Book Reviews

By Caitlin Starling
10/20/26
304 pages
$30
St. Martin’s Press

‘Milkteeth’

How to recommend a book that is a vampire novel, a cannibal novel and a novel about motherhood all at once? Start with the basics, I think, then twist the knife. 

Beatrice is a mother and starts out like any other, concerned about her changing body, how to feed and sustain her charges, and how to raise them well. Motherly instinct may look different in a vampire, but Starling’s achievement is to pull that universal instinct apart. What emerges is hypnotic, bestial and compulsive. A drive that both wounds and nurtures, the story is driven by that contradiction, and, of course, endless hunger.

This is a gorgeously written story with a slow burn pace that kept me turning the pages compulsively. There is so much blood and gore acting as the texture of daily life, the routine of it all builds endless dread. This is how horrors escalate — through habit and normalcy, almost like how the sacrifices of motherhood are seen in society.

A lot of thoughts are winding through my brain after this one, but I’ve got to resist spoilers. In truth, it’s really just a brilliant, bloody and startlingly unique vampire story. If you’ve got a strong stomach, or if you’ve raised a child, this is highly recommended. ♦ — Review by Julie Goodrich

By Jane Schoenbrun
10/27/26
608 pages
$33
Hogarth Books

‘Public Access Afterworld’

I can hardly believe this is a debut novel. To be honest, I almost didn’t read it. A 600-page first novel that seemed like a bad Reddit story didn’t appeal to me. And, yet, I fell into this wild story like a dreamy girl into a rabbit hole. 

Bethany is used to horrific videos; it’s part of her job to screen them. But something begins to come up, over and over. A voice calling out for Public Access Afterworld. The mystery of it, and the links to her past, push Bethany into a surreal adventure to discover something that has been lurking in the shadows for a long time. 

The prose is engrossing, and the pacing is almost perfect. It feels so much shorter than its epic length with an episodic structure and a cast that is diverse and unforgettable. The book keeps moving while fully embracing its stranger impulses. “Lynchian” is the quickest word for it. Trippy storylines and timeframes that overlap and mesh across decades, yet are easy to follow, and every detail matters. It is unsettling and entrancing in equal measure, a love letter to the early days of television and the internet. It’s worth the hype. ♦ — Review by Julie Goodrich