The Graceview Patient follows Margaret as she begins a new trial to treat her rare autoimmune condition. The trial will destroy most of her immune system and regenerate it in the hopes of curing her. But the treatment takes a turn for the worse and her body fails. As paranoia clouds Margaret’s mind, she explores the hospital and finds something sinister and must figure out what is real and what is her imagination.

I enjoyed this one. I do really like Caitlin Starling’s books and thoroughly enjoy her writing style—especially when it comes to the horror scenes. This one was slow and at times confusing. While I did the confusing narrative and the questioning of how reliable Meg as a narrator was, I would’ve preferred a more conclusive ending. It was still good and had this very sinister, unnerving tension woven throughout the book. I honestly didn’t know who to trust or what was really going on. The atmosphere was great though. It truly gave off a very intense claustrophobic gothic vibe.

Meg is an interesting main character. I felt really bad for her. She suffers a LOT throughout the novel and it’s really easy to empathize and root for her. Adam was interesting—he was very charming but I couldn’t help but not trust him at all. I quite liked her friendship with Isobel and the direction it went.

If you like psychological suspense and unreliable narrators, I’d definitely recommend checking this out.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the arc!

Margaret has a very rare condition. Her daily struggles make for a miserable life. She’s given a chance to try some experimental treatments but has to stay at the hospital while receiving it. It’s incredibly interesting-this whole book basically is her time there and most people would think that’s so boring but it’s so well written that you have to keep reading until the very last page.

✨Book Review✨

The Graceview Patient 🦠 by Caitlin Starling

ll Release Date October 14 ll

What you’ll find in this book:
🧪Horror novel
🧪Body Horror
🧪Unreliable narrator
🧪Rotting hospital
🧪Tylenol

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

This book freaked me out- but that’s the point. I was sucked in right from the beginning. I was rooting for Meg throughout the entire story. If you’re nit a fan of hospitals or anything medical, then this probably isn’t the book for you. It was definitely intense at times but something about it made it so hard to put down. I have always loved characters who are unreliable and you’re not sure if what is happening is real or hallucination. This is something Starling does well in this novel. I couldn’t get enough. Make sure to add this to your TBR!!

Thanks @netgalley @authorcstarling @stmartinspress for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. I loved it!

If you’re not into hospitals, I would check out The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling. I loved it!

This was an interesting and unsettling work of horror. While it does incorporate a decent amount of body horror, it wasn't too gruesome and was incorporated really well. The author also did a wonderful job incorporating an unreliable narrator (or were they unreliable??), which is always a treat to run across. The pacing is steady and I found myself tearing through this book much faster than I was expecting, though some horror lovers may feel like the book starts off on the slow side. I also quite liked the ending, even though it was open ended.

The protagonist was really well written. I appreciated how well the author incorporated different aspects, especially relating to her chronic illness, that never felt repetitive. I did wish that the protagonist had more agency, especially in the last half of the book, but let's be honest, most patients in hospital settings have minimal agency.

If you're looking for a quick horror read set in a hospital, then you may love this one. My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read this work, which will be published October 14, 2025. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I was intrigued by the blurb on the plot of THE GRACEVIEW PATIENT, and I'm not a big horror fan. This medical gothic tale was full of paranoia, gaslighting, isolation, hallucinations, and a general overall eerie atmosphere.
Meg willingly agrees to be part of an experimental treatment for her auto-immune disorder which has made her life nearly unbearable. It requires her to be hospitalized for several months in an isolation unit.
Then begins the "something's not right" feeling, the hallucinations that we wonder "are they *really* hallucinations?". She becomes an unreliable narrator, and we question "is she going crazy, or are the crazy things real?" This annoyed me, as I wondered if she was being gaslit by the people tasked with caring for her. Was she a prisoner in a medical horror story or was she losing her mind?
I waited for the reveal, which never came, The ending was abrupt & unsatisfying. However, this would make a great horror movie
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you, Crooked Lane Books, for providing the copy of The Deadly Book Club by Lyn Liao Butler Talk about melodrama! There was so much going on it was hard to keep track of who did what to whom. The characters weren’t described well enough for me to feel that they were “Five of the most prominent book influencers in the U.S., so as much as I loved the idea that someone was killed during a bookclub meeting, it didn't seem very relevant to the women involved. I liked how things finally came together and there was a reason everything that had happened earlier, and readers who love a shocking reveal will love this one! 3 stars

I'm not sure what I was expecting with this one, but even being someone who enjoys medical stuff in my novels...wow. It was literally day to day inpatient experience of a patient in a hospital. I think it was supposed to be horror, but a lot of it was just...boring? Much of it was in the FMC's head, and her mind wasn't that interesting? I kept skimming to see if it would get better, but it never did. This was a miss for me.

Wtf did I just read! I sat down and was completely hooked. I know people always say that but I didn’t even pick up my phone to scroll! If anything, I was annoyed I had to put it down to pee! 😂
This was insanely good, so unsettling and eerie! Hospitals always give me creepy vibes but seeing it from the patients perspective was so good.

Margaret has a rare autoimmune disorder that is ruining her life. Then she gets a call to enrol in an all expenses paid trial study to cure her, who wouldn’t jump at that? They’re going to break her down and build her back up. But things aren’t as they seem at Graceview hospital, soon Margaret starts to feel uneasy. Who can she trust? The nurses are lying, the pharm rep is way too handsome and charming, and the only other patient with her condition suddenly disappears.

This was an anxiety fuelled slow decent into madness. The easiest 5 star. I really wish there was more. Meg is a clever girl

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my review.

This story focuses on Margaret being offered a paid place in a patient study related to her autoimmune disease. She's hesitant until she is offered pay, and then thinks that this trial may help find a way to help or cure her issues. We follow Margaret as she arrives at the hospital and gets settled in, meets a few other patients. Margaret is worried, but no one will ease her concerns or answer her questions. She feels like she doesn't know who to trust or what to believe and that is passed on to the reader. This was a very creepy book (aren't books in hospitals usually creepy?), and we have a main character who is vulnerable because she is ill and feels alone.

There were areas where I was left wondering what was real and what was a dream or imagination. What's the truth about the other characters? We may never know. Some of the 'treatments' will have you talking out loud or yelling at the book - danger! danger! - but it is a horror novel, so be prepared for a few nightmares.

The book did pull me in and it was creepy, scary, horror. Reading about a vulnerable main character was tough for me. But overall, this was a good horror novel.

4 stars

My interest was piqued by the premise of the story but reading it through it just wasn’t for me.

I thought Meg’s introduction was very well written and how she got into the SWAIL study but got lost at the supernatural stuff happening at the hospital

Coming of the back of what is still one of my favourite books of the year so far (The Starving Saint), this had quite a bit to live up to. And while it didn't do what The Starving Saints did for me, it is still a very unique and incredible take on horror through a medical lense.

The good:

* The atmosphere (ft. the writing). Sterling has such a way to make you feel completely and utterly on edge throughout a story. You distrust everything, you see shadows everywhere. Nothing feels safe.
* It felt eerily and disturbingly real to have a medical horror story set in a place that is meant to be for good uses but used for bad. We see this too much in our real world, and it made Margaret's suffering more disturbing and realistic
* It feels claustrophobic in a great way. Margaret reads as such an unreliable narrator, because she can't even trust her own mind so how can we as a reader. How do we know what was real and what was not?

The bad:
* The wrap up. It felt quite sudden, quite abrupt, with not a full closure on what happens next. And in a way, that doesn't have to be a bad thing. It can make you think on what you think happens, but I would have liked just a bit more.
Final rating:

☆☆☆☆.5

I liked this book until the ending. Then I was like…what just happened. Leaves you wondering. And I don’t know if it’s a good thing or bad.

One of my biggest fears is not being believed. And as a woman who has had to advocate for myself in certain medical situations this premise stood out to me.

I am not one who suffers from chronic pain myself, though I think the author does a good job of reminding you just enough how much pain our MC is in at any given time, without it being “annoying” (I put annoying in quotes because I know chronic pain is no joke and I think others might see the constant mention of pain as redundant but that is the point)

Margaret is fed up. After being told by doctor after doctor that there is no hope for her and treatment can only do so much she is more than tired, she’s hopeless. Enter SWAIL, a new treatment program at Graceview hospital. The treatment is experimental AND is willing to pay her for participating, sounds too good to be true.
Though some maybe orange-ish flags waving at her in the beginning Margaret is hopeful for the first time in a long time. Then the treatment officially starts.

Without giving anything away, I really enjoyed the modern gothic feel this books gives. I think the modern setting of a clinical hospital translates really smoothly to the more gothic counterpart of an old mansion or an asylum and the author does a great job of scene setting.

40% update and I have a theory as to what is going on so POTENTIAL SPOILERS!
***
So the hospital is alive yeah? Like no doubt about it? I mean look at the cover and tell me I’m wrong. But then I ask, why? Why would nurses and doctors keep a sentient evil building alive and wouldn’t that go against their oath?? Idk just a theory.
**

Okay so we have really escalated things, the body horror is so chefs kiss I could basically feel the IV on myself and the liquid going in and cringing as I read. Also I will say this is a very quick read. Short chapters with endings that cut off right when you want more. Just enough to keep the pace moving but not so forced as if to feel rushed through the book.

Coming to you live from 5 minutes after finishing this book and I cannot begin to explain to you how lost I am. Right until the 75% mark I was here for it, but the climax to resolution was so incoherent that even on a re-read I dont know what is going on with this ending. If you are okay with a dissatisfying end, I liked the majority of this book and think the experience of being “trapped” in a hospital was interesting enough but once we get to the end things get a bit unhinged and confusing. A solid book to ready during your Halloween celebrations.

Thank you as always to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of the eARC for my honest review!

I did not finish this book. It started off slowly and was not my preference. I really was hopeful to enjoy this one. I did not review on Goodreads.

I think Caitlin Starling is just not for me, none of her books so far have felt like true "horror" to me. Would still recommend to the right reader, but to me this is once again a great idea/setting with poor execution

Caitlin Starling is an instant-pre-order author for me. Her books are always the perfect blend of creepy, fascinating, and weirdly sexy without being romance-focused. She creates lush, enthralling worlds contained perfectly in single stories. I always want to know more about the worlds they're set in, but never ever feel like they're lacking, and that's such a difficult balance to strike.

Now, was it a good idea to start reading this while in the hospital for 24 hours straight without sleep while my girlfriend waited to have her gallbladder out? No, probably not the best time to read a story about an extreme experimental pharmaceutical trial set in a hospital with a fleshy Silent Hill-ass alternate dimension.

But anyway. Starling has knocked it out of the park again. This was creepy, unsettling, and disturbing in all the right ways, with a conclusion that felt like watching a really good episode of the Twilight Zone. Obviously, this book is not for the faint of heart. I had to take a break every once in a while to rub my wrists because the descriptions of the IV procedures made them ache. But if you love some good medical horror or feel nostalgic for Silent Hill 2, this is a real treat.

A creepy one.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing an E-ARC for this novel
NOTE: All opinions shared are my own.
Please check content warnings before reading this novel

The Graceview Patient by Caitlin Starling is set to release on October 14, 2025.

WOW. I loved this book sososo much. I was fighting a reading slump before reading this, and I was hooked from the first page. This book follows Margaret, a girl whose life has been destroyed by her autoimmune disease, leaving her isolated. When offered a fully paid spot in a medical trial, she takes it. This book does a phenomenal job at showing the demoralizing structure of the medical system, as well as the life of someone with a chronic illness.

Margaret is extremely unreliable, and she knows that, which makes this book all the more creepy! She doesn’t understand what she has truly seen; her perception of reality is warped even to the last page. The hospital felt suffocating on page; I was genuinely shocked at how claustrophobic this book made me feel while reading it.

Topic I would love to draw attention to: medical care is EXPENSIVE! Seriously, going to the emergency room in the US can ruin your entire life financially. I felt for her when she talked about not having the money to see the specialists she needs for her illness.

Even though this was a 5-star for me, the ending was sort of a letdown. I think this entire book was perfect, just the ending felt incomplete for me (this may change with publication!) I think if you are looking for a thriller involving chronic illness, medical treatment, hallucinations, and what the fuck moments, you’ll love this book :)

Again, thank you so much NetGalley for providing this ARC!

🏥 The Graceview Patient 👩🏻‍⚕️
By ✍🏼 Caitlin Starling
Expected: 10/14/25
Format: ARC via @netgalley
Genre: Gothic Medical Horror
⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 The Graceview Patient by Caitlin Starling is a hospital gothic horror that follows Margaret, a chronically ill woman enrolled in an experimental immune-reset trial at Graceview Memorial.

But as her body breaks down and regenerates, Margaret starts to see — and feel — things that shouldn’t be real. Are the hallucinations part of the treatment… or something far darker?

Themes of bodily autonomy, paranoia, and medical horror spiral together in this unsettling tale where sterile doesn’t mean safe.

🧠 Hospital gothic
🚪 Claustrophobic setting
🫀 Body horror themes
🔓 Open ending alert

💭I wanted to love this one. The premise? Deliciously unsettling—a locked-down hospital, mounting dread, eerie vibes. But despite the promising setup, I kept drifting. My Kindle even shut off a few times while I was reading. That’s not a great sign. 🪧 Still, it delivers in the body horror department and has some standout moments of spine-prickling unease. Just a heads-up: the ending leaves things open. If you need resolution, this might not be your story. But if you like a little ambiguity and are cool with the possibility of a sequel—then slay, girl. Slay.

Read this and neglected to review it - it was deeply chilling, and truly compelling, had to stay up all night to finish it and couldn't fall asleep!

So soon after reading The Starving Saints, I was really disappointed by The Graceview Patient. The main character's entire personality consists of being helpless and whiny, and the passive plot in a single location makes the book a frustrating read. Even the writing itself feels like a downgrade for Starling.