The Other Monster by Hiro Zarf is a sweeping historical adventure novel narrated by Tom Franklin - born Tom Frankenstein - the lesser-known second creation of Victor Frankenstein. Unlike his infamous brother, Tom is a refined success: intelligent, charming, and nearly human in appearance, save for the patchwork scars hidden beneath his clothing.

Created in 1874 in Salonica, Greece, Tom is educated, set loose upon the world, and quickly discovers both the joys and costs of being what he is. A chance encounter with the legendary monster hunter Abraham Van Helsing leads to an unlikely partnership - and a decades-long career investigating the strange and dangerous across Europe.

As the years pass, Tom builds a life he never thought possible. He finds love with Anne, a woman created much like himself, and together they grow MediTrade Ltd. into a thriving Mediterranean shipping empire. But the 141-year-old narrator looking back from 2015 has seen empires rise and fall, weathered two World Wars, and faced threats no ordinary man could survive.

When Van Helsing arrives with one last request - tracking a powerful and dangerous wizard named Aristotle Cain - Tom and Anne are drawn back into the shadows they thought they'd left behind.

Equal parts gothic origin story, Victorian adventure, and sweeping historical epic, The Other Monster is the tale of a man who was never supposed to be one - and everything he built in spite of it.