The Companion: A Librarian’s Perspective Review

The Companion by Katie Alender is creepy, twisty thriller that many teens will love. As an adult I saw what was going on very early in the story, but I don’t think most teens will see it as quickly as I did.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

The other orphans say Margot is lucky.
 
Lucky to survive the horrible accident that killed her family.
 
Lucky to have her own room because she wakes up screaming every night.
 
And finally, lucky to be chosen by a prestigious family to live at their remote country estate.
 
But it wasn’t luck that made the Suttons rescue Margot from her bleak existence at the group home.  Margot was handpicked to be a companion to their silent, mysterious daughter, Agatha.

At first, helping with Agatha–and getting to know her handsome younger brother–seems much better than the group home. But soon, the isolated house begins playing tricks on Margot’s mind, making her question everything she believes about the Suttons . . . and herself.  
 
Margot’s bad dreams may have stopped when she came to live with Agatha – but the real nightmare has just begun.

WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THE COMPANION

I read The Companion for my Genre Book Club. Our genre for April 2026 was gothic literature, which I like and have read but don’t read very often. I found this book from an online list of YA gothic literature that I cannot find now. If you are looking for YA gothic literature, check this Goodreads list – I just added The Companion to it.

This was a fun read! I read the audiobook, and I love the way the narrator differentiated the main character voices. I could always tell exactly who was talking.

Got readers who struggle with a large cast of characters? A major theme of this book is isolation, so there are only a handful of characters to keep track of. There’s 16-year old Margot, an orphan sent to live in the Copeland Family mansion to be a companion to sickly, 17-year old Agatha. The other two main characters are Agatha’s mother (Laura) and teen brother (Barrett).

I liked the twist but found it predictable, but I think it will be less predictable for teens. More about that in the next section.

If you are teaching gothic literature, The Companion is an excellent example. We have a creepy old mansion, ghosts, secret rooms and cemeteries, a dead cat, mystery, a sense of foreboding …it’s all there.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE ABOUT THE COMPANION

The relationship between Margot and Barrett felt wedged in just to add romance. Again, it’s something teen readers will like, but I found Barrett a bit cookie-cutter and unnecessary. The main dynamic is between Margot, Agatha, and Agatha’s mother Laura.

As I mentioned, the plot twist was a little predictable. I don’t think that’s a big deal – many teens won’t see it coming.

(spoilers after this point – you’ve been warned!)

spoilers…

spoilers…

Adult readers will likely see the plot twist coming from far away, but I’m not sure if teens will. I personally did not know about Munchausen syndrome by proxy until I saw The Sixth Sense when I was in my early-20s. Maybe today’s teens are more savvy than I was, or maybe they have also seen that chilling scene in The Sixth Sense.

I’m not positive if Laura’s behavior is exactly Munchausen by proxy. She doesn’t poison her daughter and foster daughter to get attention or pity from others. I would say it’s more about control, but by the end, it seems more like Laura is plain ol’ homicidal. So I don’t know.

I also just learned that in 2013, Munchausen by proxy was renamed to Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another (FDIA). This change was an attempt to destigmatize this psychological disorder and to describe it more accurately.

DIVERSITY

Main characters cue white.

LIBRARIANS WILL WANT TO KNOW

• Would adults like The Companion? MAYBE. I enjoyed it, but it is predictable.

• Would I buy The Companion for my high school library? MAYBE. It’s a great example of gothic literature for teens, but it isn’t an essential purchase.

• Would I buy The Companion for my middle school library? MAYBE. Content-wise, I think it’s fine for most middle school readers (see content notes below). Again, it’s an excellent example of gothic literature, which might not be an easy genre to find for middle school.

• Would I buy The Companion for my elementary school library? NO. It’s not an elementary book.

MATURE CONTENT IN THE COMPANION

• Language: none; no profanity found in a search of the ebook

• Sexuality: some kissing

• Violence: attempted murder; no blood; past animal cruelty

• Drugs/Alcohol: high; forced drug abuse (injected and pills)

• Other: Several vomit scenes, remembered trauma of family dying in a car accident

MORE YA GOTHIC LITERATURE