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.
Genre: Horror
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.
Genre: Horror
Praise for this book
"Tom Carlisle combines his gothic elements - the cursed landowning family, the uncanny pact, the lurking primal presence, the dark side of faery, the hero's reluctant return to his roots - into a potent magical brew often evocative of Machen but grippingly original." - Ramsey Campbell
"Blight is a rusty memory box containing the things we choose to leave behind, and those that refuse to let us go. An eldritch, deliciously bloody book." - Verity M Holloway
"An intriguing folk horror novel, with a Faustian twist and a family drama at its core - right up my street!" - Paul Kane
"Marginal is deviantly written, Carlisle effortlessly keeps you on the edge of your seat while preparing to lop your head off with one of the best endings to a book I've read for a long time." - Johnny Mains
"In this compelling and gruesome novel, we're invited to determine whether humans might be the real monsters. Tom Carlisle achieves a balancing act between satisfyingly gross set-pieces and thought-provoking discussion with enviable ease." - Tim Major
"An isolated location, an enigmatic cult, and body horror to rival The Thing collide in Tom Carlisle's Marginal to create a pulsating, claustrophobic page-turner. I tore through this one in a couple of days." - Mark Morris
"Blight embroiders an intriguing historical setting around a primal fear, to create a lurching nightmare. A splendid addition to the annals of truly nasty folklore." - E Saxey
"An intriguing debut." - Priya Sharma
"Blight is a spellbinding debut and an utterly modern-feeling folk horror, full of moral complexity and righteous anger: what profit is there in my blood?" - Ally Wilkes
"Blight is a rusty memory box containing the things we choose to leave behind, and those that refuse to let us go. An eldritch, deliciously bloody book." - Verity M Holloway
"An intriguing folk horror novel, with a Faustian twist and a family drama at its core - right up my street!" - Paul Kane
"Marginal is deviantly written, Carlisle effortlessly keeps you on the edge of your seat while preparing to lop your head off with one of the best endings to a book I've read for a long time." - Johnny Mains
"In this compelling and gruesome novel, we're invited to determine whether humans might be the real monsters. Tom Carlisle achieves a balancing act between satisfyingly gross set-pieces and thought-provoking discussion with enviable ease." - Tim Major
"An isolated location, an enigmatic cult, and body horror to rival The Thing collide in Tom Carlisle's Marginal to create a pulsating, claustrophobic page-turner. I tore through this one in a couple of days." - Mark Morris
"Blight embroiders an intriguing historical setting around a primal fear, to create a lurching nightmare. A splendid addition to the annals of truly nasty folklore." - E Saxey
"An intriguing debut." - Priya Sharma
"Blight is a spellbinding debut and an utterly modern-feeling folk horror, full of moral complexity and righteous anger: what profit is there in my blood?" - Ally Wilkes
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