This year is churning out some of my best reading experiences! WOW! THIS BOOK! This. book. Upon reading the last sentence of this twisted gem, my brain was left spinning, and my pulse was still pounding. My mind questioned what I had just read, while my heart screamed what are you going to read now? There is so much to unpack within a narrative that at first seems so disparate, yet the masterful storytelling packages everything up into a breathtakingly remarkable literary gift.

While the synopsis definitely sets the stage, there really is no way to prepare yourself for the thrilling ride ahead of you. The unveiling of a tragic family saga created not just an unsettling and suspenseful read, but fashioned together a powerful character study on family dysfunction and the lasting pain of secrecy as well as an exhaustive exploration into the ramifications of choice. Oliver may have literally been locked up, but everyone is trapped inside a prison of their own making. Misunderstandings, assumptions, and a general lack of communication has a sinister way of compounding the negativity they feel about their decisions, especially when they can't be honest with themselves or others. The truth has a way of coming out no matter how much they try to deny it, and ultimately, each character is backed into a confrontational corner that finally gives complete access into their true motivations. It's an exercise of relief for both them and readers alike, creating moments that will certainly leave a lasting impact.

"Right and wrong. It's a nice idea, but a costly one."

Multiple perspectives, interrelated plot points, and alternating timelines are interwoven seamlessly to craft a hauntingly beautiful and multilayered tale of Gothic genius. Fallbrook stands as a decaying sentinal to unspeakable tragedy, damsels in distress demand action, a burdened protagonist seeks to find redemption, and horrific monsters in the guise of inhumanity, corruption, manipulation, and obsession haunt the lives and souls of everyone they touch. Fairy and folk tale elements sprinkle the narrative as cautionary reminders in the moral quest of good against evil.

"The weight of the truth, once given, is shockingly difficult to bear."

If you love stories that make you feel as though you are watching a movie, this will be a cinematographic treat. As a documentary filmmaker, Tessa finds herself constantly laying out the framing of scenes, which in effect, captures those visual moments for description onto the page that makes this a very meta experience. I especially enjoyed when Tessa is deliberating how to move forward after everything is said and done, hinting that she may try her hand at fiction with its "clear-cut version of good guys and bad...where you know who to root for, and you're never wrong." What an amazing way to cast doubt on the whole encounter: Fact is fiction, fiction is fact, and though the "truth" has been revealed, readers may still feel lied to. Perhaps some things really are best left buried, but I'm just not so sure that I have been convinced.

Many thanks to Lone Star Book Blog Tours and the author for providing me with a free copy of the book. This is my honest and thoughtful opinion.

“Peace does not last.”

Eliza Maxwell, the author of The Caretakers, has blown me away again with another story. This time she took me on a haunting, psychological story from the first few lines to the last words.

Maxwell crafted two storylines of sisters young and sisters old. In the mix is the story of decades-old murders and a modern-day murder. This story takes so many twists that I simply did not want to stop the narrations. That’s the gift of Eliza’s writing!

This is the first book of Eliza’s I’ve heard via Audio. The narration performed by Janet Metzger and Erin Mallon is spot-on between all the character shifts and chapter changes. There are plenty of characters from young girls, too old women, to young and old men. Janet and Erin pulled all the characters splendidly with inflictions where I did not get lost with the characterization.

The Caretakers is an impeccable escape for readers needing to get away from their own realities. It keeps you psychologically guessing with every chapter as to where is this story going. There is no guessing with this story. It is haunting because it may leave you with the lasting memory of the older sisters that you simply cannot forget, as it did me.

This is a psychological thriller with enough twists and turns to make you leave a light on at night. Tessa Shepard is a film maker and her latest documentary gets a man released from prison. Now a year later he has another murder under his belt and plans to kill everyone connected to his original murder trial including Tessa who has "abandoned" him once the film was successful. She's hiding out at an old abandoned mansion her mother left to her and her sister, Margo. A family was murdered in this mansion and the two elderly caretakers don't want Tessa making a new documentary. A little sinister for my personal taste but a good story. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

How do you forgive the unforgivable, especially when the person who wronged you is your only family? The Caretakers seeks to answer this question and more, in this fantastically gothic novel by Eliza Maxwell.

The Caretakers opens with the end of a trial. A wrongly-accused man is finally finding justice for the crime he didn’t commit, thanks to filmmaker Tessa Shepard. It reads like the perfect ending to a suspenseful legal drama, with everyone free to live as happily as they may. Until the man Tessa saved murders again. Until her mother unexpectedly passes away, leaving Tessa and her estranged twin to pick up the pieces of an unfinished life. As she returns home in the midst of professional tragedy to face real personal tragedy, Tessa barely keeps it together. Her twin, Margot, used to be her rock, now they can barely look each other in the eye. In the end, Tessa retreats from everything, the media circus and what’s left of her family, to investigate the story behind the manor her mother left her. Along the way, she meets the caretakers, elderly sisters who hold the key to Tessa and Margot’s dark inheritance.

This is the first book I’ve read from Eliza Maxwell, now I’m officially a fan for life. Maxwell weaves atmosphere, character, and suspense seamlessly, so the reader truly experiences the many twists and turns of her narrative. Two compelling characters trade perspectives throughout this novel, Tessa, our heroine desperate to escape her present, and the caretaker, Kitty, unable to escape her past. I loved Kitty, to the point I was in tears by the end. Yet I wasn’t expecting to relate so much to Tessa Shepard. There are many times when Tessa is an unsympathetic heroine. She’s a little selfish, a little obsessive, and a lot self-recriminating. I often tread the fine line between love and hate when it came to Tessa’s journey because I understood her. I must confess that this book wrecked me to the point I had to put it away, and reflect on all the emotions The Caretakers brought to the surface. Yet through Maxwell’s writing, I came to understand a little more of myself and my journey outside the pages.

A study in parallels between past and future, hatred and forgiveness, truth and lies, The Caretakers delves deeper than your average suspense novel. It’s not always an easy read, but this book will truly make you think, and if you allow it, make you feel. Some books are like that, a catharsis for the characters as much as it is the reader.

**I was provided with a copy of The Caretakers by the publisher and this is my voluntary and honest review.**

Eliza Maxwell is one of my favorite authors to read, but this book was not a favorite.

There are two unconnected story lines in this book, told in past and present. A bit of a gothic, ghost story. Little suspense or twists. I felt like there was so much going on in this book and it kind of ruined it for me.

The writing is fantastic, characters are good as well, in true Eliza style. I just wasn't a fan of these stories.

*4.5 stars

Tessa Shephard is a documentary filmmaker, who finds herself in the spotlight when she helps release a murderer. She believed he was innocent until something happens to dispute that. So after the unaccepted death of her mother, she finds that her mom was keeping some secrets from her daughters. Trying to find somewhere to hide, she goes to a house that was kept secret from her family. However, she only finds more mystery and secrets. This had two timelines: Tessa's current situation and the mystery that happened in this house years ago. I will say that I would rather have had more of the story focus on the caretakers and the house. That interested me more than Tessa and her story. Sometimes I felt that situation really didn't belong in this book and that the two stories didn't really belong in the same book. The caretakers and the mystery of the house is why I'm giving the extra half star. Otherwise, this was a good book but one story was a lot better than the other.

*Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“The heart is a formidable thing, and time a slow but powerful healer.”

The Caretakers by Eliza Maxwell is an incredible journey into the healing process of families broken by pain, heartache, loss, and secrets. Two stories intertwined make up the overall plot of The Caretakers, with all the details parceled out expertly and beautifully. Tessa Shepherd and her twin sister, Margot, have been estranged for years following an accident that set Margot on a long road of recovery. Feeling responsible and heavy with guilt, Tessa flees to New York to pursue academics and a career in producing documentaries. Oliver Barlow is her latest project about a man she eventually proves has been wrongfully imprisoned for fourteen years. His eventual release sets in motion a series of events that will change everyone’s lives, especially Tessa’s.

Following a death in the family, Tessa and Margot are reluctantly reunited and navigate their new relationship, and together, they discover a shocking truth about their family. Secrets are revealed, but more secrets have been buried deep at their ancestral home, Fallbrook. What the sisters find when they visit the crumbling mansion is a long-ago tragedy deeply rooted in falsehoods, mystery, and immeasurable heartache. The two parts of Tessa’s life—Oliver and the aging caretakers at Fallbrook—collide and tangle in spectacular fashion. What happened to the family at Fallbrook all those years ago? Who is responsible for such unspeakable tragedy and why? The journey to discovery, reconciliation, forgiveness, and peace is riddled with danger and sadness, as many family sagas are.

Eliza Maxwell has a true gift of storytelling because piecing these plots together—past and present—takes immense skill, keeping the reader interested, engaged, and eager to puzzle out the truth. Maxwell builds such a complicated and moving story with ease, never once allowing the reader to become bogged down and confused by the details and the mystery. Every chapter—every sentence, actually—is well written and carefully added to the overall story until the finale when all is finally revealed, and difficult decisions are made.

The Caretakers shows us the importance of family, but not everything within a family is as it seems from the outside. Fathers can be cruel, mothers can keep secrets, and children can break and choose a path of destruction and agony. On the other hand, families can be filled with unfathomable loyalty, care, and love. The Caretakers encompasses the many facets of family and the importance of strengthening the ties rather than letting them irreversibly unravel.

This literary treasure will definitely entertain, but it will probably give you quite a bit to think about and ponder and perhaps cause some reflection on the folly of humans as well as the bittersweet joy of unconditional familial love.

I received a free copy of this book from Lone Star Book Blog Tours in exchange for my honest review.

Recommended for fans of gothic suspense novels. THE CARETAKERS has a lot going on. I almost felt like I had to concentrate a bit too hard to follow the various story threads. But overall the novel is well done and fans of dual timelines, especially in the gothic suspense genre, will find much to like. Just don't expect an "easy" read. As I mentioned, there are lots of storylines to keep up with, lots of characters bickering / on the verge of a panic attack / confused, lots of violence. The plot sags a bit in the middle, but the conclusions to both storylines feel well thought out and satisfactory, if slightly sad/depressing.

The dual timelines in this book are connected by one isolated house named Fallbrook. In the past it was the home of a wealthy family with a cottage on the house grounds for their nanny/servant and her children. One horrifying day the entire family is brutally and violently murdered in their home. The event is a bit of a murder mystery as it is not entirely clear who was responsible for these murders. There are several potential suspects. This story line is presented through flashbacks and the fragmented memories of two old women who live on the property and serve as its caretakers. They were children when the murders happened and may not be wholly reliable narrators of history.

The present day story centers on documentary film maker Tessa and the fall out after her film helps to free an innocent man from prison. He turns out to be possibly not so innocent and Tessa flees the media circus that ensues. She decides to hide out in an abandoned house left to her when a family member dies. That house is a very decrepit and long abandoned Fallbrook. It seems her family has some connection to it and the terrible tragedy that occurred there. How these two stories come together was incredibly well crafted. This was a complex and multi- layered family drama and like peeling and onion, there was always one more layer that completely changed the story. Just when I thought I had things figured out another layer or flashback would reveal a piece of information that altered everything. The final “truth” of both story lines was surprising and unpredictable. Both conclusions were very sad but I wasn’t left depressed by the story. It was hopeful in a dark way.

I found this book to be a real page turner as both story lines drew me in and kept me reading. There was a lot of action to keep me engaged and also a lot of emotional drama that tugged at my heart and made me feel things. The conclusions of both story lines had unexpected twists that I did not see coming and they were interlaced together masterfully. This is a book that weaves so many threads that it is hard to imagine them coming together but at the finish not a single loose end is left dangling. I’m really impressed by the skillful writing and I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.

This is one author that I know will have me on the edge of my seat wondering what new twist will send us to new depths.  This book did not disappoint!

Tessa is struggling with the fact that she helped free a possible killer and the backlash from filming her documentary about his case.  But is he a killer?  There are many signs that point to yes, but just as many that say no as well.  As the story unfolds we learn the truth and a few twists that maybe we should have expected but still surprised this reader.  On top of this struggle, her mother passes away and now there is the news of her mother's true family history or at least some glimpses into a past that she and her sister never knew about.  And let's not forget the long-standing misunderstanding between Tessa and her sister Margo.  When the truth is finally revealed it was a little bit of a letdown because you had to wonder why they let it fester this long without talking to each other.  Or maybe that is me and knowing how my family would handle a similar situation.

As Tessa embarks down the rabbit hole of discovering her true past, so many secrets are revealed that you almost need paper to write down to keep straight.  How did everything come about for her mother?  Who are these new family members?  What are their stories?  We learn more as the book progresses and each chapter is a new delight in knowledge and understanding for the characters and their situations in the past.  I tried to decipher the family on my own but never would have guessed several of the revelations.

I was engaged in this book and enjoyed the layout of the chapters that alternated between the past and the present.  It led to the mystery of the story and discovering the truth of Fallbrook and Tessa and Margo's heritage.  Kitty is a sweet octogenarian and has the kindest heart especially once she meets Tessa.  There are many facets to Kitty's actions and words that are slowly revealed throughout the book.  Her sister, Deidre, is more reserved and protective of Kitty and Fallbrook and for good reason but you could see the love she felt for both and why she felt the need to protect them from outsiders.

I enjoyed this book and was satisfied with the ending, but I didn't want the story to end and I wanted to discover what happened next for everyone.  I guess my imagination will have to create that additional story in my head!  We give this book 5 paws up.

Heard lots about this one and looked forward to reading it, but unfortunately it fell flat for me. Too many books too little time! Don't believe we would have a readership for this one.

THIS story will distract you from everything. Including dinner. And bedtime. And maybe sleep. I sat down to read this and stayed up until three in the morning because I couldn’t put it down. It was worth the sleep hangover the next day.

The Caretakers has two very separate storylines that eventually intersect, each with its own narrator.
Tessa’s tale is layered, kicking off with the betrayal and guilt she feels when the man she helped free from wrongful murder conviction kidnaps and possibly kills the daughter of the Sheriff who was responsible for his jailing. As this is unfolding, her mother’s death reveals one heck of a surprise (and mystery) and all of it complicates the estrangement with her sister.

Kitty’s tale jumps between past and present. The prologue reveals that something dark has happened, and this story unfolds very slowly through short glimpses into her childhood as the daughter of the cook for the big mansion. Interspersed with the flashbacks are scenes with the now elderly Kitty and her sister and brother, who still reside in the caretaker’s cottage, with more hints of secrets.

There is a certain mastery in how Maxwell’s stories unfold and then connect. While there is a lot going on in Tessa’s story, it moves in one direction, full steam ahead. Meanwhile, Kitty’s story jumps forward and backward, with bits of information doled out like breadcrumbs that the reader eagerly gobbles up.

While the latter is a longer trip to get to the final destination, the story does come together, but in the magic that belongs to this author, as the pieces begin to fall into place, so does one twist after another. And then, when you think you have your breath back, the story hands you another twist that you will not have seen coming.

The chapters are brief, however, so the plot moves swiftly, and it lives up to its genre of a psychological thriller – it’s packed with tension and, as I mentioned above, will have you GLUED to the edge of your seat. (I did mention there are twists!) The characters are well-drawn – imperfect and yet sympathetic. Tessa is a complicated but likable character; she is driven by curiosity as a filmmaker, and haunted by her past decisions. Kitty is a fascinating character, more so as the story unfolds. Maxwell also does a fantastic job with setting – it’s very visual, moody and creepy.

Themes of relationships between sisters, guilt, and forgiveness run through all of the storylines. How far would you go to protect a sibling?

The Caretakers is gripping and twisty to the very last page. I absolutely loved it and knew it was a book I wouldn’t be able to do justice in describing just how good it is.

Tessa Shepherd is a documentary film maker that gains notoriety when she helps free a man that she believes has been wrongly convicted of murder only to find out that a year after his release he has killed again. Now her world has come crashing down around her.

Meanwhile her mother has passed away. This brings her back together with her estranged sister, Margo. Upon the reading of the will it is discovered that their mother had been adopted and that the Fallbrook estate that her birth family once owned has been left to the girls. The girls are shocked because their mother had never said a word to them. While the news is shocking it does provide Tessa with the hideout she's looking for as reporters and police are chomping at the bit for her to answer some questions.

Fallbrook has not been left empty however. Elderly sisters Dierdre & Kitty, the caretakers, still live in the cottage on the property. They are there to make sure that the horrifying secrets of Fallbrook stay hidden away. That is until Tessa comes along.

This had a strong start but started to lose momentum around the halfway mark and the reason for that is because there were too many plot threads to follow. With so much going on it was hard to become engaged with all of the story lines. I really enjoyed the "past" sections. I found the history and mystery surrounding Fallbrook incredibly compelling and these were most definitely my favorite moments.

I grew very tired of the bickering between Tessa and Margo and the constant reminder that something happened between them but what oh what could it be. Tessa hems and haws constantly and is on the verge of a panic attack on nearly every page.

This book, I think, would have benefited by excluding the entire Margo story line. It was just more minutiae to wade through to get to the juicy bits. And the reason for their 20 year estrangement to begin with? One simple conversation between them could have solved this entirely and I also find it hard to believe that their parents didn't do more to reunite the girls.

On a positive note this author has an easy writing style that is engaging and also quite lovely. I would not hesitate to pick up another book by her. 3 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for providing me with a digital ARC in echange for an honest review.

This is a very good mystery that'll grip you from the first page. I loved the dual perspective style and going back and forth was very exciting.
Highly entertaining, well written and addictive.
Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

EXCERPT: The screams have long since died away. The bloodstains, like the memories, have faded with time, obscured beneath a fine layer of dust. Mildew creeps along the peeling floral wallpaper. The window frames are soft with rot.

A skylight of colored glass softly illuminates the slow and steady decay. Once, laughter filled the spaces between the tired walls. Running feet and mother's hugs and whispers under cover at night. Hearts beat, as hearts do, then broke, then beat again. Until they didn't.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: Filmmaker Tessa Shepherd helped free a man she believed was wrongly imprisoned for murder. When he kills again, Tessa’s life is upended.

She’s reeling with guilt, her reputation destroyed. Worse, Tessa’s mother has unexpectedly passed away, and her sister, Margot, turns on her after tensions from their past escalate. Hounded by a bullying press, Tessa needs an escape. That’s when she learns of a strange inheritance bequeathed by her mother: a derelict and isolated estate known as Fallbrook. It seems like the perfect refuge.

A crumbling monument to a gruesome history, the mansion has been abandoned by all but two elderly sisters retained as caretakers. They are also guardians of all its mysteries. As the house starts revealing its dark secrets, Tessa must face her fears and right the wrongs of her past to save herself and her relationship with Margot. But nothing and no one at Fallbrook are what they seem.

MY THOUGHTS: I loved this atmospheric read. It has all the ingredients . . . feuding sisters, family retainers, a crumbling old house, tragedy, secrets, lies and betrayals. Beautiful! And exquisitely written.

The characterisation is superb. Tessa is a successful documentary filmmaker, a righter of wrongs. That's her public persona. Behind that facade, she suffers from an overwhelming guilt and anxiety, enough to have had her hospitalised and on medication. She and twin sister Margot haven't spoken in almost twenty years. Margot's husband, Ben, used to be Tessa's boyfriend, and there was a time when the three of them were inseparable. So it is to Ben Tessa turns when Margot doesn't respond to Tessa's cry for help.

At Fallbrook, monstrously large, once proud and haughty, we have more sisters, Kitty, falling prey to the grasping tentacles of dementia, and Deirdre, the practical no nonsense one, caretakers not only of Fallbrook, but of all the secrets contained within those crumbling walls. And strangely, they are there not to preserve Fallbrook, but to make sure that it is not taken care of, that it is left to rot away.

These two worlds collide following the death of Tessa and Margot's mother, and their inheritance of a legacy that comes with its own tragic history, and a mystery that demands to be unravelled.

Add in a kidnapping, dementia, an evil stepmother, familial abuse and a manhunt . . . and it all sounds rather overwhelming, and it is, slightly. Which is why there are 4.5 stars rather than the full five. But it is only slightly overwhelming, rather than hugely. All these diverse threads do all tie in together beautifully in the end. There is nothing predictable in this book. It is an absorbing and rewarding read.

I do caution you you to take particular notice of the various family relationships, who is who and which family they belong to. It does become important later in the book. I didn't, and found myself flicking furiously back to the earlier chapters.

On another track entirely, it is strange what we retain from other reads. I recently read a book in which one of the characters was a wallpaper restorer. At one point when Tessa is at Fallbrook she uses a marker pen to scribble notes all over the ancient wallpaper in one of the rooms. As I was reading I am mentally screaming at her, 'Don't do that! You are desecrating something old and beautiful!' Of course, she took no notice of me whatsoever.

I will be reading more from this author. In her acknowledgments, the author likened writing a book to making a pot of soup and sharing it. 'If you're very lucky, a few who will finish the bowl (will) ask for seconds.' I am one of those. 'More please, Ms. Maxwell.'

🏚👭💫💔 .5

#TheCaretakers #NetGalley

'The dead are at peace....it's the living who struggle.'

The Caretakers by Eliza Maxwell is due for publication April 14, 2020.

THE AUTHOR: Eliza Maxwell lives in Texas with a patient man, two impatient children and a bird named Sarah. When she's not working on her next novel, she stays busy trying to keep her children from some future therapist's chair.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Lake Union Publishing via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of The Caretakers by Eliza Maxwell for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon and my webpage sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

I received this book from Netgalley for review and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Wow. What a thrilling read. We start with Tessa Shepherd. She is a documentary film maker feeling from the news a convicted killer she has labored to release may well be a kidnapper and killer. As her life unravels, she must face the trauma of her past and her family legacy. This is a taut family drama, with lots of mystery, haunted lives and emotional roller coaster ride. I couldn't put it down.

This book will grip you from the first page. The dual story line confused me at first but the story is so well written and well told you don't want to stop reading and I didn't. Pick up this awesome book and prepare to be entertained. Happy reading!

A Story As Old As Time. At its crux - and without giving anything away - this is essentially a retelling of one of the oldest stories known to man. So old that a people that originated in the Middle Eastern deserts recorded it as one of their earliest stories. Now, as with all retellings some particulars are changed, but at its heart it still has the same signature. In this particular variant, we have a current timeline and a timeline from nearly a century prior. In both, mistakes are made - many, many more mistakes than are obvious and are only revealed in the closing few chapters of the book. Very well done, and with an ending that will haunt. Very much recommended.

I didn't know what to expect when I started this book, I've never read anything by Eliza Maxwell...but I am SO happy I took a chance and read it. I absolutely loved it!! The Caretakers is a fast, suspenseful story told via multiple narrators and times. Tessa is a documentary film maker. She produced a film that freed a man from prison but is having doubts after another woman disappears. While she is struggling with this she learns that her mother wasn't who she and her sister Margot thought she was. They learn that they have inherited an old uestate. When Tessa runs from the pressure of the press she runs towards her past. There she finds an old house that is surrounded in mystery and falling apart with two elderly caretakers, sisters...Deirdra and Kitty Donnelly.
A fast paced, intricate, compelling gothic tale this story grabbed me and wouldn't let go until the end...an ending that had me shocked more than once. The characters are believable, complex and sympathetic. Don't miss this book!!
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Gothic fiction is one of my favorites. Combine that with crime & mystery and I'm most likely going to be hooked. This book was atmospheric, almost from the beginning. I loved the set up of Tessa being a documentary filmmaker. That is quite relevant today.

As Tessa retreats to a newly inherited and crumbling estate she is forced to face her strained relationship with her sister as well as the dark past of the house she is now living in. I found Tessa to be an easy character to connect with and the writing in each time period flowed nicely.

I typically enjoy multiple timelines/storylines but there were a lot of moving parts here. That's my one drawback - the book felt disjointed at times. But all in all, I really enjoyed this book and will definitely read more from this author. This one earns 4.5 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.