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Marginal
A man returns to the cult he escaped from to bury his brother, only to discover the past is monstrous, hungry and mutating, in this devilishly gory body horror. Perfect for fans of Adam Nevill and John Carpenter.
When Rob receives a call in the middle of the night, he knows it must be bad news. But he isn't quite prepared for what he hears; his brother, Marcus, has died on the Systematics compound in Scotland, where the two of them grew up. The place Rob managed to escape with his sanity barely intact, the place that hollowed out his parents and his brother.
Rob is determined to go up north to the compound to see Marcus laid to rest, but more importantly, to get to the bottom of what killed him. Because Rob has been waiting for the Systematics to make a mistake, for their charismatic leader Bjorn Thrissell to show his true colours so that Rob can make their crimes public and bring them down for good.
But when Rob arrives at the compound with his producer Lucy in tow, they discover a group of people coming apart at the seams and paranoia seeping through the community. Mutiny is in the air and worse still… there is something lurking under the surface, something monstrous and murderous, something that has been biding its time in the margins…
Trapped and isolated, Rob and Lucy are going to have to put their trust in the community they have come to ruin if any of them are going to have any hope of survival.
When Rob receives a call in the middle of the night, he knows it must be bad news. But he isn't quite prepared for what he hears; his brother, Marcus, has died on the Systematics compound in Scotland, where the two of them grew up. The place Rob managed to escape with his sanity barely intact, the place that hollowed out his parents and his brother.
Rob is determined to go up north to the compound to see Marcus laid to rest, but more importantly, to get to the bottom of what killed him. Because Rob has been waiting for the Systematics to make a mistake, for their charismatic leader Bjorn Thrissell to show his true colours so that Rob can make their crimes public and bring them down for good.
But when Rob arrives at the compound with his producer Lucy in tow, they discover a group of people coming apart at the seams and paranoia seeping through the community. Mutiny is in the air and worse still… there is something lurking under the surface, something monstrous and murderous, something that has been biding its time in the margins…
Trapped and isolated, Rob and Lucy are going to have to put their trust in the community they have come to ruin if any of them are going to have any hope of survival.
- GenresHorror
352 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 8, 2024
5 people are currently reading
404 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 2, 2024
I really did not enjoy this book and it was such a shame since it really intrigued me at the start.
I had to fight myself not to drop this book halfway.
If you're like me and like to complete all your books even if they are bad you know aggravating it can be. And a book shouldn’t ever be aggravating. I tried to give it so many chances but it just wasn’t good.
Some of the main issues that ruined my experience:
So halfway in the book it feels like the author just left and wrote the rest after taking a long break. My question was if the author even refreshed himself in what he wrote previously because the story didn’t flow - meaning surroundings weren’t explained, I was just in constant confusion of where exactly we are and not knowing who we were with until they spoke and this could be way into the dialogue where I thought I already made my piece with the people we are with for someone just to “appear” when they were there supposedly to whole time. Maybe the writer got in their groove because this issue didn’t persist for the whole book however after the hallway point book never felt the same.
The main characters and oh god. I loved Rob's backstory but to have a good backstory doesn’t make up for lack of or an extremely unlikable personality. I had to tell myself that I like Rob and it’s just the way that he’s written that makes me annoyed. I had to convince myself in order to not hate how whiny, angry and a pathetic man he was. Because I felt like he had so much potential but he was realistically unlikable and boring. The only thing that made him interesting was his background and his psychopathic brother, however once his brother no longer played any role in the story Rob on his own was boring.
Lucy, well I didn't like Lucy she was introduced as a terrible personality but then later in the story her acts are heroic. After her introduction I couldn’t bring myself to like her because her change felt uncharacteristic. If the characters thought processes and evolution made any sense I think this wouldn’t be a problem - a person can be whiny, self absorbed and still likable since we are multifaceted, however if you don’t introduce these characteristics or explain them and just throw it on a page with no continuum it won’t make sense for the reader and it will constantly feel like characters are just tha acting a certain way out of nowhere.
Bjorn again was unlikable. I “believed” in him being a cult leader for maybe a couple of pages and then the moment we met him it all fell apart. After this he was almost a side character that held no sway, which might have been the point but I feel like, if his “fall form grace” was explained better: how the seeds of doubt get sown; how people slowly turn on ect other, person by person turning away; him trying to fix this, us learning more about him - anything really, it wouldn’t feel like it was all pointless. It felt like it just happened all at once and he didn’t even seem to care which made the whole cult ideology pointless.
The start of the story was one of my favorites but the gore and “tension” after halfway especially when Pyotir changes was not engaging. I think this is because even by that far into the book I wasn’t engaged in the characters. If you like a character then you care for them and you don't want them to get hurt but when you basically don’t like anyone it’s really hard to care about their situation - this thus makes you want to stop reading all together even when the story is finally progressing.
I had to fight myself not to drop this book halfway.
If you're like me and like to complete all your books even if they are bad you know aggravating it can be. And a book shouldn’t ever be aggravating. I tried to give it so many chances but it just wasn’t good.
Some of the main issues that ruined my experience:
So halfway in the book it feels like the author just left and wrote the rest after taking a long break. My question was if the author even refreshed himself in what he wrote previously because the story didn’t flow - meaning surroundings weren’t explained, I was just in constant confusion of where exactly we are and not knowing who we were with until they spoke and this could be way into the dialogue where I thought I already made my piece with the people we are with for someone just to “appear” when they were there supposedly to whole time. Maybe the writer got in their groove because this issue didn’t persist for the whole book however after the hallway point book never felt the same.
The main characters and oh god. I loved Rob's backstory but to have a good backstory doesn’t make up for lack of or an extremely unlikable personality. I had to tell myself that I like Rob and it’s just the way that he’s written that makes me annoyed. I had to convince myself in order to not hate how whiny, angry and a pathetic man he was. Because I felt like he had so much potential but he was realistically unlikable and boring. The only thing that made him interesting was his background and his psychopathic brother, however once his brother no longer played any role in the story Rob on his own was boring.
Lucy, well I didn't like Lucy she was introduced as a terrible personality but then later in the story her acts are heroic. After her introduction I couldn’t bring myself to like her because her change felt uncharacteristic. If the characters thought processes and evolution made any sense I think this wouldn’t be a problem - a person can be whiny, self absorbed and still likable since we are multifaceted, however if you don’t introduce these characteristics or explain them and just throw it on a page with no continuum it won’t make sense for the reader and it will constantly feel like characters are just tha acting a certain way out of nowhere.
Bjorn again was unlikable. I “believed” in him being a cult leader for maybe a couple of pages and then the moment we met him it all fell apart. After this he was almost a side character that held no sway, which might have been the point but I feel like, if his “fall form grace” was explained better: how the seeds of doubt get sown; how people slowly turn on ect other, person by person turning away; him trying to fix this, us learning more about him - anything really, it wouldn’t feel like it was all pointless. It felt like it just happened all at once and he didn’t even seem to care which made the whole cult ideology pointless.
The start of the story was one of my favorites but the gore and “tension” after halfway especially when Pyotir changes was not engaging. I think this is because even by that far into the book I wasn’t engaged in the characters. If you like a character then you care for them and you don't want them to get hurt but when you basically don’t like anyone it’s really hard to care about their situation - this thus makes you want to stop reading all together even when the story is finally progressing.
September 30, 2024
After a blistering start, 'Marginal' became an enjoyable yet frustrating read. Carlisle's prose was solid throughout with engaging character interaction, clever plot twists, and some brilliant body horror.
My issue with the book was that I found it pretty much devoid of jeopardy. Either I didn't particularly care for a character or issues were resolved so quickly that I didn't have time to be overly concerned.
One case in point, and this is a very slight spoiler. There are elements of John Carpenter's 'The Thing' in this story. So much so that there's a passage that mirrors the infamous blood test scene. This time involving self branding. The movie, even after multiple views, still has my stomach in knots. In 'Marginal', it just happens in such a flippant manner that I wasn't sure if I should be concerned about the outcome.
This flippancy also occurs elsewhere in the book, where reactions to the beautifully grotesque horrors took me out of the story.
Additionally, characters didn't always react naturally to some situations. A lot of stuff was taken in their stride. It's not a book breaking issue, but again, I don't think I should be thinking about that rather than what was going on in the story.
Issues aside, I thought this was a pacey, enjoyable story that featured some stunning body horror.
With story seeds sown, I'd love to see a sequel. Carlisle obviously has the chops for fast-paced horror, His prose hums with energy, all that's lacking is a sense of real jeopardy, and the finale certainly showed he's capable of cranking things up.
I'll certainly be checking out his other book, 'Blight' and I will look out for upcoming work from Tom Carlisle.
My issue with the book was that I found it pretty much devoid of jeopardy. Either I didn't particularly care for a character or issues were resolved so quickly that I didn't have time to be overly concerned.
One case in point, and this is a very slight spoiler. There are elements of John Carpenter's 'The Thing' in this story. So much so that there's a passage that mirrors the infamous blood test scene. This time involving self branding. The movie, even after multiple views, still has my stomach in knots. In 'Marginal', it just happens in such a flippant manner that I wasn't sure if I should be concerned about the outcome.
This flippancy also occurs elsewhere in the book, where reactions to the beautifully grotesque horrors took me out of the story.
Additionally, characters didn't always react naturally to some situations. A lot of stuff was taken in their stride. It's not a book breaking issue, but again, I don't think I should be thinking about that rather than what was going on in the story.
Issues aside, I thought this was a pacey, enjoyable story that featured some stunning body horror.
With story seeds sown, I'd love to see a sequel. Carlisle obviously has the chops for fast-paced horror, His prose hums with energy, all that's lacking is a sense of real jeopardy, and the finale certainly showed he's capable of cranking things up.
I'll certainly be checking out his other book, 'Blight' and I will look out for upcoming work from Tom Carlisle.
January 7, 2025
What did I just read????
Our kid Rob was just a lad when he escaped from a cult that’s holed up in an ex-military compound in a remote part of Scotland. His older alpha brother took this to be traitorous behaviour and tried to chase him down that night but to no avail. Their next interaction would be in a makeshift morgue back in that same compound years later when Rob returns to claim his brother’s body. It’s clear that Marcus died from suspicious circumstances and although Rob doesn’t know this before he sets out for Scotland he’s already suspicious.
Rob returns with a tenacious podcaster in tow, Lucy, who Rob naively believes is there in an emotional support capacity, and to ensure the truth about Rob’s past and more specifically the cult leader, Bjorn Thrissell, is known. Lucy, however, has been waiting patiently for an opportunity to expose her friendship with a former cult member and produce a killer exposé on his backstory. Her time is money and she considers a road trip to Scotland well spent as this is the one that’s going to pay big.
When they arrive at the compound they’re met with a community of paranoid people coming apart at the seams…. and then they literally start to come apart at the seams.
If I was writing a tick-list of my favourites Marginal covers most of them… cults, isolation, contagion, body horror, angry villagers with pitchforks… and I have to confess I quite enjoy that “what did I just read?” feeling.
This was a fast paced, extremely gory read with some quite excellent body horror 3.75 ⭐️
Our kid Rob was just a lad when he escaped from a cult that’s holed up in an ex-military compound in a remote part of Scotland. His older alpha brother took this to be traitorous behaviour and tried to chase him down that night but to no avail. Their next interaction would be in a makeshift morgue back in that same compound years later when Rob returns to claim his brother’s body. It’s clear that Marcus died from suspicious circumstances and although Rob doesn’t know this before he sets out for Scotland he’s already suspicious.
Rob returns with a tenacious podcaster in tow, Lucy, who Rob naively believes is there in an emotional support capacity, and to ensure the truth about Rob’s past and more specifically the cult leader, Bjorn Thrissell, is known. Lucy, however, has been waiting patiently for an opportunity to expose her friendship with a former cult member and produce a killer exposé on his backstory. Her time is money and she considers a road trip to Scotland well spent as this is the one that’s going to pay big.
When they arrive at the compound they’re met with a community of paranoid people coming apart at the seams…. and then they literally start to come apart at the seams.
If I was writing a tick-list of my favourites Marginal covers most of them… cults, isolation, contagion, body horror, angry villagers with pitchforks… and I have to confess I quite enjoy that “what did I just read?” feeling.
This was a fast paced, extremely gory read with some quite excellent body horror 3.75 ⭐️
February 21, 2025
It starts with a really cool premise. I was getting Control, or SCP vibes. But instead of a government arm analysing or containing the phenomena or object, it's a cult. I was bought in from the very beginning. A guy is killed in a weird terrifying way and his younger brother is coming back to the cult he escaped from to collect the body. Yes, sign me up.
First critique is Lucy the reporter. Yes she's determined and ruthless. But on one hand she acts like she is wiser than others, and on the other hand she's really naive. She's heard Robs experience in the cult and how manipulative they are, but when she meets them she thinks 'They're not that bad..' Have you never heard of a cult before? Don't you know how manipulative they are?
The thing that killed it was the constant bickering for pages in the final third. Really cool body horror was happening and I was stuck in a room full of people arguing constantly. Every time we finally progressed it would happen again.
This book started strong but was disappointing.
First critique is Lucy the reporter. Yes she's determined and ruthless. But on one hand she acts like she is wiser than others, and on the other hand she's really naive. She's heard Robs experience in the cult and how manipulative they are, but when she meets them she thinks 'They're not that bad..' Have you never heard of a cult before? Don't you know how manipulative they are?
The thing that killed it was the constant bickering for pages in the final third. Really cool body horror was happening and I was stuck in a room full of people arguing constantly. Every time we finally progressed it would happen again.
This book started strong but was disappointing.
May 11, 2025
Quite a fun story line, although for connoisseurs of horror fiction i doubt this will satisfy the motivation for a disturbing read but the premise is fun, even of the characters arent very interesting at all. You (or maybe i should say I), certainly didn't get involved in their lives.
September 7, 2025
As an avid reader myself I was eager to read this and it did not disappoint. Despite a possible slow start, it picked up and became a great read. I especially loved the ending. (I may be bias given that Tom Carlisle is my uncle)
March 2, 2025
Wow. This one was pretty good and reminded me of Annihilation with Natalie Portman. The story telling was engrossing. Lots of body horror if you are into the gore aspect of horror.
April 2, 2025
Well written but the plot is a little pedestrian. My main reason for the rating is lack of empathy for any of the characters, not one of whom is likeable.
August 9, 2025
Crisply written, I really enjoyed the pace of it and the bodily descriptions were stomach-churning. It had a sinister energy throughout and the insights into how cults work were really nicely surfaced. The end really made you wonder…
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews