Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
An isolated, empty ski resort in the off-season. A woman who doesn't want to be found. A man who may not be who he appears to be. A game of cat and mouse - with deadly consequences. On the run from a controlling husband and his underworld associates in Melbourne, Charlotte has adopted a new identity and found a job as an off-season caretaker in a tiny, deserted alpine resort. Some dangerous people are looking for Charlotte and so she's lying low, tending to the lodges, happy to be alone, but jumping every time a floor creaks or the wind whistles through the empty buildings.
She's trying to convince herself she's okay, that she got away. But then strange things start happening around the resort. And Charlotte starts to realise that every escape route is being sealed off, one by one. From Gabriel Bergmoser, the master of propulsive, page-turning storytelling, The Caretaker will have readers second-guessing themselves at every turn. What's real and what isn't? Who's dangerous and who isn't? And who will survive?
Gabriel Bergmoser's one of those author's that is building a back catalogue of creepy, tense thrillers full of interesting psychological analysis and, frankly, disturbing scenarios. Which is exactly what you're given in THE CARETAKER.
Charlotte is on the run from a controlling husband and his underworld associates, adopting a new identity and taking on the role of off-season caretaker at a small, deserted alpine resort, way off any beaten track. She's lying low, doing the small maintenance and cleaning jobs required, revelling in the isolation, dealing with the limited communications and jumping at every unexpected noise.
Until strange things start to happen around the resort, and the only staying guest there starts to seem very ominous, especially as her escape routes are disappearing, one by one, and the options for how she's going to survive dwindle before her very eyes.
Needless to say, this is a creepy one. Probably creepy enough to put you off small ski villages for life, to say nothing of being a caretaker of a few under-rented villas and unexpected guests. Basically we're talking a novel that could be seen as a threat to remote area hospitality jobs. Although there's also the potential for this to be very empowering. After all, if Charlotte can survive this, beat the very bad guys, and escape, then she's taken on some seriously stacked against her odds, and won. Which is a very attractive idea, and may just be enough for readers to deal with the fright and press on, if you're not utterly hooked by the narrative in THE CARETAKER in the first place. Which this reader must admit was so engaging it became a couple of sittings read, during daylight I might add, even if it was in a remote place.
The strengths of this novel are many, it's essentially a psychological thriller with the potential of threat and peril infecting both Charlotte's reactions, and the readers. Charlotte, as the main character, holds up to the focus very well, she's believable and easy to relate to. The sense of place is vivid and very compelling, with the isolation, and wildness of the place nicely reflecting the feelings and responses of Charlotte as she battles an invisible threat, that becomes slowly more solid, and closer than she had hoped when she first disappeared into this remote location.
At this point the remoteness becomes less of a protection and more part of the problem, although there is the possibility, if she's good enough, that she can use that to her own advantage. Whether or not she's completely successful, well you'll have to read the book to find out what happens to Charlotte, and whether she has a future in which to create a new life.
Karen Chisholm is one of Australia's leading crime reviewers. She created Aust Crime Fiction in 2006, a terrific resource - please check it out. Karen also reviews for Newtown Review of Books, and has been a judge of the Ned Kelly Awards and Ngaio Marsh Awards. This review was first published on Karen's website; she kindly shares some of her reviews of crime and thriller novels written by Australians and New Zealanders on Crime Watch as well as on Aust Crime Fiction.
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