Octopus

Octopus #1

by Matt Shaw

H.P Lovecraft left Him sleeping at the bottom of the South Pacific ocean. Now, Matt Shaw attempts to awaken Cthulhu.

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...

There are scenes of a sexual nature, and violence within this book.

Genres: Horror, Lovecraftian, Fiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2019

About the author

Biography

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.

Reviews

[Louie the Mustache Matos · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the story of an unemployed model experiencing desperation, after working with a photographer who is unimpressed by her portfolio. Her response is to attempt softcore cam modeling. She gets a job offer to attend a party and lay nude on a table with food atop her. But that is not the extent of her humiliation; it gets freakier from there. The porn industry is a backdrop, but not an essential part of the story. It is a McGuffin plot device; however, because of this it may be a possible trigger for some people. Strong sexual content trigger warning. Not a great story, almost not worth it, but there’s a bit of a Lovecraftian twist for those lovers of the weird. Merely a “Meh!” kind of narrative to my mind. It's not so bad as to be a one star, but it has so many caveats to may as well be. Not great, but if you are into the weird subgenre of horror, this might be something you can get into. For me, not so much.

[Hail Hydra! ~Dave Anderson~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

'We have the most perfect vessel standing here before us - only seen now as we understand more of what is required for the Ritual and - standing amongst us - the perfect sacrifices…' He looked to them all. 'Each of you came with a loved one, or a friend. The question is - who among you is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice?'

[Olga Kowalska (WielkiBuk) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Podczas lektury „Ośmiornicy” przyszedł mi na myśl pewien japoński, erotyczny drzeworyt z początków XIX wieku zatytułowany „Sen żony rybaka” wybitnego Hokusai, tego od kultowej i nadużywanej „Wielkiej Fali w Kanagawie”. Ów drzeworyt potrafi zaskoczyć nieprzygotowanego na takie widoki widza, a sam koncept mógłby spokojnie posłużyć za inspirację dla serii Matta Shaw. Oczywiście, wyobraźnia tego nagradzanego twórcy ekstremy poszła daleko dalej, sięgając po lovecraftiańskie motywy i osadzając opowieść właśnie w mitologii Samotnika z Providence.

„Ośmiornicę” czyta się na jeden chaps – to niedługa lektura, a mimo to napisana z lekkością, starannością i uwagą na detale. Matt Shaw nie rzuca nas na głęboką wodę, w zamian wprowadza w świat swojej niewinnej bohaterki, buduje napięcie, wreszcie – odziera z wszelkich nadziei. To lektura ekstremalna, ale wyważona w swojej ekstremie, kierująca się konkretnym pomysłem, bez wystawiania na próbę dobrego samopoczucia czytelnika. Jest niesmacznie tam, gdzie ma być niesmacznie, jest drastycznie tam, gdzie ma być drastycznie, bez zaskoczeń, a jednak z wyczekiwaną satysfakcją. Myślę, że obeznani z ekstremalnymi konceptami czytelnicy docenią „Ośmiornicę” i z ciekawością sięgną po kontynuację. Wielki Przedwieczny w końcu sam się nie przebudzi.

[Netanella · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've heard good things about Matt Shaw's horror books, but I think I must be picking up duds. I grabbed this one on the basis of the book's synopsis and title - a Mythos-based horror where a cult of whack-jobs attempt to summon Cthulhu. "Extreme Horror," per the title. I was all in.

I should have listened to the reviews that said this was bad writing, bad characterization, a total lack of nerve-tingling dread that comes from attempting any type of visitation from a Great Old One. Instead, what I got was 75% of internet porn starlets / broke waitresses, and then a section of sushi with a side dish of baby octopi. The only real horror was about the last 10% of the book, but it seemed almost gratuitous by that point and it was quickly resolved.

I need another book or two with a title starting in "O," so I plan to finish this series. Otherwise, I'm sure I will remain a big fan of octopus. It's always great char-grilled with olive oil and lemon juice!

[Mel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did read this all the way through, sadly, because I can never get that time back. It was pretty much misogynist garbage. It wasn't scary, just disgusting, and it was barely horror in my opinion, but it was horrible. It was very pornographic, which doesn't bother me, but all of the porno aspects were also misogynist, so no. Truly awful. I can't recommend this to anyone. I will probably be avoiding Matt Shaw's books now. I hated this book and not sure why I read it until the end, so I will give it that it least was a page turner, even if it was complete vomitus misogynist garbage.

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve read some bad books in my time, but this is one of the worst. I mean really, really fucking terrible. Full review to come when I’m able to process just how bad it was.

[Shadow Girl · Rating 5 out of 5]

🐙Gods And Monsters🐙

I'm probably going to be crucified for this, but... here goes - I've never really been a fan of the Cthulhu mythos. There, I've said it. Let the procession of shame begin...
That being said, this story rocked.
If it had been any other author, I'd probably have passed up the book. As it is, I feel I already waited too long before giving it a go. (The end of THE PACK gave me the last nudge I needed.)
Now I'm on my merry way to get part 2!

*Is "Re(make) Me" a real podcast?

[Glen · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's extreme all right.

Lovecraft taken to its logical extremes as a desperate model runs afoul of a Cthulu cult.

[Nemo ☠️]

(dnf at 15%)

i was excited to get my teeth into some more erotic horror but the writing was just too terrible to continue lmao

[Pachnące_cynamonem]

Oczu kąpiel proszę

[Sea Caummisar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was a bit of a slow start. The first half of the book is character building and establishing they are poor women, will to either sell or show their bodies for money.
Then the party starts. It's more a sex thing than
violence... Still fun.
The third part,the ritual, hooked me and convinced me to continue with the series.
I wish there had been more gore but I'm speculating that Shaw will have plenty of violence in the next books since it's labeled extreme horror

[Thomas Hobbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This should have been named Eyes Wide Shut

If you have seen the movie Eyes wide Shut with Tom Cruise and his ex wife Nicole Kidman, the first 3/4 of this book is similar and then it takes a hard left.

[Jeremy Maddux · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reminded me why female biology grosses me out. It took an extreme horror novel about an octopus to make me want to curl up in a ball in empathy for the fairer sex. Sometimes, I wonder what repeated exposure to books like this does to us more adventurous readers subconsciously. What really happens when we put the entertainment medium or a genre of fiction before the appreciation for human wellbeing? I can't say this book wasn't well written compared to other things I've read by this author, but this and the Hilary Trilogy by Angel Gelique have me questioning whether I'm just getting older or if extreme horror should only be enjoyed irregularly. I'm probably just getting older. Read this if you find Cannibal Holocaust or Melancholie der Engel charming escapism.

Before I started reading this, I actually wrote this on Goodreads: "Looks like a bunch of crybabies in the review section. Let's see what got them all in a tizzy."

I can see now what they were 'crying about' and can also find the humor in being wrong. Yeah, it's... pretty... bad.

[Amber DuBois · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only good thing I have to say about this one is that it was short.

I don't know why I keep reading anything this author writes. Maybe I'm just waiting for one to actually be scary--after all, it's supposed to be "An Extreme Horror Novel".

But this wasn't scary. It was gross. Super gross. I don't even mind the weird sex party and all the other strange sexual things, it was just stupid and gross. And the writing wasn't even that good--Matt Shaw has a terrible habit of explaining/telling us things rather than showing us what's happening through good story telling.

I think this is the last Matt Shaw "extreme horror novel" I'll be reading.

[Yon Cassius · Rating 1 out of 5]

No. Just no.

I find it difficult to believe Mr Shaw has ever spoken with a sex worker in his life, and I question how many female friends he has.

I made it a quarter of the way through the book before I couldn't do it anymore. While I love a good erotic horror, the sex scenes were tedious and badly written, the characters were bald stereotypes, and everything seems to happen 'because the plot.'

[Mrs. Dawn Hein · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just not good.

While I usually enjoy Mr. Shaw's books, this one just junk! It's not a novel, but an excuse to print porn. I was very disappointed.

[Elizabeth Accardi · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was ok.

I skimmed most of it. In my opinion not his best but still ok. If you have an hour or so and like screwed up sex and death then go ahead.

[Lou · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow burn to nothing

Where do I even start with this? Matt Shaw: known for the black cover "extreme horror" novels (quotations very much necessary--check one of my other reviews). This time, with OCTOPUS, he attempts to hone in on the Lovecraftian, atmospheric horror scene. It's not very effective. The only things Shaw has in common with Lovecraft here are an octopus and a cult. And possibly a hatred of "Americanisms." He is not a master of the slow burn. Like, at all. In OCTOPUS, he makes the audience wait until they're 75% done with the novel before anything actually horrific happens. And when it does, it closely resembles something out of a specific kind of Japanese media. You know the kind.

I'm not going to get into how terribly misogynistic OCTOPUS seems, especially to female sex workers, because that's really a subjective opinion. But suffice it to say, the characters are hardly likeable. There's not much given to us to like. All we know about our protagonist is that she's hot--but not super hot, not enough to be conceited by it--and that she is bad with money. Her foil character, at least, seems a bit more sympathetic until about that 75% mark, and then Shaw blows it. In any case, it feels like he either hates or has no idea how to write female characters. I'm guessing it's the latter.

Also, I'm calling it now: Matt Shaw has never done cocaine. He goes into such detail he either has done it a LOT and wants you, the reader, to be super impressed, or he's seen it a lot on TV. Again, I'm guessing it's the latter. I don't know the guy, obviously. Pretty sure we would not be friends.

I'm not surprised Shaw is directing movies now. Because horror movies are PG-13 pieces of garbage, like 95% of Matt Shaw's output.

[Donyae Coles · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF 41%

I picked up this book for the nice cover and the claim it was an extreme horror novel but it really was a chore to get through before I gave up.

The book was mainly just mechanical sex scenes and random violence. I get that its leading to something big at the party but this book doesn't do eerie darkness well.

The characters are flat. The setting is underdeveloped. Just all around meh.

[Brian Steele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shaw takes his own spin on the Cthulhu Mythos, making it dark, insane, and sexy. Two young women get an eccentric modeling gig at an English manor, only to be used for sicker purposes by a cult. Definitely not for the squeamish, this extreme Cthulhu novel was my first by Shaw and I’ll definitely be reading more by him.

[sharon featherston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Horror at its best

Matt Shaw doing what he does best...extreme horror at its best..bloody, gory, and violence to the extreme, never to why a way from Hard hitting writing. It seems his books just get better and better .

[Jim Halsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story starts out fairly well, and somehow just totally looses focus. The party while debased is not at all horrific. The finals actually anticlimactic. The characters are poorly created, none of them jump off the page. The story is just boring 💤. It's worth less than the buck I spent.

[Corrina Morse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave it 4 stars instead of 5, as it took until 70% in for anything to really happen. But when it did happen I didnt want it to end. So, I will definitely be indulging in some more Octopus with book 2 🐙🖤

[Kim Carroll · Rating 3 out of 5]

I simply do not know what to say! How do I rate this?I liked the flow of the book, the plot was cool, and the characters were perfectly sinister. It was very entertaining until the last 7% of the book, then it was WTF did I just read?! Since it left on a cliffhanger, I will read the next one, because I’m too invested now to not see how it’s going to turn out.

[R.J. Roles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Firmly set in erotica with just a splash of Horror. The Lovecraftian twist was an interesting idea, but the author seemed to get bogged down trying to push an "Extreme" edge into the story.

[Lee Bunny · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful and poorly written.

[Raymond P. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read another review on this book where the reviewer stated that those that are haters must have really liked this book, otherwise they wouldn't have read through the whole thing. If there are haters who have read through the entire book and left bad reviews it's not because they liked the book that they read through the whole thing. It's because they've invested money into the book and like me they are reading the book so they can give it the proper rating they think it deserves. The sexual nature and violence of the book didn't shock me, as the warning told me what to expect. However, it's only the last 9 percent of the book that has anything really to do with the cult, and even then the leaders of the cult just talk about their plan to awaken Cthulhu. Then there is a poor attempt to make it happen by using a small hand size octopus, but it fails, end of story. Don't confuse this book with anything even remotely Lovecraftian or Cosmic Horror. Aside from the use of the name "Cthulhu" that's about all there really is related to Lovecraft. This is laughably bad. If you truly want to read about a Monstrous Octopus, then may I suggest "Ice Canyon Monster" by Keith Rommel. If you want something similar to this that has a small Lovecraftian/Cosmic Horror theme, then I suggest "White River Monster" also by Keith Rommel.

[Michael Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a bit torn about this one. It's too well written and engaging to be a three star read, but it didn't have a whole lot of story and took a long while to get anywhere. I also think the title is a mistake, for reasons explained below.

As I say, it's well written. I had been led to expect sex scenes from the blurb. These were most definitely present and weren't hilariously bad, as can too often be the case. I had been led to expect Lovecraftian shenanigans and tentacles from the blurb. These too came ... right at the end of the book with nary a mention beforehand. Oh, we knew that Max and Helena were up to no good, but were given no hint as to what apart from the cover and title.

And that's why I think the title doesn't fit, for two reasons. On the one hand, it's really going to disappoint anyone who's expecting a Cthulhu story with all the trimmings, as this isn't it. The batshit crazy plan isn't revealed until the last 10% of the book, and even then it doesn't fit the usual mould at all. And that reveal would be a whole whack stronger if it had come as a surprise, if the reader had been led to believe up to that point that this whole affair was only(!) a bizarre sex party for the rich and depraved. The title does the actual story a disservice, it deserves better. It contributes to a sense of disappointment where there isn't need for any.

The book does contain its share of horror. The party's hosts are two of the most appalling people imaginable and the fate of the three women at the bathtub is profoundly unpleasant. The fact that their fates are written so dismissively and callously, a prize in a raffle, actually serves to accentuate the reader's sense of the profundity of the horror they must have been experiencing, each helplessly waiting for their moment to arrive.

It does all take longer than it should to really get going, though. It carries you along, but nevertheless Grace agonises for so long and Jess takes so long to make her mind up about anything; there's a whole lot of sighing and shoe-shuffling before things really start to move.

It's good. I notice there's an 'Octopus 2', which I will probably read. But it could have been great.

[katooola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jessica marzy o pracy modelki, ale niestety jej kariera nie rozwija tak jakby sobie tego życzyła, a rachunki trzeba płacić... Pewnego dnia dostaje od swej przyjaciółki Grace ofertę nie do odrzucenia, kuszące intratne zlecenie na wystawnym przyjęciu u Larsenów. Impreza, która miała być okazją do łatwego zarobku okazuje się być prawdziwym koszmarem. Tylko wtajemniczeni wiedzą co knują ekscentryczni i szaleni Larsenowie...🐙

To książka dla osób dorosłych, nie dla wrażliwych i pruderyjnych czytelników. Gatunkowo to pornohorror. Fabuła rozkręca się niespiesznie. Poznajemy Jess i Grace, obserwujemy jak odkrywają, że oddawanie własnego ciała może dawać konkretne pieniądze. Bieda i brak perspektyw na zmianę losu pcha w sidła pornobiznesu, a wyrwać się z tego jest niełatwo. Nie brak tu gorzkiego obrazu biznesu, który tak naprawdę jest tylko chwilowym wyrwaniem się z dołka finansowego.

Ogromna, luksusowa willa Larsenów skrywa niejeden mroczny sekret. Impreza dla znudzonych bogaczy zamienia się w jedną wielką orgię. Autor nie patyczkuje się z czytelnikiem, opisy seksu są surowe. Jest mocno obrzydliwie i lepko 😁Przywodzi na myśl "Oczy szeroko zamknięte", ale w wersji hardkorowo erotycznej. W miarę rozwoju sytuacji rośnie napięcie i niepokój. Gdy wydaje się, że tu nic się więcej takiego nie wydarzy, pod sam koniec akcja leci na łeb na szyję wywołując mega zaskoczenie! Nagle mamy przerażający horror ekstremalny z motywem Mitów Cthulhu w tle. Jest brutalnie, krwawo i ohydnie. I żeby było ciekawiej, autor daje na zakończenie czytelnikowi pstryczek w nos! Ciąg dalszy poznamy w drugiej części tej trylogii. Ja chcę już! Najlepiej na wczoraj! Czekam niecierpliwie na kontynuację!🐙

Dla fanów erotyki i horroru ekstremalnego to idealna rzecz 😁
Zapewniła mi odmóżdżającą jazdę i dodatkowo skradła me czarne serducho Lovecrafciańskim motywem🖤

Z dumą patronuję tej książce!🐙

[Tom · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got this for free somehow. I think Prime somehow gave it to me as a promotion or something. Well, it wound up costing me my time so I still wound up paying for it.

What can I say? It’s poorly written, with misspellings and typos and improper grammar, and use of lazy shortcuts, though to be fair, at least that last one winds up keeping this steaming heap short enough that I was able to read it on a single flight from Houston to Orlando. The characterization is wretched; I wonder if Matt Shaw has ever spoken to a human female , let alone any sex worker…and with the way the dialogue itself is written, I wonder if he’s spoken to any other person ever. The story is lame too. Shaw has apparently never heard of Chekhov, or his gun. The reveals are clumsy and pack no punch, and it’s not Lovecraftian in any way other than invoking the name and using Cthulhu to get cheap recognition in there.

I can’t say enough bad about this. It’s a complete misfire, with a warning label and the words “extreme horror” slapped onto it to try to deflect any criticism as someone who just couldn’t handle it or didn’t like the subject matter. Make no mistake, this sucks because it’s bad, not because a bunch of cult followers rape girls and slit their throats at the moment of orgasm while a lady pouts that she didn’t get a chance to use her blood-smeared strap-on (though the juvenile nature of that obviously doesn’t help).