The Death of Jane Lawrence is an intense gothic horror that you will need to read from start to finish immediately. It is truly horrifying and yet touches a bit close to home as we're all trapped inside.

5/5 Stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

5 stars! So gothic and atmospheric. I absolutely adored this book. I am interested in reading more from Caitlin Starling including her adult books.

Was this book spooky? No, it was not. Did I like it anyway? Yes, yes I did.

This felt more like historical fiction than actual horror, but the angle was so interesting to me that I was entranced all the same.

Jane proposes marriage to Dr. Lawrence as a way of staying in town. She is a self-taught accountant and looks at the marriage as a business proposition. After some discussions, the Dr. is convinced--with conditions. One such condition being that she will stay and live in his surgery center in town, while he spends the night in his country estate. Unfortunately on their wedding night, the weather takes a turn and Jane is trapped at the rundown, isolated estate. And that's when things get a bit weird.

Because Dr. Lawrence, is well, a doctor, all of the information about early medicine and operating procedures was especially fascinating to me.
"The paradox of medicine: pain and relief, life and death."
And since this is set just after WWI, it is easy to see how those interested in medicine might also dabble in magic, and the thin line that must have seemed to run between the two in a time when science was fledgling.

This a well-written, atmospheric read. Like I said before, I didn't find it haunting or scary, but I loved the character of Jane and felt wrapped up in her story. If you like stories with atmospheric, gothic settings, this is right up your alley.

Thank you St Martins Press for this e-arc. This book is definitely one of my new favorites. I’ve always been drawn to novels that have a strong independent female character. One that is able to think for themselves and not live by societies standards. Jane feels very reminiscent of Audrey Rose from Kerri Maniscalco’s stalking Jack the ripper series. She is a strong educated woman who knows what society wants from her and knows how to cheat the system. This story is so beautifully crafted in imagery and Ambiance. It is a new take on so many classic stories that we know and love. I have always been a fan for a creepy dark fantasy novels. And this one really hits the mark. While reading this book there were some nights that I was absolutely terrified to go to bed. This book is definitely one of the best I have read this year and I am so looking forward to what Caitlin has in store for us next!

THE DEATH OF JANE LAWRENCE certainly checked all the boxes for horror and creepiness. You enter into this book blind to the insane turns that this story is going to take. Starling has certainly knocked it out of the park with her writing in that she has created a terrifying and fast-paced turn of events. Lindridge Hall lives up to all of its terrifying glory, and there is a special kind of classic horror feel to this book that I absolutely adored. I loved the back and forth between Augustine and Jane in this one and how this marriage of convenience turns into something more grotesque. This book really reminded me of Jane Eyre but add horror and that's just fantastic. Page after page, I found myself not wanting to look away. The plot has a heart-pounding quality to it that kept me reading and not wanting to look away. I was left confused by the ending, however, and remain with questions as to what on earth really happened to Jane and Augustine that night in Lindridge Hall. I can't pose that question without spoilers. Also, the ending was left kind of open-ended, making me wonder if this was going to be a series. There were also times when I felt confused about how the magic worked. THE DEATH OF JANE LAWRENCE, however, was a fantastically horrifying and fast-paced ride of a read, perfect for spooky season and classic horror fans everywhere, and I am glad I got to read it!

This ain’t your mama’s or grandma’s gothic horror. Truly a tale of magic, ghosts, and obsession. It’s the perfect spooky read, with SO many twists!

“Death always wins, except in a world where it doesn’t…”

THE DEATH OF JANE LAWRENCE

Thank you, NetGalley, Caitlin Starling, and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this book!

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling is one of my most anticipated books for this year. In fact, I was approved last year and saved it specifically for this time of year. I was ready for some gothic horror. Everyone said, “if you enjoyed Crimson Peak, you will enjoy this book!” The problem is I did enjoy watching Crimson Peak…but I did not love this book. I really wanted to love it but alas, I just couldn’t. We are introduced to Jane Shoringfield, she needs to marry but she doesn’t want to be trapped and controlled by some man. She has a gift with numbers and wants to work. She is aware of Dr. Lawrence’s hesitation to marry, so she makes an offer. They will marry but live apart. He will live at his home and she will live at his surgery taking care of all his accounting. The only problem is, neither expects there to be a spark. When their carriage breaks, Jane has to stay the night at his home. The house is dilapidated and not well kept. If only that were the only problem. Something far more sinister happens at night, leaving Jane to wonder who her husband really is…

Isn’t that synopsis enticing?! In fact, I was hooked throughout the first half of the book. I love the build-up between Jane and Dr. Lawrence. There is a spark but the trust wavers. The house is creepy and the first encounter with the house definitely had me preparing to be scared! But then, I wasn’t. The second half of the book slows to a crawl. The pace is almost nonexistent. The big “twist” is the “magic” system, which isn’t explained well and just felt like a copout. I can’t help but wonder if there is another ending out there, but this was used instead?

It is such a shame because I loved Jane from the beginning. Her want for independence and cunning to get her way while abiding by the society’s idiotic rules had me rooting for her the whole time. I also did appreciate how the author discusses the difficulties in working in the medical field. Sometimes no matter how hard one tries, they still can’t save someone and whether it is their fault or not, there is still the sting of guilt.

Overall, I was let down but there are some really special aspects about this book…it just didn’t go the way I thought it would. 2 out of 5 stars.

"The Death of Jane Lawrence" is a Gothic that calls back to many of the greats in the genre. Our heroine Jane is an orphan and is required to be married. She decides a local doctor will fit the bill for a marriage of convenience. Sure, he spends every night out of the town in a gloomy estate that's falling apart, but he's perfect otherwise, right? Right???

Well, as you can guess, that gloomy estate is a signal that Jane's expectations and reality are not going to quite line up.

What's good: For the first half to 3/4 of the book, the text is interesting and quite readable. The book is great for October reading.

But what's iffy? The last quarter to one-half, where the book moves further from the Gothic into horror and perhaps dark fantasy. I saw a commentator saying she felt not smart enough to figure out some of the goings-on in that section of the book, and I'd agree. This last homestretch of the book feels overly done and unsatisfactory, like a cake with 10 inches of frosting on top.

Thank you to the publisher for the e-copy of The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling.

It makes me feel horrible that I am leaving such a low review, but it is my honest opinion. The cover and description of the novel were what made me request the e-Galley. I love Gothic stories and the comparison to Shirley Jackson and Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca were too good to pass up.

I found the gothic atmosphere the best part of the novel. The characters all had little back-story and no development. When bizarre things start happening, it was just confusing, rather than creepy. I found myself having to go back and reread sections again and again to try to make sense of future paragraphs....and found that the problem seemed to me that there was little flow or connection between events. Basically, what Jane learns about her husband and his peers early in the novel takes over the rest of the novel is a fashion that seemed repetitive and non-sensical...and worst of all, to me, completely unbelievable.

I was hoping to be unnerved and creeped out. Instead, I was mostly just frustrated with the lack of progression and explanation. The ending took it fully over the edge for me into "dislike" territory. At least after torturing me with all the stuff Jane was working on for 2/3 of the book, give me an outcome I can at least understand even if its unbelievable. I gave the book 2 stars instead of 1 because I did find the setting compelling.

Jane needs a husband. In an alternate Victorian era Great Britain, Jane's long-time guardians are moving, and if she would like to stay in her current town and, ironically, live independently, she must marry. Jane is headstrong, smart, and forward. Her impulse toward self-possession and curiosity makes for an engaging character. Jane sets her eyes on bachelor and town physician, Augustine Lawrence. At first hesitant, Augustine takes Jane up on her offer of a convenient marriage that would leave her largely on her own and to handle the accounts for his practice and estate. Augustine's only condition is that Jane never stay the night at his ancestral home, Lindridge Hall. Instead, Jane will spend her nights above Augustine's medical practice while he returns to Lindridge Hall. Content with numbers, sums, and independence, Jane and Augustine marry, and all goes according to plan until one evening when a carriage wreck during a storm leaves Jane seeking asylum at Lindridge Hall. Once there, she begins to feel and see things that are not there. Shapes that haunt the shadows, a woman with glowing red eyes peering in from the windows, and a new husband that can't reckon with the ghosts of his past.

I LOVED this book. It is gorgeously gothic and gruesome. If you are looking for a novel that carries on the high-gothic literary traditions of decades past, I cannot urge you to start reading this fast enough. I have seen this book compared to Crimson Peak (2015) and I'm happy to report that the comparison is fitting. However, if you think you're diving into a predictable story, you would be wrong. In this world magic and the supernatural follow the rules of math and physics and through this lens we, along with Jane, begin to make sense or rationalize what is happening within Lindridge Hall. Fans of Ninth House and A Deadly Education should also find delightfully familiar territory within the pages of The Death of Jane Lawrence.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an advance copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I am a big fan of Starling- her writing is excellent! I was apprehensive going into this book as it had a lot of mixed reviews, but I REALLY liked it.

No spoilers here- but this book went a lot of places that I didn't expect it to. Jane was a very interesting character to get to know, and we love a female who knows what she wants and GETS. IT.

I am a huge fan of nerdy writing with math, science, etc, etc, so I think that contributed to how much fun I had reading this- I can see why it would be a turnoff for some, but I think the magic system that Starling created here was badass.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the review copy!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
#NetGalley #StMartinsPress #CaitlinStarling

Jane Lawrence is not the sentimental type. She decides to arrange a marriage of convenience in order to ensure her most secure life. She does her research and finds an acceptable and willing participant in her plan, shy doctor Augustine Lawrence. His only condition is that she never visit his dilapidated family home. You see where I’m going with this?
This book seemed very reminicsent of the movie, Crimson Peak. There are also wisps of Rebecca. I enjoyed many aspects of this gothic horror book. Jane is the most likable character but, surprisingly, I grew to like and respect her. She was dead set against love but, when she found herself falling for her husband of convenience, she developed a certain misguided sense of nobility. She was going to save him at the expense of herself, even though the way she went about it was a little unconventional, to say the least. You can’t help but admire her for her pluckiness. The atmospheric imagery was delightful. There were times I felt that I could reach out and brush my hands against the crumbling edifice of Landridge Hall, and my touch would cause a few more tiny bits of it to fall away. Each ghost was tangible and terrifying. I love a good ghost story!
Despite all the good things happening in this book, it was tough to get into. There were portions at the beginning and towards the end that really could have used some editing. Even the most terrifying books can drag a bit.
This book will end up as a classic between Rebecca and Jane Eyre. It’s best enjoyed alone, in the dark, on a rainy night….good night!

The Death of Jane Lawrence was absolutely thrilling. I couldn't put it down. It was creepy, gothic, and suspenseful, like a cross between the Haunting of Hill House and Rebecca.

I received a copy for free in exchange for an honest review; my thanks to NetGalley and the author!

This book was so so very well done. Starling sucks you into a fictional setting that is eerily similar to an immediate post-WWI era world.

She does an excellent job of pulling you, pulling the rug out from under you, drawing you back in, then yoinking the carpet again, and then...and then I cannot say because of spoilers, but man oh man, my jaw was on the floor.

This book is an excellent Gothic Horror tale with romantic elements. Well done.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Marriage, Medicine, Magic, and Menace

**Vague spoilers ahead!**

What a book! Caitlin Starling has delivered a powerful and disturbing novel. I loved Jane Lawrence and felt a strong bond with what happened to her.
From the powerless, contradictory position of requiring marriage in order to live independently, the precarious conditions under which 'modern' surgery take place, and the strange and twisted events and revelations following her wedding, there is layer upon layer of horror in Jane Lawrence's alternate reality.

The author's writing skill and material evoke Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, and John Fowles' The Magus, among other masterpieces of the genre. Without a doubt, Caitlin Starling researched copiously to produce this unusual book. She has a scholarly knowledge of words, such as 'craquelure', making this period piece feel even more authentic. And, even her characters' pursuit of the mastery of magic is based on a time in actual history.

Historically, the era following the turn of the 20th century, before the first World War, saw a revival of interest in Western Esotericism. As in the book, highly educated and powerful people experimented with concepts gleaned from medieval 'magicians', archaeological finds in the Egyptian tombs, the Hermetic Qabalah, and purported occult 'authorities' claiming arcane knowledge. They formed secret societies to practice forbidden rites that each one hoped and believed would make their will manifest over the universe.

And they often became hideously corrupted by their self-destructive lust for magic.

At the same time as the burgeoning study of thelema and spiritualism, there was an explosion of advances in science and technology. Atomic theory led to quantum theory, opening the door to a different kind of magical exploration of universal questions. Some equated mathematics with the language of God, believing that understanding it is the key to unlocking untold power.

Here, we come to stand at a crossroads where both disciplines, magic and mathematics, converge. Sarah Lawrence, who never had any background in thelema or higher education, is brilliant and curious, and mathematics is her private obsession. She finds a kind of zen state when contemplating the puzzle of 'zero.' Her unique mind and past experience of her parents' tragic deaths have given her a singular potential that her husband and his friends, for all their education, lack.

All of these factors combine to make Jane's winding, disjointed journey to save her husband and herself feel both real and unreal, like Schrodinger's cat. As she's presented with a shocking situation that only the power of magic can save them from, she approaches the occult rites as an uncorrupted soul, with raw, dynamic talent, and the driving inspiration of love.

In ten days she must master what the others have tried all their adult lives to do, alone, or all is lost. The suspense of her life-and-death struggle builds to a crescendo at this point and the final chapters tumble into nightmare. I felt a sense of being caught in a violent storm where dark shadows obscure vision and blinding lightning flashes give only glimpses of reality. The haunting results of Jane's efforts are beautifu,l and terrible.

I am beyond grateful for the gift of an ARC of The Death of Jane Lawrence from Caitlin Starling, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley. With no duress, I declare this to be one of the best horror novels I've read this year.

I am not a fan of historical fiction - never have been. But this is more like horror than historical fiction and I loved it!

I was not convinced that this would be gothic since I have read so many reviews of so-called gothic books and they are never actually gothic.

This is a TRUE gothic!

The first half of the book was SO creepy and suspenseful. I was turning those kindle pages like crazy.

The second half became repetitive and, although it was probably the “scarier” half, it was also really confusing. It took me way too long to get through, but I would have to say that it wasn’t a disappointment in the end.

This is definitely a PERFECT, spooky October read!!

The Death of Jane Lawrence captured me from the first page. I was hoping for a horror romance, but it turned out to be more occult horror with a sprinkle of something similar to romance. The story was very interesting, as Jane is quite relatable and understandable. Overall, the story was paced quite well, but I have to say that once I reached about 70% of the way through, I got confused. CONFUSED. Which I’m hoping was sort of on purpose, but it was hard to imagine the goings on in my head the further along I read. From 70% to about 95% of the way through, I was trying my absolute best to understand what was going on, but I was struggling. All in all, I give it about 3.5 ⭐️

The details described in this breadcrumb trail of pages manifest themselves into the subsequent events, making for a consistently enthralling journey down a descent into madness.. It’s a pulpy, The Haunting of Hill House-style thriller viewed through the dreamlike lens of Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and it’s every bit as gripping and surreal as that pairing of influences would suggest. Though I had some big factor that dragged the story down for me which I'll explain more in a YouTube video, its consistently menacing atmosphere and clever plot tricks still make for a distinctive survival-horror experience.
Full review to come on my YouTube channel.

What an amazing gothic horror to sink your teeth into. If you took Crimson Peak, the haunting of Hill House, and the magicians, mashed them together, you might get this book. This one has a bit of everything to suit your needs: haunted house, curses, body horror, medical grotesque, magic, marriage of convenience-turned-romance, a splenectomy….kinda.

Jane needs to get married for business purposes only, which leads her to Augustine Lawrence, a surgeon who doesn’t want a wide, but is drawn to Jane and her proposition. He agrees with the understanding she never sleeps in his family mansion, and he ALWAYS does. But naturally circumstances force her to spend their wedding night there. Things, of course, take a turn from that point.

Spooky visits, mathematics, theoretical physics, magical workings, and good old fashioned manifestation. The twisty and mind-bendy acrobatics will keep you scratching your head until the end, but it was definitely worth the brain food for me!