There Are No Saints

There Are No Saints (2022) is a dark-romance novel by Sophie Lark, a USA Today best-selling author known for her Brutal Birthright series. Originally self-published in 2022, the novel was later republished by Bloom Books in 2023. Set in San Francisco’s competitive art world, the story follows the dangerous relationship between Cole Blackwell, a wealthy and renowned sculptor, and Mara Eldritch, a struggling artist whose survival of a violent attack draws Cole’s obsession. As their connection deepens, both characters navigate the blurred boundaries between artistic creation, psychological manipulation, and genuine intimacy. The novel explores themes including Art as Creation and Destruction, The Desire for Control Versus the Demands of Love, and Calculated Self-Destruction as a Strategy for Survival.

There Are No Saints is the first book in the Sinners Duet, followed by There Is No Devil. The novel reflects contemporary dark-romance trends while examining power dynamics within artistic communities and the psychological complexity of toxic relationships.

This guide refers to the 2023 Bloom Books edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of death, death by suicide, rape, sexual violence and harassment, graphic violence, child abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, self-harm, addiction, substance use, sexual content, and cursing.

Plot Summary

Cole Blackwell, a wealthy and renowned sculptor, operates at the center of San Francisco’s competitive art world. His rival is Alastor Shaw, a popular, self-promoting artist known for his expressive, unrestrained work; unbeknownst to anyone but Cole, Shaw is also a serial killer who brutally murders young women. At an art showcase, Cole notices a struggling young artist (later revealed to be Mara Eldritch) whose resourcefulness catches his attention when she transforms her dress stained with wine into a striking improvised design. Despite the crowd favoring Cole’s innovative sculpture, the event’s top prize goes to Shaw, largely due to personal bias from art critic Carl Danvers. Meanwhile, Shaw taunts Cole about his apparent interest in Mara.

Following this loss, Cole invites Danvers to his studio under false pretenses and murders him. He dismembers Danvers and incorporates the bones, coated in gold, into his new sculpture titled Fragile Ego, which Cole exhibits. The sculpture receives praise and sells quickly to a tech billionaire. Shaw recognizes the sculpture’s true components and tacitly acknowledges Cole’s brazen approach to merging art and violence.

Mara’s perspective reveals her precarious existence. She shares a decrepit Victorian house with several roommates, most notably her friend Erin Wahlstrom and supportive housemate Joanna. Mara works multiple low-paying jobs to supplement her passion for art but is still in danger of losing her shared studio space; she also battles deep-seated insecurities and trauma rooted in childhood abuse from her mother. Mara’s creative process is both immersive and therapeutic, even as she faces financial strain.

At the show where Cole’s piece Fragile Ego is displayed, Mara admires the sculpture and briefly meets Shaw. Later that night, after leaving this show, Mara is attacked on the street. She awakens bound and gagged in a car trunk. Her captor, later revealed to be Shaw, pierces her nipples, slashes her wrists, and abandons her in the woods to die. As Mara slowly loses consciousness, Cole, who is nearby after disposing of the rest of Danvers’s remains, discovers her. Instead of helping, Cole chooses to walk away, unwilling to intervene in Shaw’s explicit provocation. Despite life-threatening injuries, Mara manages to free herself and reach safety. She spends time in the hospital, where medical staff and police officers suspect that her wounds were self-inflicted, not believing her account of abduction. 

Mara returns home but conceals most of the event’s details from her friends, gradually resuming her daily routine while struggling with hypervigilance and nightmares. Meanwhile, Cole, presuming that Mara died, is shocked to learn that she survived. Fascinated by her resilience, he becomes obsessed, stalking her both online and physically. He breaks into her room, studies her possessions, and masturbates into her underwear, leaving evidence that Mara later discovers but cannot explain. Cole also rents a house directly behind Mara’s and frequently observes her through a telescope. 

When Mara accepts a discounted studio space offer at the Alta Plaza building, arranged secretly by Cole, she gains renewed creative inspiration. As Mara flourishes artistically, Cole arranges for her to be shortlisted for a prestigious grant and have her work entered into the New Voices show, using his influence within the art establishment to advance Mara’s career.

During the panel’s studio visit for the grant, Mara recognizes Cole as the man who observed her in the woods on the night of her attack. In a private confrontation, she accuses him of abandoning her. Cole admits his choice but warns her that no one will believe her story. Mara, shaken, channels her distress into a large, emotionally charged new painting.

As Mara wins the grant and prepares for the New Voices show, Cole establishes himself as her mentor. Their relationship grows increasingly complex and controlling, with Cole exerting influence over Mara’s artistic direction, financial stability, and personal life. Despite the underlying threats and Mara’s mounting unease, their connection deepens through intimate meals and shared confidences about trauma and family dysfunction.

At the New Voices art show, Mara’s painting, an autobiographical life-size self-portrait, receives critical acclaim. Mara and Cole publicly reveal their professional and personal association with a passionate kiss. A subsequent attempt at intimacy is interrupted by art dealer Simon Grundy, after which Cole humiliates Mara by suggesting that she should share herself with others. In retaliation, Mara has sex in her studio with Logan, a friend who’s a tattoo artist, knowing that Cole is observing through the security camera. She then hangs the painting created during this encounter in Cole’s office. Cole, filled with jealousy, rage, and a novel sense of regret upon discovering Mara’s provocative painting, destroys his prized glass sculpture and then confronts Logan in a threatening manner.

Having forced Logan to give him his tattoo gun, Cole confronts Mara: They ritually tattoo each other, with Cole overlaying Mara’s earlier snake tattoo and Mara inking two entwined snakes on Cole’s back. Together, they then walk the city and discuss their shared histories of abuse. Meanwhile, Mara completes a large devil painting inspired by Cole.

On Halloween, Cole and Mara attend a raucous Artists Guild party in connected mythological costumes. Shaw is stunned to see Mara alive and quickly becomes fixated on her. Cole attempts to distance Shaw from Mara, who Cole realizes is now certain to become Shaw’s target once again. Cole therefore begins constant surveillance of Mara, spotting Shaw outside her home and following him to a building where he has staged the body of another murdered woman. Belatedly realizing that Shaw meant to frame him, Cole narrowly escapes injury and arrest, sustaining a sprained ankle while fleeing. Feeling that Mara has become a liability, Cole decides to kill her.

Meanwhile, Mara pieces together that Shaw kidnapped and tortured her, intending for Cole to finish her off. She realizes both men’s true natures and the ongoing threat that lingers, but when Cole visits and demands that she come to his home, she requests access to Cole’s studio instead. Cole prepares the space with the intent to act on his darkest impulses. When Mara arrives, she willingly undresses and submits to being bound and restrained by Cole, expressing confidence that he won’t hurt her. The two engage in intense, consensual BDSM sexual acts, during which Mara confronts her past abuse, particularly by her stepfather, reclaiming agency and achieving cathartic release. Afterward, Cole bathes and cares for Mara, sharing in simple acts of intimacy such as eating together and watching a movie.

Upon returning home, Mara discovers that Erin has been murdered; her body is arranged in a manner that references John Everett Millais’s painting Ophelia. Shaw, unable to find Mara, has killed Erin instead. Officer Hawks, the lead detective on the case, listens to Mara’s claim that Shaw is the killer but lacks sufficient evidence due to Shaw’s alibi. Mara is frustrated by the investigation’s limitations and her inability to prove Shaw’s guilt.

In the wake of Erin’s death and with a renewed threat from Shaw, Cole insists that Mara move in with him for her protection. Weighing the limited options for safety and agency in her life, Mara ultimately chooses Cole, establishing a new phase of mutual possession even as the threat from Shaw remains unresolved. The story ends with Mara’s and Cole’s futures entwined and the larger conflict with Shaw left open, leading toward further confrontation in the sequel.