Intercepts blends the visceral terror of body horror with the institutional paranoia of a conspiracy thriller, creating a narrative where abstract threats are made horrifyingly concrete. Body horror, a subgenre of horror, focuses on the grotesque violation or destruction of the human body to elicit fear and disgust (Harper, Evelyn. “What is Body Horror? A Comprehensive Exploration.” Dark Skies, 23 Sep. 2025). The novel establishes this immediately with the brutal killing of the orderly, Carson, whose back is hollowed out by an Antenna. The narrator describes how the creature “dug and clawed until she had reached the padded floor beneath Carson’s shredded body” (17), grounding the narrative in graphic, physical violence.

This visceral element is fused with the conventions of a conspiracy thriller, which typically involves a protagonist uncovering a vast, hidden plot orchestrated by a powerful and secretive organization (“Conspiracy Thriller Movie—Definition & Detailed Explanation—Film Genre Glossary Terms.” Chaplinfilmfestival. 18 Nov. 2025). The Company in Intercepts functions as this shadowy entity, a place of “crippling bureaucracy” (7) that uses “covert funding” and “shell companies” (6) to obscure its true mission. By combining these genres, Payne ensures the conspiracy is not merely a political or intellectual threat. The body horror serves as the physical manifestation of the Company’s power, demonstrating in gruesome detail how its secret work literally tears people apart. This fusion amplifies the novel’s central themes, using the destruction of the human form to illustrate the terrifying consequences of unaccountable institutional power.