Audiobook Review: Garth Marenghi's Incarcerat
Genre: Horror Comedy
Age: Adult
Format: Audiobook
Garth Marenghi, author, narrator, dreamweaver, Master of the Dark Arts, frighterman, darkscribe, doomsage is back, with awaited sequel to the genius TerrorTome, Garth Marenghi’s Incarcerat. The only question is: are you brave enough to enter this twisted tale of terror?
Volume 2 continues the story of Nick Steen, horror novelist. At the end of TerrorTome – and yes, there are spoilers for TerrorTome ahead – we leave Nick still dealing with the unleashing of his imagination. Here, we see that continue, but now he has another enemy to face, the powerful, shadowy technological research facility, Nulltec. As in TerrorTome, we are presented with three terrifying tales that manage to horrify and entertain in equal measure, especially for those familiar with the last five decades of horror.
TerrorTome felt like it was largely leaning on pulpy B movies combined with Stephen King, whereas Incarcerat takes us in a slightly different direction. The story follows through, and there’s a great blending of sci-fi and horror here, a great sense of homage combined with something that, while parodying familiar horror tropes, still manages to feel fresh. And it’s incredibly funny, too, especially in the way Nick Steen thinks about the world around him (though, to be fair, he mostly doesn’t). In the audio, this is all gleefully emphasised by the narration, drawing you totally in to Steen’s head.
Favourite parts here were the Taffer – nice to see some Welsh representation, and truly, a brilliant satirical nod to how ‘Celtic’ characters are usually treated – and the second story, which brilliantly plays into gothic and folk genres. The “Randyman” had some great moments, too, and it was fun to get a different POV as we follow Roz, Nick’s editor, instead of Nick.
This is truly a wonderfully delightful, gory, entertaining series, and one I’d strongly recommend listening to as an audiobook, as the narration adds so much. Can’t wait for Volume 3.
Review by Elle Turpitt
Twitter: @elleturpitt
Bluesky: @elleturpitt.bsky.social
I purchased this audiobook via Audible.
