Milkteeth - by Caitlin Starling (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

From the bestselling author of The Death of Jane Lawrence comes a new, genre-bending supernatural horror about a vampire broodmother fighting her own monstrous descent.

Beatrice is a broodmother: a vampire responsible for nursing newly made fledglings through the first years of their unlife. She nests in an abandoned, isolated warren of office space beneath her patron's skyscraper, raising two fractious fledglings: Gorgeous--once a heartthrob, now to all appearances a living corpse--who longs for the return of the lover who made him immortal with all the fervor of a rebellious teen, and Fortunata, the scion of Beatrice's mistress, alien and ambitious in her desires.

But when Beatrice decides to take on a third fledgling, the product of an attempted siring gone wrong, teetering between vampiric purity and ghoulish depravity, Beatrice finds herself strained to breaking between the societal and physical demands of her position, her own ravenous hunger, and an obsessive need to discover what's happening to her--because her body is changing too, transforming her into something even more monstrous. She begins to crave the taste of flesh, something anathema to all vampires, and to swing between debilitating hunger and vicious power.

Desperate to master herself once more, Beatrice courts a mortal OBGYN who might be able to unravel the secrets of her unnatural anatomy. But soon their connection threatens the secrecy of her vampiric coven as well as the safety and development of her dependent nurslings... and the humans they stand to slaughter if left to their own devices.

Review Quotes

"Fascinating, compelling, impossible to look away from... This is an aspect of vampire lore that's rarely mined, and as usual Starling pulls no punches. If you think you're vampired-out, think again." --Kendare Blake, #1 New York Times bestselling author of All These Bodies

"A compulsively readable story cradling a powerful look at motherhood, filtered through the lens of vampirism." --Kelley Armstrong, New York Times bestselling author

"Milkteeth takes a fresh new bite out of the vampire lore, and in doing so spills onto these pages crimson mystery, mind-twisty plotlines, and incredible new characters. As elegant as it is brutal. Brava to Caitlin Starling!" --Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of Red Empire and Ghosts of the Void.

"In 2026, it may seem impossible for any writer to pen a truly unique vampire tale, but Caitlin Starling manages just that with Milkteeth. With its compelling plot, deft writing, and original premise, this novel will quickly seduce you, but be careful: it has teeth." --Johanna van Veen, author of My Darling Dreadful Thing and Blood on Her Tongue

"By turns poignant and nauseating, Milkteeth is a disturbing examination of monstrous motherhood that won't be leaving my brain anytime soon." --Hannah Whitten, bestselling author of Reliquary

Additional praise for Caitlin Starling:

"[A] genre-bending tour de force... Equal parts medical drama, psychological thriller, and gothic horror, the book pulls readers in and refuses to let them go." --Library Journal, starred review, on The Graceview Patient

"Starling expertly immerses the reader in Meg's anxiety, showing how even the most routine experiences during a hospital stay become cause for concern to her unsettled mind. The novel's horrors are all the more palpable... [and] readers are sure to be frightened." --Publishers Weekly on The Graceview Patient

"A resonant and horrifying fever dream, The Graceview Patient is a lashing depiction of disability and the trials of healthcare. Starling deploys deft prose to wrap readers into a hallucinatory pursuit of healing--and the unraveling of reality and loss of agency at the hands of those we are told to trust most. An absolute triumph--I devoured each and every page." --Taylor Grothe, author of Hollow and Lethal Kiss

"Part existential horror, part speculative fiction, and part paranoia tale, Starling's latest thrills and chills while exploring the contextual nature of identity and the concept of personhood... At once visceral and introspective." --Kirkus, starred review on Last to Leave the Room

"Psychological horror at its most terrifying, the kind of writing that makes you stop to question--just for a moment--how well you know your own mind and your own world." --Bookpage on Last to Leave the Room

"A delicious Gothic romance.... It has to walk the line between romance and horror and not flinch away from either. The Death of Jane Lawrence is up to this task.... By the time the book reached that point of no return, I was so invested that I would have followed Jane into the very depths of hell." --NPR.org

"Inspired by Crimson Peak, the horror in this gothic set in an alternate postwar England subtly increases as the novel progresses, unease seeping into the pages." --Buzzfeed on The Death of Jane Lawrence

"Starling is one of the new leading voices in horror." --Locus Magazine

About the Author

CAITLIN STARLING is the nationally bestselling author of The Death of Jane Lawrence, Last to Leave the Room, and the Bram Stoker-nominated The Luminous Dead. Her other works of genre-hopping horror and speculative fiction include Yellow Jessamine and a Vampire: The Masquerade novella, The Land of Milk and Honey. Her short fiction has been published by GrimDark Magazine, and her nonfiction has appeared in Nightmare and Uncanny. Caitlin also works in narrative design, and has been paid to invent body parts. She's always on the lookout for new ways to inflict insomnia.