’t sure if I could trust either one of them.

My mind was spinning, trying to keep up with what was going on in this hellscape of a cave. The stranger, the man they met at the cave mouth, was so unsettling. The way he interacted with the women was so inappropriate and creepy. I would have turned around immediately.

I loved that we got Detective Washington’s perspective as well. I loved following along with her during her interview process with Tess.

It felt like we were puzzling it out together. What exactly went on down there? Who was this man? And why does it seem he was targeting them? Was he, or did the odd circumstances of their encounter just make it feel that way?

This is such a wild ride. It’s bound to keep you hooked. I flew this so quickly, half the time with my stomach in my throat. I needed answers. Taylor Adams, I’ll be sending you my therapist’s bill for the mind spin I had from reading this.

After reading The Last Word, I thought, how can Adams possibly top this? I was totally gripped by that story. Now I know. Her Last Breath is the answer to that, at least IMHO.

I can’t recommend this enough to anyone looking for an intense, nail-biting thrill ride. Bonus points if you’re as scared of caves, or any small spaces, as I am. This is sure to have you squirming in your seat!

Thank you to the publisher, William Morrow, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I expected this to be good, but I had no idea it would be this good!

I cannot wait to see what Taylor Adams comes up with next!!

View all my reviews

Review: The Grin in the Dark (Spine Shivers) by J.A. Darke

~ megs14malloy

The Grin in the Dark (Spine Shivers)The Grin in the Dark by J.A. Darke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hamid has a night of babysitting ahead of him, but he doesn’t mind. It’s for his twin cousins and they’re pretty easy. They’ll probably be asleep the whole time anyway and his Aunt and Uncle’s house is cool.

He figures he’ll binge some t.v., eat great snacks, and before he knows it, the night will be over. But as we all know, things frequently don’t go as planned.

The night starts to go sideways on the drive there, when he and his Mom hear over the radio about an escaped convict in their area. That’s creepy, but the prison is pretty far away, so Hamid tries to block it from his mind.

After his Aunt and Uncle leave, he settles into their big comfy couch and starts his t.v. marathon, until the power goes out. Hamid’s night is about to become the worse night of his life…

Y’all, I’m not sure why I thought it would be a good idea to read this book while home alone at night in my dark bedroom with only my book light to guide me. This story terrified me, and I’m not joking.

I was texting my sister while I was reading it, because I was so scared, I didn’t want to leave the bedroom to go to the bathroom, and after a few Adult Beverages, I was reaching a dangerous territory.

This is a YA Horror Novella, so I don’t want to say too much more about what happens in this book, as it comes in at just over 100-pages. I will, however, leave some buzzwords and phrases in case you need further prodding to pick it up:

babysitting, clowns, inclement weather, power outage.

I wouldn’t say the writing was the best I’ve ever read, but it succeeded in doing what it set out to do. Additionally, I loved the illustrations and execution of the scares. P.S. I am ended up hiding this after I finished it, because I could no longer abide it being in my bedroom.

View all my reviews

Review: Shark Night by R.L. Stine

~ megs14malloy

Shark NightShark Night by R. L. Stine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Shark Night is a fast, fun and engaging scary story for kids, by legendary children’s author, R.L. Stine.

I listened to this audiobook, fabulously narrated by Ramon de Ocampo, and highly recommend that as a format. Told via 1st-person POV, de Ocampo truly brought MC, Liam, to life. It really felt like you were listening to Liam tell his story.

Liam’s Mom is a Documentary Filmmaker who specializes in Nature Docs. Her latest assignment involves making a film for the Danger Channel for Shark Week.

She comes up with a great idea to submerge a diver into a tank, along with a big shark, to see what happens. I mean, what could go wrong?

After the original diver is injured, Liam is forced to fill in, because Stine’s parental characters always make the worst decisions ever. We all know this.

On the day of filming, everything possible goes wrong and Liam founds himself swept out to sea, forced to fight for his life. Will he be able to figure out a way out of this?

This was a lot of fun. It gets wild. I was completely entertained. I laughed out loud, cringed, yelled at some of the characters and couldn’t believe how quickly it read.

This does feature a classic Stine ending, and another frequent feature of Stine books, a bratty younger sibling.

While, personally, I wish that the ending could have gone in a different direction, I still do appreciate the story as a whole. It works. Kids will love this.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Blackstone Publishing, for providing me with a copy of the audiobook. I love to keep up with Stine’s latest releases and this one delivered!

View all my reviews

Review: The Last Word by Taylor Adams

~ megs14malloy

The Last WordThe Last Word by Taylor Adams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I had the pleasure of Buddy Reading The Last Word with my beautiful niece, Lyss. I knew when she texted me the night we started saying she couldn’t read it if she was home alone, it was going to be good.

And it was!!! We had such a fantastic time with it. Although I am sure having someone to chat to about it while I was reading it, enhanced my experience, I am still proclaiming this to be my favorite book of 2023, so far.

The Last Word is getting a lot of buzz right now and IMO, it’s totally warranted. This is Adams returning to his No Exit-style and a lot of people, myself included, are eating it up.

If you aren’t aware, this story follows, Emma Carpenter, a woman who after a personal loss has secluded herself in a beach house on the Washington Coast. She’s technically house-sitting, but really she’s licking her wounds and trying to heal her broken heart.

Her days are spent with her dog, Laika, reading a ton of cheap e-books, walking on the beach, doing some drinking and chatting with the only neighbor via a whiteboard and binoculars. You know, the usual winter activities on an abandoned coastline.

After reading a particularly horrendous Slasher Horror novel, Emma can’t help herself. This book is trash. Absolute trash. She has to warn other unsuspecting e-book readers.

Therefore, she heads over to Amazon to leave a snarky 1-star review. She’s surprised moments later to get a direct reply from the author. He’s offended by her review and demands she take it down.

She refuses, or course. They go back and forth for a bit and he tells her that if she doesn’t take it down, she’ll regret it. Emma’s not playing this game. Sorry, loser, but your book sucked. Emma refuses to engage further.

Then things start happening…

Y’all, I loved this from the first 5-pages. I was hooked immediately. I’m not even exaggerating.

Honestly, the self-absorbed part of my brain wondered, did Taylor Adams write this after reading my review of Hairpin Bridge? Feeling frightened, I went back and read my review. It wasn’t that bad, so I figured I, at least, was in the clear.

As a reviewer and horror lover, this novel is disturbing, fun and disturbingly fun in so many different ways. It played on some of my biggest fears.

While I can see that there are some aspects of this that not everyone will love, for me, it was pretty much a perfect reading experience.

Even though I saw many of the twists coming a mile away, it didn’t damper my enjoyment of them one bit. I was still completely engaged and loved sitting by as Adams revealed it all in his own time.

I also loved the characters. Emma was a classic-feeling ‘good for her’ horror-girlie and I’m always down for that. Some of her lines had me laughing out loud and I loved watching her sort of come back to life throughout the story.

Lyss and I had some great discussions regarding this plot, both while we were reading it and after. I would absolutely recommend reading this with a friend. There really is a lot to discuss, as far as themes, structure and character development.

This is a case where I would recommend reading the hard copy, if you have the opportunity to do so. The way the book is arranged, including things such as the font choices, makes this a unique reading experience. I love how it was layed out.

I am so happy that Adams knocked this out of the park for me. Wild, crazy, gripping, anxiety-inducing terror ride of seclusion and desperation. I loved, loved, loved it.

I’m really looking forward to his next release!

View all my reviews