Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | In These Darkened Waters | 2023 | Matt Shaw | Buy |
| 2 | In These Darkened Woods | 2023 | Matt Shaw | Buy |
| 3 | In These Darkened Shadows | 2023 | Matt Shaw | Buy |
| 4 | In These Darkened Minds | 2023 | Matt Shaw | Buy |
The In These Darkened… series shows Matt Shaw working with a thematic framework across four books all published in 2023. Moving through In These Darkened Waters, In These Darkened Woods, In These Darkened Shadows, and In These Darkened Minds, the series uses the “darkened” concept to explore different horror environments and states, from the physical world to the psychological.
The four-book structure released in a single year gives the series a cohesive feel, as if Shaw were constructing variations on a theme. Each entry can stand alone, but the shared aesthetic and title pattern reward readers who work through all four in sequence. The “darkened minds” entry signals the series’ psychological ambitions alongside its physical horror.
For readers interested in Shaw’s more atmospheric work (atmospheric by his standards, which still means graphic and extreme by most other measures), the In These Darkened… series represents a 2023 project that shows him thinking about horror across different registers within a unified concept.