This was medical horror at its finest!! I was deeply disturbed while reading this and it will be one to stick with me for a long, long time. Most people don’t like hospitals as is, so we’re already starting off with a terrifying situation of a long-term hospital stay and a chronic illness with no cure, where the experimental treatment you’re going to receive is your last hope. Adding to this, Margaret has no support system, no one to help her, and nowhere to go. Honestly, that’s already a pretty horrifying book IMO, so we’re starting off strong without even talking about the truly sinister aspects of this novel. I read some reviews where people were unsatisfied with the ending, but to me it ended perfectly. I’m also not someone who needs an ending all wrapped up in a pretty bow, so that probably makes a huge difference. I wouldn’t have given this a 5 star rating with such an ending because that’s diminished the horror with this subject matter. Keep an open mind for that!!

BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of The Graceview Patient, by Caitlin Starling, from St. Martin's Press/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

Better in concept than execution, particularly that frustrating ending. And especially because hospital sundowner’s syndrome is a very real thing.

A few thoughts…..

John Milton, man, he nailed it from the get-go: “The mind is its own place and, in itself can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven.”

Meg/Margaret: Isn’t it interesting that our main protagonist’s name is the same as that of the main character from Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time? And that both were dealing with a pulsing building?

Note To Future Kristi: No more Caitlin Starling for you, just not your cuppa.

DESCRIPTION
Misery meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers in this genre-bending, claustrophobic hospital gothic from the bestselling author of The Death of Jane Lawrence.

Margaret lives with a rare autoimmune condition that has destroyed her life, leaving her isolated. It has no cure, but she’s making do as best she can—until she’s offered a fully paid-for spot in an experimental medical trial at Graceview Memorial.

The conditions are simple, if grueling: she will live at the hospital as a full-time patient, subjecting herself to the near-total destruction of her immune system and its subsequent regeneration. The trial will essentially kill most of, but not all of her. But as the treatment progresses and her body begins to fail, she stumbles upon something sinister living and spreading within the hospital.

Unsure of what's real and what is just medication-induced delusion, Margaret struggles to find a way out as her body and mind succumb further to the darkness lurking throughout Graceview's halls.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

As it didn’t meet my expectations, this was a ⭐read for me. I’m going with ⭐⭐⭐ as readers in the right target audience may appreciate it more than me. I thought the story would be along the lines of Coma with maybe a bit of Andromeda Strain thrown in.

Margaret, or Meg, has a rare autoimmune disease that attacks her epithelial cells and she is a mess physically and emotionally. You’d be cranky too if your skin was a mess, canker sores lined your mouth and throat and the joint pain was constant, not to mention severe digestive disorders. Fortunately, one of her doctors is able to get Meg into an experimental medical trial at Graceview Memorial. The trial will totally destroy her immune system, then rebuild it. Meg chronicles the process and her journey, but I don’t know what happens next or how the book really ends. Was it all medically induced hallucinations, fever dreams, something supernatural or her own mind being destroyed? The dark mind trip was too long, and unsatisfying.

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Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC of 'The Graceview Patient. by Caitlin Starling.

This is a masterfully sustained crescendo of spooky dread. A patient is admitted to an necessarily exclusive clinical trial in order to try to overcome a severe immunodeficiency syndrome. And the nightmare is added to, layer-upon-layer and page-upon-page, until we're all in there with Meg, not knowing what's real and what's imagined as the cure proves immeasurably worse than the disease.

The entire time I was reading this book I felt horrifically aware of my veins- that's definitely a new reading sensation for me.

The Graceview Patient follows Margaret as she is admitted into the hospital to undergo experimental trials for her rare autoimmune disease. The book is told from her point of view and is painstakingly descriptive. The realism surrounding her illness and her treatment is absolutely chilling. A lot of the novel is spent describing the feeling of being punctured by needles and intravenous infusions- which to someone who is phobic of needles, was incredibly uncomfortable. But alas, it's a good thing I am not looking for comfort and fuzzy feelings in my horror. The Graceview patient definitely delivered the promised experience in my opinion.

The line between reality and delusion was practically non-existent in Margaret, so I definitely felt myself going back a few times to reread something. Just to make sure that I had read it correctly.

While this book explores themes of ethics in the medical sphere and the delicate mental state of someone undergoing such intense medical procedures- it also relies a little bit on the supernatural and Starling introduces some haunting aspects to the novel as well.

I read this in one sitting, because I had to and even now I still feel unsettled. If you are a fan of psychological thrillers/horror I would highly recommend trying this one, I can guarantee you won't finish this book unscathed.

3.5 Stars rounded up for the creepy factor

The Graceview Patient proves once again that Caitlin Starling is one of the most versatile voices in horror today. Her ability to shift between subgenres is remarkable, and here she dives headfirst into a chilling blend of medical, body, and cosmic horror that’s hard to neatly categorize, but absolutely gripping to experience.

This story is dark, disorienting, and viscerally unsettling, especially for anyone even slightly squeamish about hospitals or medical procedures. Starling captures that deep, primal fear of losing control over your own body in a way that's both vivid and deeply unnerving.

That said, this wasn’t my personal favorite of hers. While the atmosphere and tension were spot on, the plot felt a little underdeveloped. I found myself craving more clarity and more answers about what exactly was happening and why. A longer page count could have helped flesh out the world and the terrifying forces at play.

Still, The Graceview Patient is a uniquely unsettling ride. If you love horror that makes your skin crawl and leaves you questioning reality, this is one to pick up. Just be warned: if hospitals already make you uneasy, this book will have you looking over your shoulder for days.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Caitlin Starling, and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

This really worked for me. The hospital setting was claustrophobic and perfectly creepy. I loved the narrative voice and the descriptions of the horrors. Great pacing. I loved that you dont always know what's real or what is a hallucination or nightmare, although by the end I was ready to believe that Meg was really seeing the truth. Speaking of the ending, I think it will be controversial to some, but I liked it. Sometimes you dont get to know what happened next - it reminded me of older horror stories in that aspect.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley for review.

Caitlin Starling is the queen of unreliable narrator horror. As someone with a typically misunderstood chronic illness, I related to Meg entirely too hard. I zoomed through this; it gripped me and wouldn't let me go. I'm still trying to guess what might be real and what isn't, and the ending of the book slammed into me like a freight train.

This was such an interesting story. Meg was an unreliable narrator but you also couldn’t help but wonder how much of what she went through were hallucinations and how much the nurses and other people involved in the study were just gaslighting her to keep her in the hospital. I do wish the ending was wrapped up a little more, but otherwise I had a great time reading.

Visceral, claustrophobic, and compulsively readable. I inhaled THE GRACEVIEW PATIENT in a mad flurry, even as I dreaded what might happen next. Like much of the best horror, GRACEVIEW manages to be atmospherically terrifying whilst addressing real issues about autonomy, agency, and the injustice of the American healthcare system. It's a fever dream and a scream, and exactly why I adore Caitlin Starling's work.

Margaret has a very rare auto-immune disease and is in the hospital undergoing experimental treatment. In the radical treatment Margaret's immune system will be destroyed and then rebuilt in ways that are described as painful, unpleasant, and "necessary suffering". The underlying horror is very subtle in the beginning of the book. This is a gothic body horror story that reminded me of Lovecraft at the end. Margaret is an unreliable narrator, she is sick and on a lot of medication, so it's not clear if she's hallucinating all the horrifying things she's seeing or the hospital and the med rep are really doing something nefarious. I enjoyed the mystery and the increasing feeling of dread.

Margaret's world has consistently gotten smaller as she manages a rare autoimmune condition. Friends have dropped (or been pushed) away. Family is disinterested. Work is dependent on good days.

A phone call from her doctor offers hope: a fully-paid medical trial at Graceview Memorial Hospital. The long-term stay starts well with nice surroundings and kind nurses. The medical trial rep brings her flowers, food and much needed company.

As the medical treatment goes on - Meg starts seeing things that may be real or not. The walls are breathing. There is something growing inside her - is it rebuilding her immune system or something else?

Caitlin might just be my Queen of Creepy. This book gave me a serious case of the nopes. Every time something happened, I just sat there saying, "NOPE!" After reading this book, I may never be able to spend a night in a hospital. Ever.

While this book may not be for everyone, I think Starling has done another great book. The uncertain narrative and setting were eerie and shied away from being too over the top. The only complaint I'd have is that I didn't get much value from the romantic relationship but I appreciated the queer representation.

I was given the opportunity to review this book on NetGalley.

Margaret has a rare disease and she was selected for an all-expenses paid clinical trial. She entered Graceview Hospital to start the clinical trial, and everything went wrong from there. This book is a medical mystery/thriller.

This book was very well written. As a healthcare provider myself, I found a lot of the healthcare aspects of this book to be very accurate. I was drawn to this book for that reason. The mystery/thriller aspect kept you wanting to know more about Margaret's journey through the trial. In the later portion of the book, it started to get a little hard to follow because of the reaction and reality of the FMC. Overall, this book was intriguing to read.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Caitlin Starling, and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

The Graceview Patient is gothic horror for the chronically ill girlies who crave body horror, institutional dread, and medical paranoia with a side of what the actual hell is going on here.

Margaret (Meg) signs up for an experimental medical trial to try to reclaim what’s left of her life—and the procedure is just this side of ethically horrifying. The writing pulls you deep into Meg’s body, into her pain, her desperation, her disorientation. And just when you think you’ve acclimated to the psychological freefall… the hospital itself starts to change.

This is horror at its most liminal. Is Meg hallucinating? Is there something in her? Around her? Is the hospital a parasite, a haunting, a trap? The vibes are Immaculate™: claustrophobic, clinical, and just slippery enough to make you question everything. I was fully locked in—and then…

THE ENDING.

Look. I don’t need a nice tidy bow. I like ambiguity. But this? This wasn’t an end. It was a fade to static. I need to know what happened to Meg. To Isobel. I need a whiteboard, a Q&A session with Caitlin Starling, and possibly a séance. I'm haunted, but also a little annoyed.

Four stars because the journey was unforgettable, even if the destination ghosted me.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, even though I now require answers, closure, and possibly an exorcism.

I wasn't sure about this book at first; the prologue and first chapter were confusing and not at all intriguing. I pushed on, and I'm so glad I did. The story and writing style found a rhythm in chapter three, and once that happened I was hooked.

An unreliable protagonist slipping further and further into madness. And suddenly every thing and every one around her become clues, culprits in the awful things she's enduring.

This storing was captivating. Until the ending, which was a bit of a letdown. Still, I'm glad I read this.

This book cured my 4 month reading slump. I was hooked from the beginning and finished it in a little over a day. It’s creepy and mysterious in just the right way, and the author really has a skill for putting you directly in the mind of the main character as she spirals into madness. I was questioning reality through so much of this story, and it kept me guessing right to the end. Easily one of my favorite books of the year so far.

Woah...finished in a day. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this in exchange for an honest review!!

It started off very slow for me but then about midway, got really interesting. Personally not a fan of hospital settings for the plot but I still enjoyed it. It felt like a very classic horror.