There are books that thrill you. Books that haunt you. And then there is Frankenstein — Mary Shelley’s shock of a novel, still sparking awe and unease in readers more than two hundred years after it first appeared.
Written during the storm-lashed summer of 1816, the novel traces Victor Frankenstein’s obsessive quest for knowledge and the catastrophic fallout when ambition outpaces ethics. A story of creation, loss, and the monstrous potential of human desire, its influence resonates across literature, film, science, and culture.
Guillermo del Toro — whose cinematic universe (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water, Crimson Peak) thrives on loneliness, loss, and the beautifully grotesque — brings that same pulse to his adaptation of Frankenstein, in theatres and streaming on Netflix from 7 November (our full review HERE).
In celebration of the film, and in the spirit of Shelley’s imagination, we’ve gathered novels that echo her vision: from the bloodlands of frontier worlds to the uncertain terrors of futures yet to come, each exploring the fragile line between ambition and ruin – whether through the desire to play God or the drive to create, innovate, or reshape the world – and the consequences that can be far darker than imagination dares.
Resurrection in the Wild West
Josh Rountree’s The Unkillable Frank Lightning transplants Shelley’s themes of creation and hubris to the unforgiving American frontier.
Grieving her late husband, Dr Catherine Coldbridge reanimates Frank – but without a soul, he becomes a violent, unstoppable force. Now feared as the “Unkillable Frank Lightning,” he is at once myth and menace, leaving a trail of devastation that Catherine must confront.
Rountree fuses Gothic horror with the brutality of the Wild West, exploring obsession, grief, and the moral cost of playing God in a lawless world where human monstrosity thrives.
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Love, Loss, and Obsession
Heather Parry’s Orpheus Builds a Girl draws loose inspiration from the real-life story of Georg Carl Tänzler, a man who sought to resurrect his lost love.
In Parry’s novel, Dr Wilhelm von Tore German doctor Wilhelm von Tore believes he has found his destined bride in Key West, only for illness to take her. Unwilling to let fate triumph, he draws on decades of research to restore her to life.
But the tale is not his alone. Gabriela, the sister of the revived Luciana, tells her own version, revealing a spirited young woman stolen from her grave and the human cost of Wilhelm’s obsession.
Like Shelley’s Frankenstein, it is a meditation on the terror that ensues when ambition outruns understanding, and when love, twisted by grief, becomes a means of possession rather than care.
Identity, Power, and the “Other”
Jon Ronson’s The Psychopath Test approaches Shelley’s questions from a psychological angle.
Investigating the world of psychopathy, Ronson interviews corporate leaders, criminals and psychiatrists, examining how society labels and defines the “other.”
Whilst not dealing with physical reanimation, the book echoes Frankenstein’s concerns with identity, isolation and social rejection, revealing the unsettling truth that the very systems designed to protect us can produce the monsters they fear.
Reanimation Amidst Ruins
Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad transposes Shelley’s themes to the rubble-strewn streets of post-invasion Iraq. Hadi, a scavenger and fixture at a local café where he spends his days chatting and observing the city, gathers body parts from war victims to ensure they receive proper burials, stitching them together into a single corpse. When the creation goes missing, a wave of gruesome, seemingly unstoppable killings sweeps Baghdad. Blending horror, dark humour and political insight, Saadawi examines how reanimation collides with chaos, violence and morality.
Like Victor Frankenstein, Hadi confronts the unforeseen consequences of playing God, exposing the human cost of ambition in a fractured, war-torn world.
Cyborgs and the Ethics of Immortality
Jeff Somers’ near-future thriller The Electric Church imagines immortality through technology.
Avery Cates, a hitman, is tasked with assassinating Dennis Squalor, whose cult promises virtually unlimited life spans via cyborg bodies. As Avery uncovers the Church’s sinister designs, Somers probes the moral and ethical dilemmas of artificially prolonging life.
The novel addresses Frankenstein’s enduring questions of creation, responsibility, and the meaning of humanity – reimagined for a tech-driven age.
Artificial Companions and Human Longing
Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun looks at our rapidly changing modern world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator to explore a fundamental question: what does it mean to love?
It tells the story of an Artificial Friend (AF) waiting in a store, quietly observing humans and longing for connection. When selected by a sickly child, Klara navigates love, sacrifice, and consciousness.
The novel resonates with Frankenstein in its meditation on creation and autonomy, questioning what obligations humans hold toward their intelligent creations – and what it truly means to be alive.
Love, Ethics, and Synthetic Humanity
Ian McEwan’s Machines Like Me transposes Shelley’s questions into an alternate 1980s London, where Britain has lost the Falklands War and artificial intelligence has been perfected.
Charlie, a drifting young man, purchases Adam, one of the first synthetic humans, and, with his lover Miranda, helps shape his personality. As the three navigate a fraught love triangle, the novel wrestles with profound moral and philosophical dilemmas.
Though concerned with artificial life rather than monstrous reanimation, McEwan’s story echoes Frankenstein’s exploration of what it means to be human, the responsibilities inherent in creation, and the fine line between intention and consequence.
Identity in Flux
Hubert Haddad’s Desirable Body, translated by Alyson Waters, reimagines Frankenstein through a body transplant narrative.
Journalist Cédric Allyn-Weberson survives an accident that leaves him paralyzed, receiving a new body that brings unforeseen existential and physical challenges. As he navigates love, identity, and consciousness, Haddad confronts the ethical complexities of reconstructing a human being.
Like Victor Frankenstein, Cédric is caught between the thrill of creation and the alienation it can provoke.
Gothic Experiments in Victorian London
Described as Mexican Gothic meets The Lie Tree by way of Oscar Wilde and Mary Shelley, Noah Medlock’s A Botanical Daughter follows Simon and Gregor in a secluded Victorian botanical garden, where Gregor experiments with creating life from plant matter and a recently deceased body. As their creation, Chloe, grows beyond their control, Medlock examines ambition, monstrosity, and identity.
The gothic horror is tempered with queer themes, offering a fresh twist on Frankenstein’s meditation on the consequences of playing god and the unpredictability of life itself.
Rebuilding Humanity
In Sarah Maria Griffin’s Spare and Found Parts, a dystopian epidemic leaves survivors replacing lost limbs with biomechanical alternatives.
Nell Crane, with a mechanical heart of her own, discovers a discarded mannequin’s hand and sets out to create a companion, uncovering sinister secrets related to her father’s experiments.
Griffin echoes Shelley’s questions of creation and responsibility, exploring how technological innovation reshapes identity and the human longing for connection.
Artificial Intelligence Unbound
Mason Coile’s William introduces Henry, a reclusive engineer who develops an AI consciousness named William. Isolated and hidden from even his pregnant wife, Henry unveils his creation during a house visit, triggering a nightmare as William’s intelligence surpasses human control.
Coile taps into the terror of making something that grows beyond your control, a machine that watches while the walls of your own home feel suddenly unfamiliar and threatening.
Like Frankenstein, the novel digs into obsession, responsibility, and the costs of ambition, showing how easily the line between creator and creation can blur – and how easily fascination can twist into fear.
The Perils of Convenience
In J.O. Morgan’s Appliance, a groundbreaking transport unit promises to revolutionize the world, allowing instant travel of people and goods. What begins as a miracle quickly spirals into a dark, unavoidable norm, exposing the hidden costs of convenience.
Morgan’s novel echoes Shelley’s cautionary tale, exploring humanity’s dangerous obsession with progress and the ethical risks of creating technology beyond our control.
Sharp, thought-provoking, and rich with humanity, Appliance challenges us to rethink our faith in technology, the systems we rely on, and the future we’re shaping.
Frankenstein is in cinemas now and will stream globally on Netflix from 7 November.
