The Marigold

By: Andrew F. Sullivan

Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins

“This impressively bleak vision of the near future is as grotesquely amusing as it is grim.”―Publishers Weekly STARRED REVIEW

“A gripping tour-de-force torn from tomorrow’s headlines.”―David Demchuk, author of Red X and The Bone Mother

“A bold dystopian novel that captivates with its dread and depth. The Marigold is unhinged literary horror that goes right to the source of decay.”―Iain Reid, award-winning author of I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Foe, and We Spread

In a near-future Toronto buffeted by environmental chaos and unfettered development, an unsettling new lifeform begins to grow beneath the surface, feeding off the past

The Marigold, a gleaming Toronto condo tower, sits a half-empty promise: a stack of scuffed rental suites and undelivered amenities that crumbles around its residents as a mysterious sludge spreads slowly through it. Public health inspector Cathy Jin investigates this toxic mold as it infests the city’s infrastructure, rotting it from within, while Sam “Soda” Dalipagic stumbles on a dangerous cache of data while cruising the streets in his Camry, waiting for his next rideshare alert. On the outskirts of downtown, 13-year-old Henrietta Brakes chases a friend deep underground after he’s snatched into a sinkhole by a creature from below.

All the while, construction of the city’s newest luxury tower, Marigold II, has stalled. Stanley Marigold, the struggling son of the legendary developer behind this project, decides he must tap into a hidden reserve of old power to make his dream a reality―one with a human cost.

Weaving together disparate storylines and tapping into the realms of body horror, urban dystopia, and ecofiction, The Marigold explores the precarity of community and the fragile designs that bind us together.

©2023 Andrew F. Sullivan (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Very lackluster

The story was just ok and I found that I was forcing myself to get through it.

Really interesting...however...

As others have written, this was a thoughtful plot and aspects of it brought to mind a modern day version of Mexican Gothic. The narrator was super good in all regards EXCEPT Cabeza's voice. Every time he did it, I couldn't help but picture Vincent D'Onofrio as the Bug in the first MIB movie. I had to stop listening to the audio and pull out a borrowed copy to get through his parts.

Creative and unique

This was extremely well written and the story felt fresh and unique. the plot for me was so, so and in the end I thought it moved a little slowly but I'd still recommend it. can't say I'd want to read it again but I wasn't turned off by it and am glad I read it. he wrote a very tangible and creative world I could really see

really creepy stuff

a bleak look at a potential future mixed with some grizzly horror elements. I liked it quite a bit, good narration as well highly recommend.

Cronenbergian Weirdness in the Best Way

This novel takes me back to the 80's Cronenberg films. A far out and original horror novel that the genre really needed. If you enjoy weird horror, your won't be disappointed.

If Lost were a book

Lack of payoff. Too much repetitive exposition. Too little characterization. Cabeza’s voice was irksome and hard to understand. The Sidewalk Labs arc wasn’t substantive enough. A missed opportunity

Good but not great. Sometimes hard to listen to

Periodically in the story, the creatures will speak. The narrator did the best that he could do. But after a while, it gets grating on your nerves listening to it. I kept hoping the story would get more compelling. I wanted it to be great and found it to be okay. Sometimes it felt like work to listen to.