The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

When Gyre Price lied her way into this expedition, she thought she’d be mapping mineral deposits, and that her biggest problems would be cave collapses and gear malfunctions. She also thought that the fat paycheck — enough to get her off-planet and on the trail of her mother — meant she’d get a skilled surface team, monitoring her suit and environment, keeping her safe. Keeping her sane.

Instead, she got Em.

By IrisW

Even though I’ve been the buyer for the Horror section for years now, it’s not a genre that I read a lot of. But recently I’ve been dipping my toe in the creepy (and growing!) waters of science fiction horror, which often has just enough of the former to help me make it through the latter. This book is a great example of that: protagonist Gyre, who is in need of some money to get off-planet, signs up for an incredibly dangerous underground expedition that she is only marginally qualified for. She quickly discovers that the surface “team” – supposed to assist and monitor her 24/7 – consists of only one person. This person, named Em, has some secrets of her own.

The two women form an unlikely and uneasy allyship where they are at each other’s mercy: in order for each of them to get what they want, they are forced to work together and figure out how much they can trust each other. So while Gyre descends alone into a vast and dangerous cave system, littered with the bodies of those who came before her as well as home to a mysterious and dangerous force of nature, she has no choice but to put at least some of her trust in Em – all while figuring out why Em is so hell-bent on making this expedition a success.

I’ve always privately thought that spelunking is a hobby for people with a death wish, and this read definitely confirmed as much for me. Another thing it confirmed is that I am a giant wimp who should not be reading scary books when home alone at night. But apart from those things, this is an incredibly compelling story. The combination of real-world threats, fantastical dangers, and Gyre’s compromised judgment makes for a fascinatingly disorienting reading experience. But remember, there’s no shame in reading horror only during daylight hours!