About You See the Monster:
The sound hits Guy in some low, forgotten part of his psyche - a part of him that understands the truth about shadows. The part of him that knows the deep, dark truth behind fairy stories and myths.
Guy is about to finish writing his breakthrough online article. He overheard the story by chance in a pub and it's guaranteed to go viral - all he needs to do is persuade the World's Unluckiest Man to talk to him. His best friend Larry's quest for killer clickbait material has led him to a recently-appeared shanty town in Glasgow, where he finds some kind of urban voodoo cult. Ex-cop Sam has already come face to face with the terrifying force behind both these phenomena, but he's been trying to put it out of his mind.
When Larry is killed in inexplicably gruesome circumstances, Guy knows he's also a target. The evidence of malevolent power is suddenly proliferating - but why now? Together, Sam and Guy enter a shadow world of ancient monsters and modern curses, in a battle to figure out the rules of the game and bring them to the light before it's far too late.
From the bestselling author of the Stone Man series, You See The Monster is for fans of contemporary horror kindle books at their most darkly inventive: a chilling, high-concept fable for our times.
Excerpt:
“That’s fine, that’s fine,” Guy babbles, leaning forward. “Larry, Jesus . . . what’s happened? Did you have an accident?”
“Nuh,” Larry says, restless. His gaze darts around the bar, behind himself, hands working in his lap. “No, not like that. Uh. Um.” He keeps swallowing. Trembling, like he’s fighting back tears. “Guy. Guy. I don’t . . . I don’t know what’s . . .”
This is not a joke. It’s even more serious than Guy had feared.
“Okay, man, just take some deep breaths, nice and slow,” Guy says, putting his hand on Larry’s leg, a rare intimacy even between them, and they’re close. “Start at the beginning. I’m here to help you.” Larry shakes his head, looking utterly miserable.
“I don’t think you can. No one can. I just have to tell someone, that’s all.”
“Well . . . . .. we’ll see, right? Can you start at the beginning?”
Larry shifts uncomfortably. Guy thinks of possibilities. The crutches. No accident, but an injury, and Larry’s frightened.
“Do you owe someone money?” Guy offers. “Do you need money?” Larry shakes his head. His lips are tight, colourless lines in his face. He wants to tell Guy. “Did someone hurt you?” Larry freezes . . . but he doesn’t shake his head. Guy isn’t entirely wrong then. What could be—
Oh, shit.
“Did . . . someone hurt Marianne?”
Larry freezes again, but now the tears are coming. Guy has never seen Larry this broken. It’s awful.
“Marianne is hurt?”
Larry wipes his face and mumbles something. The words are so muffled, it sounds like he said it ate her.
“What was that, Larry?”
“It’s in my house,” he whispers, not repeating what he just said. “It’s there right now. It’s asleep.”
The skin crawls on Guy’s neck. This is way beyond anything he expected. He needs to text Nancy to tell her to get in touch with Marianne immediately, but first he has to calm Larry down.
“Larry . . . have you been taking anything, you know . . . heavy?” Guy asks quietly. Larry looks up sharply.
“No, Guy,” he says, and now his eyes are pleading. “I’m going to tell you something, and I just need you to listen. I don’t even care if you think I’m crazy, I just have to tell someone. Something terrible has happened. It’s asleep now so I can tell you, it always sleeps around this time, usually for three or four hours but I never know for sure. That’s why I haven’t left the house before now but . . . I just had to! I’m not allowed to tell you all this, but maybe when it’s asleep . . . I don’t have long. I can’t . . . ” He pauses, chewing his lip, hard.
Guy doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t recognize this Larry.
“Okay man,” Guy says, trying to rally and show Larry he’s safe. “Tell me everything, you’re safe here.”
Larry swallows.
“There’s a monster in my house, Guy. It came just after I got back from Glasgow. It’s been there ever since. It . . . ate Marianne. It can look and talk just like her too. It can become her. When anyone comes to the house, it pretends to be her. They’d never know it wasn’t.”
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About Luke Smitherd:
A former singer and guitarist, Luke now writes full time for a living. He can't quite believe it. He currently travels and writes, and ignores cheap jibes about not having a 'proper job'.
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