Dead to rites

Marcus Kliewer’s supernatural horror novel should come with a warning not to read after dark, unfolding like a scary campfire story that causes you to jump at the snap of every twig and analyze every shadow.

Kliewer expertly blends suspense with evocative prose, and his proximity to the Oregon Coast leaves him well equipped to immerse the reader in its haunting beauty. “And the forest grew more untamed with each step forward. Trees of different types formed gnarled ranks, enclaves of their own,” he writes.

A writer and stop-motion animator from Vancouver, the rights to Kliewer’s best-selling debut novel We Used to Live Here, which originated as a serialized short story on Reddit, have been acquired by Netflix.

It’s established early on that protagonist Macy Mullins is a failure in many respects. The part of the book where she’s introduced, “Unemployed Trainwreck,” sees the plot focus on her pursuit of a redemption arc.

Following the tragic death of her father, Macy has struggled to keep a job and move her life forward while acting as caregiver for her teenage sister Jemma.

Desperate to make money, and against her better judgment, Macy reluctantly accepts a job as a caretaker at an isolated house in the wilderness of the Oregon Coast.

Her widowed employer Grace honours her late husband David’s dying wish that she follow a strange set of rituals he referred to as “Rites.” Eager for a weekend away, Grace minimizes David’s Rites as hallucinations and claims she has never experienced anything unusual.

Macy becomes disturbed after watching bizarre video instructions left by Grace’s unhinged late husband on how to “follow the Rites,” including “in case of emergency” envelopes. Determined to provide a better life for her and Jemma, Macy perseveres.

Macy quickly realizes the Rites were more than a dying man’s delusions. Reminiscent of the horror movie Saw, the Rites must be executed within specific time limits or bear consequences. David’s instructions warn that failure to perform the Rites will result in setbacks in one’s personal life, and that “the failure of one Rite often triggers the next.”

Evil lurks around the perimeter of the isolated property, assuming the shape of domesticated bunnies and, most terrifyingly, as the cold blue-eyed “Visitors.” Macy learns the Visitors “came in many forms, and David had names for each and every type. He always named the things that made him uneasy, the things that defied his understanding.”

Tensions and terror escalate with each page in direct alignment with reader’s heart rate. As the novel progresses, Macy’s ability to follow the Rites seems futile, and it becomes apparent to her that “Jemma’s life, every life on earth depended on those Rites.”

The novel explores themes of grief, loss of control and sacrifice — sacrifices Macy made to care for her sister, the propensity for Grace to follow the Rites and the physical sacrifices required to appease the Visitors. Poignant memories of Macy’s late father and her past personal struggles are interwoven in between the action.

In the end, the reader is left to decide what the final chapter means, whether Macy was able to redeem herself and follow the Rites… or if she, and ultimately humanity, will suffer the consequences.

Jenna Boholij is a Winnipeg writer with an affinity for nature and all things Icelandic. Her debut novel Lucid was published in 2024 by Dreamsphere Books — you can find her at @jbird_photos.

Markus Kliewer will launch The Caretaker at McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park location on Wednesday, June 10 at 7 p.m., where he’ll be joined in conversation by Joanna Graham.