The Nested Man

by Mark Steensland

Frank Hastane is an anthropology professor attempting to decode a notorious grimoire known as the Atrum Res. Frank's uprooted his family and moved across the country to take up teaching responsibilities at Rawlson University, an institution with a checkered past. Soon he begins to discover the terrifying truth about the grimoire, his supervisors at Rawlson, and his own identity and past connection to the book.

The Nested Man is a supernatural thriller from award-winning novelist and screenwriter Mark Steensland.

301 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 13, 2024

About the author

Mark Steensland self-published his first book while in fourth grade and has been telling stories ever since—some of them true. He became a professional journalist before graduating high school, writing about movies for such magazines as Prevue, Millimeter, and American Cinematographer. His award-winning films (including Peekers and The Ugly File) have played in festivals around the world. His first novel—Behind the Bookcase—was published in 2012 by Random House. A movie based on The Special, a novella co-written with James Newman, was released in 2020. Jakob's Wife, a film starring Barbara Crampton, Larry Fessenden, and Bonnie Aarons, was released in 2021. His most recent novel, The Black Magic Murders, was released in December 2025.

Reviews

[Jamedi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review originally on JamReads

The Nested Man is a supernatural horror thriller novel written by Mark Steensland, and which will be published by Cemetery Gates Media. Told in a close third person, Steensland hooks us with his agile narration style, building intrigue and tension as long as the story advances, woven around a broken man.

Frank Hastane, an anthropology professor, has moved with his family to take teaching responsibilities at Rawlson University, an institution whose past hides many dark points. Among other things, he starts attempting to decode a grimoire called the Atrum Res; however, it will only become the start of a terrifying discovery journey that will affect him in many ways, especially regarding his real identity and the connection between his erased past and the book.

Using a particular close third person, Steensland makes us privileged spectators of how Frank's self is slowly broken into pieces, falling into paranoia and losing the reference that can take him home; oppression and fear sensations slowly but constantly grow, blurring the line between reality and the images created by a tormented mind. It is interesting to see how our perception of some secondary characters varies as long as the novel advances.

Regarding pacing, Steensland has chosen short chapters and a relatively fast pacing, quite fitting for this kind of thriller/horror mashup; the sensation of "just one more chapter" is constantly present. The dialogues are quite polished, with a plot that simply flows.

The Nested Man is a perfect novel if you are a horror aficionado that prefers fast paced stories that are quite into the business from the start; a style that I particularly enjoy. A great piece by Mark Steensland, and for sure, not the last I will be reading.

[Brooklyn Attic Books]

The Nested Man definitely grabbed my attention right from the start. It's a very mysterious and slow build, but I honestly couldn't put it down. I wanted to know what happens next. And that is what you want from a thriller. The book paced really well, the story built and the short chapters made it digestible.

Lots of action, great characters, except the wife...holy hell, why are they married?? The entire book she loves to hate her husband. Her character was crazy annoying and they didn't seem like a married couple, more like co-parents. She does not trust the poor guy. But none of that even matters towards the plot because the MC completely ignores the fact that she's not really nice to him at all. It's hilarious, sort of. I kind of feel bad for the poor guy. They seem like they're in a fake marriage, like how easily she gets upset at him throughout the first half of the book. As you can see, character development is a big deal for me. I digress.

Thank you to Cemetery Gates Media for an ARC of this book, I will be checking out more Mark Steensland & recommending this book to my thriller fan book friends.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"You aren't who you think you are."

What would you do if, on the first day of your new job, you received a cryptic phone call telling you that everything you know about your life is a lie? What if you were told to trust no one but the caller and that you were in extreme danger?

Frank is starting a one year guest professorship at Rawlson University when he gets a mysterious phone call that turns his life completely inside out. He holds dark knowledge in his psyche that he was made to forget, and there are people after that knowledge who will do anything to get it.

Equal parts Bourne Identity drama and Dan Brown thriller, The Nested Man takes you on a journey of mysticism, American history, and the black arts power to do whatever you can imagine if you have the right words.

The book was a touch slow for me; it wasn't until about halfway through that I found myself really getting invested in the story. Once I got into it, though, I absolutely flew through it! The way it combines historical events and numerology with intrigue and magic is so fascinating and was a really great change of pace for me.

Frank was about to drive me up a wall, though! Despite several warnings (and a few stark reminders) that he was in danger and needed to be careful, he was acting like the single most suspicious person I've ever seen. Sometimes, I wanted to reach through the book and smack some sense back into him!

Overall, this was a great read, and many thanks to Cemetery Gates Media for the ARC! While the ending was a bit rushed (everything seemed to get wrapped up rather handily), I enjoyed the book a lot and loved that the ending itself was a little ambiguous so I could choose a bit of what I wanted the ending to be.

[Ricky's Rockin' Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Nested Man by Mark Steensland

Frank is an anthropology professor who wrote a book on his area of study which helped him land an exciting role as a visiting professor at Rawlson University in Pennsylvania. The problem is he had to uproot his family from California and therefore his marriage feels a bit uneasy. To make matters worse, a woman calls Franks to tell him he is not who he thinks he is.

Frank is perplexed but beginning to connect this stranger’s warning with his odd feeling he can remember things about the home he has been relocated to by the university, as well as places around town and the university itself even though he’s never been there before. When school faculty steer Frank’s attention toward their grimoire collection (books of spells) hidden in rooms collectively called The Inferno, Frank questions everything about himself and the intentions of those around him.

Before reading this, I was not well versed on grimoires or cyphers. I had a ton of fun learning more about those with Frank as he was forced to dive deep. This is a thriller with a supernatural bent that I feel delivers on its promises and pays-off things that set up early on.

I loved this book so much. It is set at a breakneck pace, chapters only lasting no more than 3 or 4 pages and each one ends with a new revelation, questions, action, WTF moment, or all of the above! Mark Steensland is an author I am going to follow from now on. He was able to tell a pretty complex story woven with fictional history, plot twists, cypher cracking, emotion, and triumphs.

I want to thank @cemeterygatesmedia for sending me ARCs in exchange for my honest reviews. I want to commend this publisher for regularly pumping out great books by talented authors. I’ve become such a huge fan of them and the build of their books. The pages have a distinct feel and the stories they choose always hit.

[Ross Jeffery · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Nested Man is a sprawling nightmare of a book, one which worms its way inside the reader and doesn’t let up.

Steensland masterfully fills us with dread and fear and a little of the uncanny, whilst telling us a story of a broken and desperate man searching for his way home.

A marvellous offering that harks back to past masters such as Bradbury and Matheson - but this book is very much Steensland at his very best!

[Kate | Date With A Thriller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really intriguing thriller!! I felt the pace was great and found myself immersed in the story! I did feel the ending was a little rushed, but overall this was a great read!! 👏

Thank you to Cemetery Gates Media for the opportunity to read the physical ARC in exchange for my honest review!! ❤️

[Jennifer Leonard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book jumped right into the action, which I really loved. We follow along as Frank, a guest professor at Rawlson University, struggles with his marriage, his new job, and his past while fighting something that’s been looking for him for a very long time.

I think the characters were done fairly well, though the children feel like very third string actors who meant nothing to the MC or book. The dialogue was great, and the plot flowed well.

I will say I wasn’t wild about the end, and hope maybe it’s meant for a sequel.

All in all, 3.5 stars rounded to a 4.

[Robert Kluver · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Nested Man follows a professor down an ever-deepening rabbit hole of lies about his past & conspiracies surrounding an encoded grimoire. It’s a smart, tense, entertaining thriller that's propulsive from the get-go. Check it out!