Toady: Welcome to the Horror Club...

by Mark Morris, Chris Moore (Illustrator)

Richard, Robin and Nigel are ordinary boys who share a taste for the macabre in films, videos, books and comics. Then they admit a fourth member to their club - Toady, who is not at all an ordinary boy. From the moment he lures the boys to a seance, unimagined horror overtakes their lives.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Fantasy, Coming Of Age, Summer

702 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Mark Morris became a full-time writer in 1988 on the Enterprise Allowance Scheme, and a year later saw the release of his first novel, Toady. He has since published a further sixteen novels, among which are Stitch, The Immaculate, The Secret of Anatomy, Fiddleback, The Deluge and four books in the popular Doctor Who range.

His short stories, novellas, articles and reviews have appeared in a wide variety of anthologies and magazines, and he is editor of the highly-acclaimed Cinema Macabre, a book of fifty horror movie essays by genre luminaries, for which he won the 2007 British Fantasy Award.

His most recently published or forthcoming work includes a novella entitled It Sustains for Earthling Publications, a Torchwood novel entitled Bay of the Dead, several Doctor Who audios for Big Finish Productions, a follow-up volume to Cinema Macabre entitled Cinema Futura and a new short story collection, Long Shadows, Nightmare Light.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four boys conjure up some evil entity after a seance gone wrong. What is it terrorizing their surrounding, friends and families? There is an eerie house, people die, even the school's bullies are terrified, all the right ingredients for a proper horror meal. Can that entity from another dimension be stopped? The book started very strong with a good coming of age horror tale. Later on as the kids battle the monster it became a bit too fantastic. The story is a far too long and I found out it was released in a much shorter form for the US market. An excellent debut horror novel with too much length and a too fantastic ending. Otherwise great 80s stuff that reminded me strongly on Stranger Things. Somehow you feel the author didn't want to end his book and keep the story rolling on forever. Definitely worth a read. Really recommended!

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark Morris' first novel made a splash and I can see why. Set in a small tourist town (Starmouth) on the coast of England, Morris introduces the ensemble cast right away: four boys, aged 14 to 16, who are members of the Horror Club. This mainly entails watching horror flicks and swapping books. The fourth, known as Toady, recently joined, and if anything, he is even more of a social outcast than the other three. Toady attracts bullies like bees to nectar and there are several of these at their school.

So, after some nasty bullying one day, the new kid, Toady, wants to kick the Horror Club up a notch by holding a séance in an abandoned house with a haunted reputation. Richard, one of the boys in the club, is warned off by his friend Olive, who has some psychic abilities; she is actually his grandma's pal and runs a fortune teller booth by the seaside attractions. Well, as you might expect, yeah, something happened at the séance, or should I say, something 'came over', but what exactly it is and what is wants prove to be no small mystery.

I have a weak spot for English horror, in part due to the settings. Starmouth in the winter when the tale takes place is bleak; the amusement park on the shore is shuttered for the season and it always seems to be cold and snowy. Outside the tourist areas, Starmouth is half posh, half very seedy. Toady comes from the seedy part, as do most of the bullies at school. His dad is a drunk and his mother works as a stripper in a seedy dive bar. He knows something 'came over' during the séance and he desperately wants to communicate with it; more than that, he wants its power.

Shortly after the séance, strange and nasty things start happening around town, and all four boys are plagued by horrible nightmares. Worse, when the boys compare nightmares, they find that seemed to be similar dreams, and sometimes they even saw one another. What the hell? Olive knows something nasty 'came over', but what to do about it?

While the pacing was a bit erratic at times, Morris takes you down a rabbit hole here, especially toward the end. The dreams/nightmares are stunning and surreal, half the time the boys 'awake' only to find the dream simply continuing. The actual 'monster' they summoned is quite unique and not a run of the mill demon. Overall, I was impressed, even though this does feature young teenagers, which is not my bag. It did remind me of King's It, but definitely not derivative. Morris only penned a handful of horror novels before moving on, but well worth a read if you can find them. 4 spooky stars!!

[Brendon Lowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review soon after discussed with my friend on here who did a buddy read with me.

UPDATE 18/02/23

Toady is one I kept hearing about for a long time so I was glad to finally get around to it. Its definitely a great story with some creepy horror elements however is overly long at 700 pages.

What worked for me was the coming of age story with our band of kids who form the "Horror Club" where they discuss movies and magazines. The dynamics of the group was fun especially Toady who was the odd kid out and just a pain most of the time.

They're a couple of bullys as well with Rusty the ring leader who was overly cruel but he definitely brought tension to the plot. This aspect really reminded me of Stephen Kings IT however nothing will beat the Losers Club.

The kids hold a Seance in an abandoned house and release an unknown force into the small town.
The force is a shape shifter and causes havoc, mind games and death. Our kids with the help of a local woman who is a medium attempt to put a stop to the creatures rampage.

As I said the horror elements are pretty good however there is a big shift in the final quarter of the book to more fantasy writing which did take me out of it and was a struggle to get through and somewhat confusing. Overall I liked it alot but its definitely a few hundred pages too long.

[Kelsi - Slime and Slashers · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars rounded up for GR. This is an underrated horror gem with some of the best horror imagery that I've ever read! Highly recommend.

[Kevin Lucia · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, lush, slow-burn horror novel. Not a book to burn through, but one to take time with. I especially enjoyed Morris' balanced, finely structured prose, and I especially liked the brief bit of fantasy world-building near the end - would've liked to have seen more of that nightmarish world. I clearly need to read more Mark Morris!

[Judith Sonnet · Rating 5 out of 5]

God this book is perfect. Think Stephen King's IT meets Clive Barker's Weaveworld... but not in s derivative way. The concepts in this book are so unique... I don't think ANYONE would dare attempt to imitate it. Brilliant prose, deep story, real characters, some heavy dashes of surrealism, and even some startling gore! It both scared and enchanted me!

[Dreadlocksmile · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Toady' aka 'The Horror Club' is Mark Morris' first horror novel, which was originally published back in 1989 by Piatkus. Corgi have since bought the rights to the novel and re-released the 702 page epic fantasy / horror tale.

From the start, you can clearly see a strong resemblance to Clive Barker. Morris' writing style is superb, with a descriptive nature that sets a atmosphere so vivid, it's incredible. His imagination is at times so bizarre, you feel the world has no bounds...and indeed it doesn't, especially in this novel. The storyline races through, which keeps you gripped from the moment the boys start the s ance. Mark's characterization is second to none, making the reader really feel for each member of the Horror Club. The book ends very well, which was my only problem with his later novel 'The Secret Of Anatomy', which was a fantastic Barker style horror / fantasy novel that built up incredibly to the end, with such a disappointing conclusion. If I'm honest, as I drew close to the end of this novel, I was half expecting a similar thing, as it was nearing the last pages and everything was still up in the air. But no, a fantastic (and a little tragic) ending, that wraps the whole novel up perfectly.

'Toady' does include the usual Doctor Who mention as always, due to this being a little passion of Mark's. We can easily let him off this as it certainly does not interfere with the novel. All in all, 'Toady' was a great horror novel that you can dive into and get totally absorbed by the weird and disturbing world that Mark Morris' bizarre imagination has created.

[Natascha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toady ist eine klassische Coming-of-Age-Geschichte, wie man sie im Horrorgenre immer wieder findet. Man begleitet eine Gruppe von Kindern bzw. Jugendlichen dabei, wie sie sich mit dem Heranwachsen und den dazu gehörenden Problemen herumschlagen während sie gleichzeitig von einer übernatürlichen Macht heimgesucht werden die es gilt zu besiegen.

Ich liebe solche Geschichten. Sie führen einen zurück in die eigene Jugend und oft ist es gerade dieses Erinnern an alltägliche Begebenheiten was für Gänsehautmomente sorgt. Bei Toady kommt dann noch hinzu, dass Mark Morris es wirklich beherrscht gruselige Szenen zu entwickeln und ich oft begeistert davon war über wie viele Seiten er es schafft die Spannung aufrecht zu erhalten. Besonders sein Gegenspieler zeichnet sich wirklich durch Kreativität und Ideenreichtum aus.

Toady hätte für mich ein perfektes Buch werden können, wenn da nicht der, für meinen Geschmack, zu große Fantasy-Anteil im letzten Drittel gewesen wäre. Leider treibt dieser Teil die Handlung überhaupt nicht voran und zögert das Finale nur unnötig hinaus. Die Welt die Mark Morris dabei erschafft ist einzigartig, keine Frage, aber sie fühlt sich für mich einfach nicht stimmig zum Rest der Geschichte an.

Toady ist eine wirklich gutes Horrorbuch was in meinen Augen zu unrecht unterschäzt ist und ich würde es jedem Fan von 80er-Jahre-Horror und ausführlich erzählten Geschichten empfehlen.

[Rachel Bridgeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published by Corgi in 1989, when the author was only 22 (22!!), the 700 pages plus bomper which is ‘Toady’ is a vintage horror that is nostalgic, classic fiction at its best.

Reminding me strongly of ‘Everyday Is Like Sunday’, the atmosphere is so cleverly evoked, of Starmouth, a town which relies on the income of tourists throughout summer, and is now a wintery, splintered husk ,in the aftermath of Christmas.

Long time childhood friends, Robin, Nigel and Richard, have little to do, in this time before mobile phones, internet and what not to keep them busy. What they do enjoy is meeting up to swap horror novels, magazines and comics, and to talk about what films they have enjoyed watching since they last met (on VHS, no streaming folks!)

Their cave, down on the beach, is their haven, their safe space away from bullies, parents, and the frightening prospect of making a future for themselves. They don’t have to worry about off putting acne, liking the ‘wrong’ things, or being look down on. Until they invite Adrian Tibbett, aka Toady into their midst.

Films and books to him are just boing, he wants to up the ante and , having done his research, has identified a property where they could do something properly , something like a séance. The boys friend, seafront fortune teller Olive, has a terrible premonition about this, and warns them not to play with things that they don’t understand. She needn’t have worried , however, as nothing spectacular happens in that run down house. The boys go home pretty much disappointed, except for Toady. He got what he was hoping for. A potential source of power to combat his inadequacies. But the price he pays for this may be more than he bargained for…

The way that Starmouth is described is instantly relatable to this kid of the 80’s-nothing to do, nowhere to go, and a challenge to find those like minded souls which you can hang out with at break time. This is reflected in the books and the tv movies that the boys talk about, the punk music that they play, really emphasising their fight to be individuals in a town that has all but up and blown away. The shabby nature of the seafront is perfect, the atmosphere at once claustrophobic and unsettling.

Olive is one of my favourite characters, you can easily visualise yourself in her flat above her fortune telling booth and her psychic warnings are eerie rather than derivative. She is such a well rounded character that she is sorely missed whenever she is not the focus of the story.

There is a bit of a leap into a cosmic horror vein which is tapped during the third arc of the story, but I really didn’t mind as I was so caught up in the action I couldn’t stop (this was the bit I found not so interesting as a teen reading it for the first time). There are some standout moments of horror, it is clear Stephen King was a big influence (the house where the séance is held is on King Street) and some scenes are best read in broad daylight and not just before bed. I am thinking, in particular, of the snowman from hell. Trust me, it is a lot scarier than it sounds!

The protagonists are so relatable, they are the archetypal outsiders so try to bring Toady in to their gang as he is one of them. He is bullied for being too fat, too smart with his mouth, having a difficult personality to get used to. They reach out, trying to be kind, and for their thanks they get involved with the local gang of bullies who are, frankly, terrifying, and out to cause real harm, as well as opening a portal to another dimension.

The deaths are really well done, pretty horrifying and different to what you would expect, and the involement of the local police who are as baffled as the grownups lends a sense of realism to the whole affair as the kids try desperately to put the genie back in the bottle they got it out from.

Whether Toady would have been the same if he had been treated with a bit of kindness is academic, he is a cautionary tale that sometimes there are those who are un-helpable, and cannot be redeemed, nature’s scapegoats if you will. They exist for others to feel superior too, even his friends who feel sorry for him, and , this sets off the catalyst for the whole story as he feels powerless in his own skin. What he, and the other members of the Horror Club go through tests every ounce of resilience they possess, and , in the end, they find that their redemption lies in their own hands.

Welcome to the Horror Club? Yes please, I would love to join!

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Epic horror! A long read at over 500 pages, but I was never bored. Boys release a malevolent spirit during a seance and horrible things begin to happen to the boys and the townspeople. Bizarre scenes of horror to be found here!

[Stephen McQuiggan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set during a bleak winter in the English seaside resort of Starmouth, you couldn't find a more depressing setting ripe for some old school eeriness. Part horror, part dark fairytale - there's even a rampaging snowman - this is a great read.

[Jon Recluse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review pending

[Alex (The Bookubus) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Mika Lietzen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A group of 80s teenage freaks and geeks suffer the daily torments of bullies and parents, until one of them decides to summon a demon from beyond. As is often the case, the amateur occultist soon finds that the entity is impossible to control, leaving bodies in its wake, sometimes headless, sometimes in smaller pieces. Instead of schoolyard bullies the kids now have to deal with a homicidal otherwordly monster as well. Ain't middle school a bitch.

Set in a drowsy seaside resort that's seen its glory days long ago, Mark Morris' debut novel is a distinctly British affair with a large cast of lifelike characters. The kids of the Horror Club, a group of four kids who are all into horror movies, take the center stage, with Richard the bespectacled nerd leading the way, with shy Nigel and zit-faced Robin forming the core of the team. The newcomer is Adrian, also known as Toady, a Cartmanesque character who displays a similar lack of morals in summoning the evil entity. It's notable he manages to do this with books loaned from the local library, so hooray for the library system!

The second-tier characters, the parents, the neighbours, a local pensioner psychic, the local bullies and the surprisingly understanding policemen aren't discount versions of their archetypes, instead they all come across as well rounded individuals with desires and ambitions and lives beyond their purpose in the novel. Many of them, of course, end up as entertainment for the creature, whose motivations are harder to pinpoint due to its limited understanding of human concepts.

It's awfully interested in gore though, manifesting itself in a variety of monstrous forms. Here Morris displays an affinity well beyond the confines of classic horror favoured by the Horror Club and closer to the modern, bloodier style of Clive Barker, a frequent comparison. It's an interesting match that works well, bridging the tone of classic horror with the edgier contemporary flair. The more everyday human horror also works well, with the bullies and their switchblades perhaps proving even more disconcerting than the deeply alien horror.

Alas, Toady does drone on for 700 pages, which is about a third longer than is necessary. The final section, with a comatose dreamworld dilutes the tension and squanders the ingredients. The events get murkier while the plot starts to repeat itself and there is no real buildup to the ending, the novel simply seems to run out of fuel. It should be mentioned that Toady was the young author's first novel, so some uneven quality is expected. However, the good outweighs the negative, with the first half of the novel delivering a well-developed world populated with believable characters facing interesting monsters both human and inhuman.

[Lucy (_burymeinbooks_) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a classic slow-burn horror. The set up is the usual small town where a group of teenage boys unleash terror which they then need to fight off. Despite this being a set up you see often in horror Morris took it somewhere completely different, somewhere I did not see the story going. It became almost cosmic which I didn’t overly mind but I would have liked some more indication that that was where we would end up. Instead it made it feel like the last quarter of the book was a completely different story. Also I did feel like it would have benefited from being shorter as there was a lot of unnecessary description at times. Overall it wasn’t a bad read and I would be interested to read more from this author as it was very nostalgic, reminiscent of early King/Barker/Herbert.

[Glyn Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Today is a strange beast a 700 page 90s horror with as much fantasy thrown in the mix as horror,the premis is a classic kids with Ouija board releasing something malevolent. Great real personas on all the characters,creepy monsters and above all fantastic writing skill, I felt the ending a bit quick coming but saying that I think this was because no wanted another 200 pages or more in RED in its wonderful world of mermaids in jars and it's streets of gargoyles in there many fashions.
Five star book all the way , a horror classic 😀

[Lee Franklin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A journey to hell that stands the test of time.

Morris has been on my TBR pile for a long time and I am certainly not disappointed by his epic debut. Written decades ago, Toady I feel stands the test of time ,a fantastic coming of age story.

I'm not generally into "cosmic horror" but Morris took me there before I even realised. Reading the blurb I had no expectation I would end up there, but I quite enjoyed my visit.

I loved and felt for the characters. Their development arcs were natural and unforced. Highly recommend this novel.

[Benjamin Langley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toady tells the story of four boys in a horror club who, on winter evening, hold a seance and awake an evil being who then causes havoc in the local community.
It's an incredibly impressive story - a great example of small town horror that uses plenty of different viewpoints to show the reader what is going on all over town. What's really impressive about this is how well drawn all of the characters are. Lazy stereotypes are largely eschewed so the characters feel real, their decisions genuine, and therefore, their fates often upsetting.
As the protagonists are teenagers, it's a great example of the coming-of-age horror genre as they realise the need to take responsibility for thier actions.
The novel was written in the late 80s, and in some ways it is very much of its time. The family parties certainly felt very true - things which were commonplace then would be surprising now.
The writing is very strong too. Morris has a touch for the groteque and an eye for description that makde this a delight to read.
Plotwise, I was often surprised by where it was going, and each twist and turn worked well. I certainly had no idea of what I was going to get in the final act.
Reccommend to all that enjoy coming of-age horror, the work of Stephen King, and UK horror.

[Luke Tetley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts off as a fantastic horror story, with some genuinely disturbing scenes and a sense of dread… only to venture into fantasy during the final third of the book, which was derivative and unnecessary. I found myself skimming to the end as a result of this.

There is a version of this book titled ‘The Horror Club’ released in the USA that has the fantasy section removed. Though I have not yet read this I would recommend seeking out this version as it is surely more concise.

[Katy Lohman · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars = a good, scary story

It reminded me of the cheesy goodness of a Zebra horror, which gave it high points already. Add in kids versus teen bullies, a creepy falling-down house and a seance that goes who-knows-where, and it's going to be good fun. The monster is...well, hard to understand. What does it want? What is it? What the heck is it doing?

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a lot of hope for this horror novel. I loved the first 80% of the story and had it at 5 stars both the final 70 pages went into a sci-fi realm that had me totally confused with all the Zad (AKA the creature) talk and US. Given the last 20% and the weird resolution to destroying the creature, I had to give it a 3 star rating.

[Jane Myers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not read in a long long time. Remember finding it absolutely terrifying but my tastes have changed and struggled to finish it. Ok when it was a horror but didn't like the change to fantasy story towards the end

[Sedna Dragon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was such a shocking and gripping book, from the body horror to the horrific creatures that with such a good story.

[Julie Washington · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit drawn out. Found myself skimming the ending.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really love the story, the imagery. I enjoyed this as much as I did almost 30 years ago, when I read it the first time. I need to re-read this one more often. Hopefully I can find it on kindle some day.

[Celia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic book! Scared the hell out of me!!!

[Caralyn Rubli · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointed! Not scary at all. I think it's a young adult book. The cover and summary on the back cover made it look and sound terrifying. Oh, so disappointed!