Milkteeth

Caitlin Starling is an author I’ve been wanting to read for some time, and I’m finally diving in with her newest novel, Milkteeth. This unusual work of horror follows Beatrice, a vampire and broodmother to newly turned vampires. She has two charges already, but when she takes on a third, Beatrice isn’t sure if she can sustain it anymore. She’s ravenous and getting dangerous. She seeks out answers from a local OBGYN, but things continue to unravel. Will she lose all control? Will her charges make it to vampire maturity?

What I Liked:

• Vampires through the lenses of motherhood and breastfeeding… or something close to those. As a mom myself, I enjoyed this aspect of Milkteeth. Beatrice isn’t precisely a mom to her fledgelings, but she is their sole caretaker and their only source of nourishment until they’re old enough to hunt on their own. I liked the analogies with (traditional) breastfeeding and the concerns surrounding it, as well as the examination of motherhood and an evolving sense of self. How does being a mother (figure) change someone? Is this a physical or mental change? Temporary or permanent?
• Relationship with her charges. Beatrice is currently the broodmother to three fledgelings: Gorgeous, Fortunata, and now Lou. They’re not your typical, human babies; they’re people turned into vampires, but it takes a couple of years for them to reach maturity. For all intents and purposes, their feeding needs and cognitive abilities are like those of a baby or toddler, but they grow fast, can communicate in complete sentences, and are certainly dangerous. Beatrice’s relationship with each is unique, tenuous, and constantly shifting as the story progresses.
• The genetics and science behind vampires, broodmothers, and so on. This angle was fascinating to me! During the first half of the book, Beatrice is seeking out answers from an OBGYN, hoping to better understand her own body, her blood supply, and the science that explains how she feeds her charges. But things go awry, and Beatrice keeps changing, becoming increasingly insatiable and unrecognizable. What is truly happening within her? Can science explain it?

Audiobook:

Stevi Incremona narrates Milkteeth, and it is an excellent performance! The narrator captures Beatrice’s personality so well, from the loving asides she makes to her unnamed audience to the palpable tension as she spirals out of control. This was a captivating listen from the very first chapter, full of charisma and magnetism.

Final Thoughts

Milkteeth is an odd but utterly engrossing horror novel for people who enjoy vampires, stories of motherhood, and narratives that keep you guessing until the end. It’s not scary, exactly, but it has the kinds of characters and themes that make up a great work of horror. This was my first time reading Caitlin Starling, and I’m eager to visit her previous books, including The Starving Saints, The Graceview Patient, and The Death of Jane Lawrence.

Special thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy Milkteeth here – it’s available as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.

Milkteeth by Caitlin Starling
Audiobook Narrator	Stevi Incremona
Audience	Adult
Genre	Horror
Number of Pages	304
Format I Read	Audiobook & Ebook (NetGalley ARCs)
Original Publication Date	November 10, 2026
Publisher	St. Martin’s Press

Official Summary

A dark, seductive tale of hunger, love, and transformation from the bestselling author of The Death of Jane Lawrence.

The only thing more terrifying than a brood’s hunger . . . is its mother’s.

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, where she raises her fledglings—two difficult, hungry children of the night.

But when she takes on a third, the balance ruptures. Her hunger swells beyond control. Her body alters, betraying its purpose, transforming her into something even more monstrous.

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 in a world governed by secrecy, even the smallest revelation could prove fatal.