Book Recommendations: The Horrors That Haunt You: Why Caitlin Starling’s Books Get Under Your Skin (and Stay There)

Some horror sticks to the shadows, creeping in the periphery. But Caitlin Starling’s horror….itgrabs you by the throat, pulls you into claustrophobic spaces, and whispers, what if this is what you always wanted?

From the cold, airless caves of The Luminous Dead to the fevered, rotting halls of The Death of Jane Lawrence, and now the siege-sick, god-haunted fortress of her latest medieval nightmare, Caitlin writes horror that’s less about jump scares and more about what festers when people are trapped with their worst selves.

Here’s why Caitlin Starling’s brand of horror hits different.

The Starving Saints

by Caitlin Starling
on May 20, 2025
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From the nationally bestselling author of The Luminous Dead and The Death of Jane Lawrence, a transfixing, intensely atmospheric fever dream of medieval horror.
Aymar Castle has been under siege for six months. Food is running low and there has been no sign of rescue. But just as the survivors consider deliberately thinning their number, the castle stores are replenished. The sick are healed. And the divine figures of the Constant Lady and her Saints have arrived, despite the barricaded gates, offering succor in return for adoration.
Soon, the entire castle is under the sway of their saviors, partaking in intoxicating feasts of terrible origin. The war hero Ser Voyne gives her allegiance to the Constant Lady. Phosyne, a disorganized, paranoid nun-turned-sorceress, races to unravel the mystery of these new visitors and exonerate her experiments as their source. And in the bowels of the castle, a serving girl, Treila, is torn between her thirst for a secret vengeance against Voyne and the desperate need to escape from the horrors that are unfolding within Aymar’s walls.
As the castle descends into bacchanalian madness—forgetting the massed army beyond its walls in favor of hedonistic ecstasy—these three women are the only ones to still see their situation for what it is. But they are not immune from the temptations of the castle’s new masters… or each other; and their shifting alliances and entangled pasts bring violence to the surface. To save the castle, and themselves, will take a reimagining of who they are, and a reorganization of the very world itself.

Why Caitlin Starling’s Books Get Under Your Skin (and Stay There)

Claustrophobia Is the Monster

In Caitlin’s worlds, the setting is the first antagonist. Whether it’s the deep underground, an isolated estate, or a castle under siege, these are places that trap you both physically and psychologically. Escape isn’t just hard; it’s almost beside the point. The real terror is what happens when you can’t run.

Body Horror That Feels Intimate

Caitlin doesn’t shy away from body horror, but it’s never gratuitous. It’s personal, often tied to desire, identity, or survival. In her books, the body is a battleground for power, control, and transformation. It’s messy. It’s hungry. It’s beautiful. And it’s horrifying.

Queer Yearning Meets Slow-Burn Terror

Romance in Caitlin’s books is never sweet or easy – it’s complicated, obsessive, and often tangled with the horror itself. She writes queer protagonists whose desires are messy and raw, and those feelings bleed into the terror in ways that feel both unsettling and deeply human.

Faith, Power, and the Horrors of Belief

Caitlin is at her most terrifying when she’s writing about belief systems—whether it’s the rigid logic of Jane Lawrence or the divine ecstasy of The Starving Saints. She digs into how faith can be weaponized, how people cling to dangerous gods, and how power thrives in fear and desperation.

The Real Monster Might Be You

More than any creature or curse, Starling’s horror comes from within. She forces her characters (and her readers) to confront the parts of themselves they’d rather keep buried. And sometimes the most frightening realization is that you like the person you become when you give in to the darkness.

Caitlin Starling writes horror that lingers, sticks in your teeth, and leaves you questioning where the line is between survival and surrender. If you haven’t stepped into her nightmares yet… what are you waiting for?