Lovecraft Mixed With Marquis De Sade

With mounting debt, and her career not going in the direction she'd hoped for, Jessica Ann took a modelling job at the Larsen's lavish party.

What should have been an easy evening soon takes a nightmarish turn when she finds herself embroiled in an insane plot to awaken The Old Great One...

OCTOPUS by Matt Shaw has been thoroughly ripped on for being torture porn. While the author has always been somewhat controversial, one has to remember horror comes in many forms. Also, when a story is described as "an extreme horror novel," readers should considered themselves warned. Just in case I'm not making myself clear, Shaw is for seasoned horror fans, not tourists of the genre.

With that said, while the story IS fiction, the most horrific part is knowing many of the events within the pages occur in the real world. Perhaps that is what makes people so uncomfortable with Shaw's storytelling: he reminds people of the ugliness and brutality of human nature. Throughout Octopus, Shaw mixes relationships, desperation and depravity in equal measure. The pace crawls in some places, becoming more frantic in other scenes, with the goal of luring readers into the mansion with Max and Helena.

The ending is not what I expected. Actually, I didn't know what to expect, aside from the level of terror only Shaw can deliver. If Lovecraft had a child with the Marquis De Sade, he'd probably be a lot like author Matt Shaw.

As always,
AstraDaemon