"My name is Declan Shea. I never thought I was monster.

"My life changed overnight. I was driving home from a gig when a tramp stepped out in front of my car. I killed him. I know I did. But no-one believed me. The medical staff at the hospital insisted he was the result of some sort of hallucination, because of trauma sustained during the accident. I tried to convince them otherwise, but the more I protested, the more obvious it became to them that I had damaged more than just my ribs in the crash, so I started to lie to keep them happy. I pretended he wasn't there. But he was. He was everywhere. And he was determined to destroy my life and take away everything I loved in revenge.

"How do you fight a monster no-one else can see?

"This is what he reduced my life to. I stopped being Declan Shea that night and became someone else entirely. I became a monster."

Laughing Boy's Shadow, international best-selling author Steven Savile's debut novel, charts the descent of an ordinary man into a murky world of very human monsters, grief, and madness as he wrestles to come to terms with who he is and just what he is capable of in the name of love. Published in the US, Sweden, and recently sold to Germany, this is Laughing Boy's Shadow's first appearance in Savile's native land.