How Much To..? – Matt Shaw

4/5 stars

If I’ve learned anything from reading this, it’s (a) never accept weird invites that your receive in the mail unexpectedly and (b) a bit of stung pride now could save your life in the future.

In How Much Too..?, a group of contestants are brought together to play a game. It’s simple: a series of questions will be asked, and you write down how much you would be willing to accept to do the challenge poised in each question. In the end, all bids will be totaled, and whoever would accept the least amount of money is the winner. You are free to leave whenever you want with no consequence until the papers are collected, BUT if you win, you must do every challenge you were questioned on. No backing out.

This book is very much a hardcore, extreme Fear Factor with a good dose of twisted Would You Rather. Matt delves deep into the depths of human desperation and poses the question of ‘how far would you go to earn money’? Most of the contestants in this game are regular people who are just trying to find a better life for themselves, but they quickly learn that sometimes the quick way isn’t always the best way. In some cases, the lesson was a touch more….impactful.

I honestly didn’t think I’d find something that made me more nauseous than Zola, but I think this one is right there. While Zola is absolutely vile (in the best way), it’s a fairly quick disgusting. How Much To..? draws out the events and describes them in such exacting detail that it’s somehow worse as you can visualize exactly what the character is looking at and doing. One scene in particular made me have to take a few seconds’ breather before I could finish it, and I’m not someone who rattles easily.

I’m very invested in this as a series now, and I’m going to have to pick up the next book to see what other horrible things people would do for money! Let’s see if Matt can make me even more nauseous or if he’s hit his peak with this first book!