The Raw Shark Texts is the debut novel by British author Steven Hall, blending literary fiction, psychological thriller, and conceptual science fiction. The book has been described as “The Matrix meets Moby Dick.” 
 
The story follows Eric Sanderson, a man who wakes up one morning with no memory of who he is. As he pieces together his identity through letters from his “former self,” he discovers he is being hunted by a Ludovician, a conceptual shark that feeds on human memories and identities.
 
Hall’s narrative is typographically experimental, integrating visual wordplay, coded messages, and typographic art (such as the “textual shark”) — recalling the works of Mark Z. Danielewski (House of Leaves) and Italo Calvino. The book explores themes of identity, language, loss, and memory, mixing metafictional playfulness with emotional depth.
 
Signed by Steven Hall on the title page.
 
This book includes a unique Index page, marked as “Negative 36/36,” suggesting this copy represents one of the early proof or special limited states associated with the book’s conceptual publication design.
 
Includes The Mark Haddon endorsement (“The bastard love-child of The Matrix, Jaws and The Da Vinci Code”) which appears on a printed yellow insert on the half-title page. This feature was used in early promotional or proof copies from the publisher, Canongate.
 
Signed first-state proofs featuring the “Negative 36/36 Incomplete Index” are scarce.