Well...first I disliked it, then it was vital to finish it, all the while waiting for the monster to pounce. A bit like the central character really. A book about a book, but not just any old book - Mary Shelley's gothic horror and the monster she - or Frankenstein? created. Or did the monster create itself from fertile imaginations in the minds of writers and readers? This is what an author debates as his own horror tales haunt him, as he imagines Mary's tale haunted her.
There are far more questions raised than answered, but as a tribute to the greatest horror story, this is a short, and certainly not sweet, but very compelling read. How much of it is biographical? I suspect Marcus Sedgwick won't want to let on and thus creates his own horror mystery.

The Monsters We Deserve certainly offers something different. I can't say what I was expecting, but I can confirm what I got caught me by surprise. At first I found that a tad jarring; however, I was soon sucked in to both story and concept, so my initial reaction no longer matter. The Monsters We Deserve is an intriguing idea, and it offers some interesting thoughts on the nature of creation and how characters can take on lives of their own, independent of the author's original intent, fuelled by the imaginations of the story's readers. The link with Frankenstein worked well for the most part, and I enjoyed the author's thoughts on that book, and how they connected to his own ideas, gradually changing alongside his experiences in the cabin. I didn't find the conclusion of the piece completely satisfying, and the use of incorrect punctuation here and there made me frown. Nonetheless, this was a thought-provoking and original work, and for that I commend the author.