Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Potwór | 1999 | Matt Shaw | N/A |
| 2 | Monster | 2015 | Matt Shaw | Buy |
| 3 | Monster: Perfect Edition, Vol. 2 | 1996 | Matt Shaw | N/A |
| 4 | Richard & Mary | 2018 | Matt Shaw | Buy |
| 5 | Monster: Perfect Edition, Vol. 3 | 1994 | Matt Shaw | N/A |
| 6 | Monster: Perfect Edition, Vol. 4 | 2008 | Matt Shaw | N/A |
| 7 | Monster: Perfect Edition, Vol. 5 | 2008 | Matt Shaw | N/A |
| 8 | Monster: Perfect Edition, Vol. 6 | 2008 | Matt Shaw | N/A |
| 9 | Monster: Perfect Edition, Vol. 9 | 2008 | Matt Shaw | N/A |
Matt Shaw’s Monster (2015) is one of his more psychologically focused extreme horror novels, using the idea of monstrousness as both literal subject matter and underlying theme. The book asks what separates the people who commit acts of extreme violence from those who do not, and it does not arrive at comfortable answers. Shaw has returned to this territory across his career, and Monster stands as one of the clearer examples of his interest in the psychology behind transgressive behavior.
Richard and Mary (2018) shares thematic ground with Monster, focusing on a relationship that has curdled into something harmful and examining how two people become complicit in each other’s worst impulses. Like many of Shaw’s novels from that period, it balances graphic content with a genuine interest in character motivation, which gives it more depth than a straightforward splatter novel.
Both books are best approached by readers already familiar with Shaw’s work and comfortable with extreme horror content. Monster makes a reasonable starting point for this corner of his catalogue, and Richard and Mary works well as a companion piece read immediately after.