What do you think?
Rate this book
Control
Twelve Housemates enter a house as part of a bold, new television show. All they know is they're to have their actions monitored 24 hours a day and compete in a series of tasks with the knowledge that - at the end of the show - one of them will walk away with one hundred thousand pounds. But all is not as it seems and the truth - and danger - becomes apparent as soon as the doors lock them in on their first night and the first of the twelve is murdered...
With no way out and The Controller instructing them to kill each other until only one stands - the housemates have no choice but to play the game in Matt Shaw's new psychological horror.
Who will be victorious?
With no way out and The Controller instructing them to kill each other until only one stands - the housemates have no choice but to play the game in Matt Shaw's new psychological horror.
Who will be victorious?
- GenresHorrorPsychological
145 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 4, 2014
10 people are currently reading
138 people want to read
About the author
Matt Shaw
534 books2,222 followersBiography
MATT SHAW was born, quite by accident (his mother tripped, he shot out) September 30th 1980 in Winchester hospital where he was immediately placed on the baby ward and EBay. Some twelve years later (wandering the corridors of the hospital and playing with road kill when he was on day release), the listing closed and he remained unsold, he was booted out of the hospital to start his life as a writer and hobbit – beginning with writing screenplays and short stories for his own amusement before finally getting published when he was twenty-seven years and forty-five seconds old.
Once Published weekly in a lad's magazine with his photography work, Matt Shaw is also a published author and cartoonist. Has to be said, can be a bit of a flirt and definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, somewhat of a klutz.
Favourite books
"Roald Dahl's Collection of Short Stories"
Tim Burton's Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy
Anything, really, written by himself. Because he is that good.
MATT SHAW was born, quite by accident (his mother tripped, he shot out) September 30th 1980 in Winchester hospital where he was immediately placed on the baby ward and EBay. Some twelve years later (wandering the corridors of the hospital and playing with road kill when he was on day release), the listing closed and he remained unsold, he was booted out of the hospital to start his life as a writer and hobbit – beginning with writing screenplays and short stories for his own amusement before finally getting published when he was twenty-seven years and forty-five seconds old.
Once Published weekly in a lad's magazine with his photography work, Matt Shaw is also a published author and cartoonist. Has to be said, can be a bit of a flirt and definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, somewhat of a klutz.
Favourite books
"Roald Dahl's Collection of Short Stories"
Tim Burton's Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy
Anything, really, written by himself. Because he is that good.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
September 7, 2014
Matt Shaw has over the past couple of month’s become one of those must read immediately authors, every time he releases something new it gets a pass to the top echelons of my to-be-read list. As I slowly make my through his extensive back catalogue I have to say how impressed I am with how clever some of his stories are, hiding behind this extreme horror tag.
Control is Big Brother with an extraordinary twist, the contestants at first go through a lengthy interview process with some short listed from their video applications alone. Until it’s whittled down to 12 lucky contenders for the £100,000 top prize.
The producers said things would be twisted, they warned them all before they committed and signed on the dotted line. No one really had a clue what they meant but the emphasis was always on ‘how far would you go to win the prize’.
And it was all going well until one of them was called into the control room and instructed to pour a vial of liquid onto one of the contestant’s food. Within minutes he was dead and things would never be the same for any of them, ever again. As Control injects distrust and suspicion into an already fragile atmosphere, where something is sure to break.
So let the games commence, only one can win and only one it seems can walk out alive.
The story bounces back and forth from past to present, exploring the entrant’s stories and analysing each of them to find out who has got what it takes, that inner resolve to survive the deadly game.
Another cracking story from Matt Shaw, I think this is possibly the first out of the dozen of his books I’ve read, that I actually guessed how it was going to pan out. There was however a surprise right at the end as the walls of sanity truly came crashing down.
http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...
Control is Big Brother with an extraordinary twist, the contestants at first go through a lengthy interview process with some short listed from their video applications alone. Until it’s whittled down to 12 lucky contenders for the £100,000 top prize.
The producers said things would be twisted, they warned them all before they committed and signed on the dotted line. No one really had a clue what they meant but the emphasis was always on ‘how far would you go to win the prize’.
And it was all going well until one of them was called into the control room and instructed to pour a vial of liquid onto one of the contestant’s food. Within minutes he was dead and things would never be the same for any of them, ever again. As Control injects distrust and suspicion into an already fragile atmosphere, where something is sure to break.
So let the games commence, only one can win and only one it seems can walk out alive.
The story bounces back and forth from past to present, exploring the entrant’s stories and analysing each of them to find out who has got what it takes, that inner resolve to survive the deadly game.
Another cracking story from Matt Shaw, I think this is possibly the first out of the dozen of his books I’ve read, that I actually guessed how it was going to pan out. There was however a surprise right at the end as the walls of sanity truly came crashing down.
http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...
March 18, 2015
** bleepity -bleep**
......... Matt got me AGAIN! .. Review of some sort to come.
......... Matt got me AGAIN! .. Review of some sort to come.
September 15, 2014
Let's face it; reality TV has worn out its welcome. Back in 2000, when the fad was first unleashed en masse on society, it may have seemed like a grand idea. Nearly fifteen years on, and it doesn't seem like the fad is going away any time soon. Big Brother has been joined by TOWIE, MIC, The X Factor, and any amount of stupid abbreviations you can imagine. Z list celebrities smother the papers and magazines and people with little to zero talent are becoming idols and personalities overnight. Society wants what it wants...at the sacrifice of actual role models and culture.
Now, anyone who denies thinking about the plot of Control is a liar or a saint. Big Brother has been ripe for parody or satire for many a year. If anyone saw Dead Set, Big Brother meets a zombie outbreak, it seems even the studios aren't taking the show seriously any more. Control takes a more subtle approach with a carbon copy of Big Brother - housemates in a house vying for the prize money and trying to avoid elimination - and then starts to turn the screw slowly...revealing small details before unleashing a simple, yet effective plot on the reader. Big Brother with lethal eliminations? It finally happened.
Everything is there. Auditions, desperate attention-seeking wannabe celebrities, The Controller, the Control Room (the Diary Room to the few Big Brother fans reading this review) and the mundane tasks, which soon become anything but. Matt Shaw drops in layers of background for the characters via flashbacks to their audition and contract signings, with some personal moments for added measure, to reveal a little about their history and motivations. He effortlessly flicks back to the house, bounding from one character to the other with surprising ease. It's a classy move, one that keeps the tension flowing and the action and suspense at peak level. By the time the finale hits, you'll be hooked to see how it ends. Some characters you will like, some you will hate, and one or two will become talking heads, disappearing behind the plot and attention seeking no-hopers. Whether this was intentional or not, it's genuinely realistic. Kind of like watching Big Brother...
Which brings me to the crux of the review. The book is too realistic. Shaw creates a dark, murky, moral-lacking portrait of society. People will do anything to get attention - unfortunately, this is what Big Brother will be remembered for - and here is no exception. Once they realise the house is merely a death trap, a circus show for a psychopathic, faceless viewer (is there an actual TV show or not?), the people go into survival mode. Chaos erupts and we finally get to see what Big Brother would be like if an element of...well, evil was involved. Call me dark and psychotic, but we all want to see this happen in Big Brother just once and Matt Shaw has delivered that wish. From my point of view, I'm curious, but it can only be a matter of time until something like this is actually turned into prime time. Scary thought, no?
5* - An unusually subtle turn from Matt Shaw. Which works. The mundane, boring mood of reality TV is captured perfectly in Control, utilised to terrifying effect when it matters. Blood and gore is minimal but the suspense is never pushed too high, gently simmering as the book rolls along, pushing characters into increasingly dangerous situations. Sharp, taut, and highly effective, Control is a little gem of a book that's overdue but doesn't seem too late. Another great effort from Matt Shaw. If you hate reality TV, this is essential.
Now, anyone who denies thinking about the plot of Control is a liar or a saint. Big Brother has been ripe for parody or satire for many a year. If anyone saw Dead Set, Big Brother meets a zombie outbreak, it seems even the studios aren't taking the show seriously any more. Control takes a more subtle approach with a carbon copy of Big Brother - housemates in a house vying for the prize money and trying to avoid elimination - and then starts to turn the screw slowly...revealing small details before unleashing a simple, yet effective plot on the reader. Big Brother with lethal eliminations? It finally happened.
Everything is there. Auditions, desperate attention-seeking wannabe celebrities, The Controller, the Control Room (the Diary Room to the few Big Brother fans reading this review) and the mundane tasks, which soon become anything but. Matt Shaw drops in layers of background for the characters via flashbacks to their audition and contract signings, with some personal moments for added measure, to reveal a little about their history and motivations. He effortlessly flicks back to the house, bounding from one character to the other with surprising ease. It's a classy move, one that keeps the tension flowing and the action and suspense at peak level. By the time the finale hits, you'll be hooked to see how it ends. Some characters you will like, some you will hate, and one or two will become talking heads, disappearing behind the plot and attention seeking no-hopers. Whether this was intentional or not, it's genuinely realistic. Kind of like watching Big Brother...
Which brings me to the crux of the review. The book is too realistic. Shaw creates a dark, murky, moral-lacking portrait of society. People will do anything to get attention - unfortunately, this is what Big Brother will be remembered for - and here is no exception. Once they realise the house is merely a death trap, a circus show for a psychopathic, faceless viewer (is there an actual TV show or not?), the people go into survival mode. Chaos erupts and we finally get to see what Big Brother would be like if an element of...well, evil was involved. Call me dark and psychotic, but we all want to see this happen in Big Brother just once and Matt Shaw has delivered that wish. From my point of view, I'm curious, but it can only be a matter of time until something like this is actually turned into prime time. Scary thought, no?
5* - An unusually subtle turn from Matt Shaw. Which works. The mundane, boring mood of reality TV is captured perfectly in Control, utilised to terrifying effect when it matters. Blood and gore is minimal but the suspense is never pushed too high, gently simmering as the book rolls along, pushing characters into increasingly dangerous situations. Sharp, taut, and highly effective, Control is a little gem of a book that's overdue but doesn't seem too late. Another great effort from Matt Shaw. If you hate reality TV, this is essential.
November 10, 2014
PERFECT!
May 6, 2015
I can understand why this would have caught my eye as a Kindle Daily Deal, since my husband and I love "Big Brother," but the premise was very similar to Iain Rob Wright's The Housemates with a different ending - readers will likely figure it out long before it happens, but the end of the book needed far more explanation and the very end was absolutely ridiculous, to the point that it weakened that entire book.
October 22, 2014
This is the story of a group of 12 people who go into a Big Brother style house as part of a brand new televisual experiment. From the beginning it is clear that this will be no ordinary 'confinement' experience. From the first Elimination however, things go decidedly downhill..
There are many Big Brother type stories on the market, but no one has done it quite like Matt. The question posed here is 'How far would a human being go, if pushed to their utter limits.' I was grabbed from the beginning and pulled along at breakneck pace until the final twist at the end. The characters all felt real, and I could identify with them and their horror at the situation they found themselves in. Another blinder by Matt. His genius just never lets up!
There are many Big Brother type stories on the market, but no one has done it quite like Matt. The question posed here is 'How far would a human being go, if pushed to their utter limits.' I was grabbed from the beginning and pulled along at breakneck pace until the final twist at the end. The characters all felt real, and I could identify with them and their horror at the situation they found themselves in. Another blinder by Matt. His genius just never lets up!
Read
May 31, 2016How dare I even think for a second that Matt Shaw could be resting on his laurels. This book basically kicks the ass of practically anything that has come before.
I bought and read this within 24 hours. I actually woke up early on a Sunday morning to finish it!!
There have been a few books which have featured a story depicting a horrific version of Big Brother, but none with the ending quite like this one. You think you know what's coming....trust me, you don't!
Fantastic characters. It was like reliving the summer all over again. Channel 5 need to seriously think about recruiting Mr Shaw for next year's Big Brother offering. Could make things interesting.
I bought and read this within 24 hours. I actually woke up early on a Sunday morning to finish it!!
There have been a few books which have featured a story depicting a horrific version of Big Brother, but none with the ending quite like this one. You think you know what's coming....trust me, you don't!
Fantastic characters. It was like reliving the summer all over again. Channel 5 need to seriously think about recruiting Mr Shaw for next year's Big Brother offering. Could make things interesting.
October 20, 2023
When you need something quick twisted, look no further than this little morsel of a mindf*ck. This hits a lot of those feels that come around when you are not in control. What would you do for a large sum of money? Would you hurt someone? What if you are in a group and there can be only one survivor who wins the money? What depths would you sink? This novella explores this in that special way only an extreme horror writer can. The beginning was a tad clunky, but the story picks up quickly and levels out. Definitely a decent read and worth its purchase price. Enjoy some psychological terror. However be warned there are triggering situations.
January 9, 2022
CONTROL - 5/5
By Matt Shaw
This story was hideous - centring around a really messed up version of Big Brother.
What starts out as a reality show to win £100,000 - quickly turns into a blood bath. This was written so well that it made me super uncomfortable!
This has probably been the most messed up story in this collection, so far. Please make sure you look up and content warnings for this story if you need them.
By Matt Shaw
This story was hideous - centring around a really messed up version of Big Brother.
What starts out as a reality show to win £100,000 - quickly turns into a blood bath. This was written so well that it made me super uncomfortable!
This has probably been the most messed up story in this collection, so far. Please make sure you look up and content warnings for this story if you need them.
April 4, 2023
How far would you go for a possible life changing amount of money?
A sick and twisted version of big brother except with housemates dying and housemates are encouraged to kill each other. A tainted look into how far a suggestion can make someone think they are doing the right thing sort of like The Milgram experience except worse because we know the outcome of that experiment.
A sick and twisted version of big brother except with housemates dying and housemates are encouraged to kill each other. A tainted look into how far a suggestion can make someone think they are doing the right thing sort of like The Milgram experience except worse because we know the outcome of that experiment.
July 25, 2018
A page Turner! Great work.
March 7, 2019
3.5 not my fav Matt Shaw book but still enjoyable overall. Takes a few chapters to get going
November 13, 2015
Twelve house guests are locked in a house together and each week one must leave until there's one left and that person wins $100,000. It sounds like Big Brother right? Not exactly...
It turns out the producers of this show have something a little more sinister in mind. This book was awesome! I read it in one sitting cause there was no way I could put it down.
February 9, 2016
What if the contestants in a Big Brother type TV series were actually eliminated when voted out and they had to deal with scenarios straight out of a Saw movie to survive? This is the question being asked here. How would it affect the contestants.
It was a really good. I had several WTF moments throughout which is always a good sign for me and I didn't want it to end which is another good sign.
The ending worked well and I would be interested in seeing this story expanded further.
It was a really good. I had several WTF moments throughout which is always a good sign for me and I didn't want it to end which is another good sign.
The ending worked well and I would be interested in seeing this story expanded further.
February 4, 2015
This book is absolutely brilliant! A Big Brother style story where the house mates are expected to kill eachother to win the money. Crazy twist at the end which I promise you won't see coming!! The fact that Jack had a girlfriend (poor girl) annoyed me a little, you'll understand why when you read!!
November 12, 2016
Cant say I enjoyed this book as much as Porn, only because the writing style was very clunky, repeated use of the same word to close together, as well as character names three times in the same sentence. Im wondering if this was an earlier book of Shaw's, but the style held me back from enjoying the book.
January 17, 2015
As I had recently read something very similar by another author I thought it would be interesting to see the whole reality Big Brother idea through another horror writer's eyes.
I wasn't disappointed and was glad that Matt took the theme and played it differently with his own twist.
I wasn't disappointed and was glad that Matt took the theme and played it differently with his own twist.
January 25, 2015
4.5 stars. really enjoyed this, only complaint is I wish it had been a bit longer! read a book similar to this, but glad that even though the concept was the same the story was actually completely different. surprised at the ending!
December 27, 2015
Review to come.
December 30, 2014
I loved this book
January 2, 2015
Control
I really enjoyed this book! Didn't want to put it down once I started reading! I was expecting a twist at the end, but not that!
I really enjoyed this book! Didn't want to put it down once I started reading! I was expecting a twist at the end, but not that!
October 21, 2015
I would love to see this made into a movie!!!!
December 7, 2016
Page Turner
I could not put this book down. It was riveting and full suspense. The ending, as per usual in a Shaw novel, was a clenched. Well written and well worth your time.
I could not put this book down. It was riveting and full suspense. The ending, as per usual in a Shaw novel, was a clenched. Well written and well worth your time.
April 18, 2017
Not a bad story but...
This was not a bad story but I didn't care for the ending at all. It seemed like there was something missing at the end.
This was not a bad story but I didn't care for the ending at all. It seemed like there was something missing at the end.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews