That Which Stands Outside by Mark Morris
The strong mythology focus that permeates the latter half of the novel’s first phase never feels alienating, and if anything the more mysterious moments – such as Yrsa’s animalistic nighttime excursions – get under your skin rather make you feel all at sea.
In the newest novel from Mark Morris, ancient forces are waking. Morris manages to create a to-the-bone tale of Nordic grimoire and slow-burn malevolence, while wrapping it 70s and 80s pulp horror, nicely bridging the gap between then and the more biting, fast pace fiction of nowadays.
A chance meeting of Todd and Yrsa ends up in a trip to an island off the coast of Norway, where Yrsa’s past means the islanders take offence to her every move; all the while she is obsessed with uncovering a passage in an underground cave, even getting Todd’s brother involved, and the result of that will shake the island to its core. There’s no holding back on the forbidding, chilling notes, and Todd and Yrsa are characters who fit into these narratives well – Todd’s an out-of-work actor, and after he demonstrates a moment of macho heroism (that goes wrong), he’s a difficult character to dislike, and as the novel progresses, the feeling that you’re inside the cogs of his mind works very well; by contrast, Yrsa is kept as this mysterious figure, and what is known about her keeps you on the knife edge of about whether to trust her. Moreover, none of the emotions between them feels forced, even if some of the more intimate moments are just as in your face as James Herbert’s saucier passages. As the chain reaction of events gets triggered, it’s hard not to get swept up in it as much as the characters.
It’s fair to say that Morris has a way with words, and although That Which Stands Outside is very much split into two unique phases, neither is less atmospheric or volatile than the other. While you aren’t supposed to like many of the xenophobic islanders – who believe Yrsa to be a changeling – there’s an oddly icy charm to the whole thing, in a kind of ‘Salem’s Lot’-esque way. One character in particular, Karriana, comes into her own later in the novel and although the tension and darkness is still there, so is the raw energy flowing around the island. To that end, the world-building is sensational, and the feeling that you’re in the middle of nowhere invades every scene; the Scandi-noir vibes which go along with that can proudly sit next to the efforts of Jo Nesbø or Stieg Larsson. The strong mythology focus that permeates the latter half of the novel’s first phase never feels alienating, and if anything the more mysterious moments – such as Yrsa’s animalistic nighttime excursions – get under your skin rather make you feel all at sea.
The final quarter of the That Which Stands Outside however is really where the punch gains a knuckle-duster. For all the build-up and sense of malignancy which has been brewing, it still comes out of the blue and with severe ferocity. To the well-read horror aficionado, the blood-curdling sequences and the unrelenting frenzy might not actually terrify, but it will nevertheless find something to put your hackles up and by the time of the final sequences, you’re as desperate for it to end as you are to read another fifty pages of Morris’ writing.
One for those who enjoy slower, more atmospheric stories of weird imagery, Morris gives you a tale of dark forces and human emotion; in a world where so much is rushed and is compressed into instant serotonin, it’s nice that That Which Stands Outside not only gets time to breathe but gets to fully wear you down with its chilling brand of halitosis. If you’d like an excuse for reckless spending, I present this novel.
That Which Stands Outside by Mark Morris

A new chiller from multi award winning author of over 50 novels, winner of the New York Festival Radio Award for Best Drama Special and Festival Radio Awards.
That Which Stands Outside is a horror novel inspired by Nordic folklore. After Todd Kingston rescues Yrsa Helgerson from muggers one rainy London night, their resulting friendship quickly develops into a romance. When Yrsa’s mother dies, Todd accompanies her back to her childhood home, an isolated Nordic island. The reception they receive there is one of suspicion and hostility. The islanders believe Yrsa to be a child of a mythic race called the Jötnar, a claim which Yrsa dismisses as superstitious nonsense. But as the island is rocked by a series of devastating events, Todd finds himself caught up in a terrifying battle, one which possibly threatens the future of the world itself.
FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.
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