I'll Be the Monster
'A menacingly funny, daring debut... With humour so biting and unease this sun soaked, this brilliantly vile pager turner cements Sean Gilbert as a bold new voice in literary fiction' Lucy Rose, author of The Lamb
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A homicidal couple embarks on a luxury holiday to save their marriage.
After years of secrets and self-restraint, they’ve reached breaking point. But three days into the trip, they run into Benny, an acquaintance from their Cambridge days. And Benny is desperate to reminisce about a time – and a person – they would rather forget.
Darkly funny and razor-sharp, I’ll Be the Monster follows a dangerous game of cat and mouse as it plays out under the stifling heat of the Mediterranean sun. From a major new talent in literary fiction, this gripping debut is a love story about the worst people you know – and of what happens when a change of heart occurs too late.
Book details
- Format
- Hardback
- ISBN
- 9780715656006
- Published
- 12 February 2026
- Pages
- 352
- Duration
- Dimensions
- 135 x 216 mm
- Genre
- Fiction
- Imprint
- Duckworth
Reviews
'The dark past of a seemingly perfect couple is gradually revealed in this observant debut of obsession and control... Gilbert has produced a clammy story of obsession that recalls American Psycho and The Talented Mr Ripley'
'Pitch-perfect dialogue, arresting scenes and a caustic humour'
'With shades of Highsmith, I'll Be the Monster goes dark and then darker still as it follows a young couple on an ill-fated trip which forces them into a reckoning with their past. In taut, lyrical prose Gilbert forces the reader to the edge of the abyss, though shows glimmers of compassion in the horror below. I couldn’t look away'
'Gilbert’s narrative voice is cool and superbly controlled, overlaying a filter of nihilism on a twisted young couple's glossy Turkish vacation. Reading this daring novel is like watching a cat toying with its prey before the kill – it is as if the elitist indolence of Donna Tartt's The Secret History met the millennial malaise of Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico'
'I'll be the Monster is a virtuoso debut. A gripping plot, brilliant dialogue, completely real characters and very, very funny. It's hard to know what more you could ask for'
'The White Lotus meets My Sister, the Serial Killer: I'll Be The Monster is a menacingly funny, daring debut that deserves a spot at the top of every 2026 TBR pile. With humour so biting and unease this sun soaked, this brilliantly vile pager turner cements Sean Gilbert as a bold new voice in literary fiction'
'Dazzling. Gilbert's extraordinary prose will take an emphatic hold of you until the last page'
'Sexy, seductive and very, very dark, I'll Be the Monster takes you deep into the company of people you don't want to be with and yet cannot resist'
