Release date: October 14, 2025

From the Publisher:

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.

Caitlin outdoes herself with this one. The Graceview Patient is raw and real, and also confusing with a very unreliable narrator. I felt a deep connection with the main character Margaret (Meg). I have an autoimmune disorder and have spent more time in hospitals and doctors’ offices than I have working. Caitlin gets the details down so well, even to the little chlorhexidine ring they slip between a port access needle and your skin (I had a port-a-cath). I felt connected to Meg, in a way I may never be able to recreate with other characters, simply because of the rarity of her circumstances. Caitlin tells such a good story through Meg’s tired, disoriented eyes, that it keeps you turning the pages.

This is a story about people, desperation, and what that desperation does to a human being. How far are you willing to go to get better? To not feel so alone?

But also, this is a story of feeling trapped in one’s own body/life/half-life. What’s real, and does that matter? The things that happen to Meg are often things commonly experienced: what did it mean when he brought me flowers? Do I sound crazy right now? Did I just imagine someone saying my name?

I thought Last to Leave the Room was my Starling favorite, but this just stole my heart. (But also, go read Last to Leave the Room!)

Special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the early review copy!

Trigger Warnings and Themes: Medical trauma, hospitals and all things related, chronic illness, autoimmune disorders, psoriatic conditions, thoughts of self harm, blood, disability, isolation.

Go check out Caitlin Starling on Instagram and pre–order The Graceview Patient below!

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