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A review by aplace_inthesun
The Caretaker by Gabriel Bergmoser
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Gabriel Bergmoser is a must buy author for me, and if I’m honest it was largely to do with the awesomeness that was Maggie in his two previous books. Well, that and the blood and gore - I’m the type that will say ‘it’s horrific, it’s gory, that’s terrible … I give it 5 ⭐️’.
So I have to say when I saw the main character in The Caretaker was a woman I began it with some trepidation. Because comparison is the thief of joy and all that ….
The Caretaker is about Charlotte/now Katie who is on the run after being accused of murdering someone. You don’t initially know what she’s running from but you discover she’s accused of murdering her husband. She’s hiding out in the valleys surrounding the Australian snowfields, acting as a caretaker for some lodges between seasons. Until someone finds her …. She meets John who hires one of the lodges and you know John is either going to be trouble or her saviour. (No spoilers)
The Caretaker is a slow burn, and has a strong sense of setting and is character-based. It’s not until the final chapters things really start to move - but there is that disconcerting air thats is palpable throughout the book, with vivid description of the loneliness and isolation Charlotte/Katie experiences and how she is constantly on edge, and paranoid about any change to her surroundings and isolated normality. It’s suspenseful, and there is an interconnectedness with many of the characters that we don’t realise until late in the book, providing some of those AHA moments that as a thriller reader you expect, though you want them to not be obvious early.
You get your gratuitous violence, and a reasonable amount of blood and gore towards the end (winning). Charlotte doesn’t quite hit me like Maggie did, though she comes close as the story culminates. I’ll recommend this one to lovers of Bergmoser’s books and for those non-squeamish (though I think the violence is pretty tame considering the community within which Charlotte finds herself moving).
Thanks to Harper Collins Australia for sending me The Caretaker to read.
4.5 ⭐️
So I have to say when I saw the main character in The Caretaker was a woman I began it with some trepidation. Because comparison is the thief of joy and all that ….
The Caretaker is about Charlotte/now Katie who is on the run after being accused of murdering someone. You don’t initially know what she’s running from but you discover she’s accused of murdering her husband. She’s hiding out in the valleys surrounding the Australian snowfields, acting as a caretaker for some lodges between seasons. Until someone finds her …. She meets John who hires one of the lodges and you know John is either going to be trouble or her saviour. (No spoilers)
The Caretaker is a slow burn, and has a strong sense of setting and is character-based. It’s not until the final chapters things really start to move - but there is that disconcerting air thats is palpable throughout the book, with vivid description of the loneliness and isolation Charlotte/Katie experiences and how she is constantly on edge, and paranoid about any change to her surroundings and isolated normality. It’s suspenseful, and there is an interconnectedness with many of the characters that we don’t realise until late in the book, providing some of those AHA moments that as a thriller reader you expect, though you want them to not be obvious early.
You get your gratuitous violence, and a reasonable amount of blood and gore towards the end (winning). Charlotte doesn’t quite hit me like Maggie did, though she comes close as the story culminates. I’ll recommend this one to lovers of Bergmoser’s books and for those non-squeamish (though I think the violence is pretty tame considering the community within which Charlotte finds herself moving).
Thanks to Harper Collins Australia for sending me The Caretaker to read.
4.5 ⭐️