Cows

Matthew Stokoe’s debut novel, Cows (1998), is a foundational text in the subgenres of extreme horror and splatterpunk, earning a cult reputation as one of the most graphic and disturbing works of transgressive fiction ever written. The novel centers on Steven, a deeply alienated young man who lives in a squalid apartment under the psychological and physical torment of his monstrously abusive mother. His only vision of a happy life comes from television, and he imagines himself one day building a similar life. He takes a job at a slaughterhouse in the hopes of escaping. There, his sadistic foreman, Cripps, introduces him to a philosophy of self-empowerment through increasingly extreme acts of violence, setting Steven on a horrifying path to remake himself and his world. Through its relentless and visceral depiction of brutality, the novel offers a grotesque satire of modern urban life and familial collapse. Cows explores several key themes, including The Illusion of the American Dream, Cruelty and Violence as Futile Attempts Toward Agency and Alienation Through Industrial Exploitation.

This guide refers to the 2015 self-published edition of the text.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence, sexual violence, rape, physical abuse, emotional abuse, animal cruelty, animal death, child abuse, pregnancy termination, self-harm, death by suicide, sexual content, and cursing.

Language Note: The source material uses extremely graphic and descriptive language focused on bodily degradation, mutilation, and contamination, as well as topics related to physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. This language is replicated only when directly quoting the text.

Plot Summary

Steven is a timid 25-year-old man who lives in a squalid flat with his morbidly obese and monstrously abusive mother, whom he calls the Hagbeast. She controls him through fear and by forcing him to eat revolting, undercooked meals that he believes are slowly poisoning his body. His only companion is his dog, Dog, whom the Hagbeast crippled with a brick years earlier.

Terrified of the outside world, Steven’s only concept of a happy life comes from television, which he watches obsessively, dreaming of a perfect family and a home of his own. Seeking an escape, he takes a job at a meat-grinding plant on the edge of the city. There, he works under the supervision of a foreman named Cripps, a charismatic sadist who preaches a philosophy of self-empowerment and liberation through acts of extreme violence. Cripps believes that killing animals—and eventually people—allows a man to shed societal constraints and realize his true, powerful nature.

Steven’s life is further complicated when he meets his new upstairs neighbor, a troubled young woman named Lucy. She is obsessed with the idea that all human misery stems from a physical poison that accumulates in the intestines as a result of life’s traumas, and she is desperate to find and surgically remove it from her own body. They quickly form a connection, and during a sexual encounter where Lucy uses a medical endoscope to search for the poison in her colon, Steven begins to believe he has found the woman who can help him build the perfect life he has seen on TV. This newfound hope, however, is threatened by the Hagbeast, who senses that Steven is planning something and begins treating him even more abusively.

Simultaneously, Cripps begins initiating Steven into the culture of the slaughter room, forcing him to kill a cow with a captive bolt pistol while raping him from behind. Steven later witnesses Cripps, along with a facially disfigured co-worker named Gummy and other slaughtermen, engage in a ritual of torturing and sexually violating a cow. Shaken, Steven is then contacted by a sentient, talking sienna Guernsey. It explains that it is the leader of a secret society of cows living in the city’s sewer system, then warns Steven that Cripps’s philosophy will only destroy him.

Driven by his desire for a future with Lucy and emboldened by the transgressive acts at the plant, Steven decides he must kill his mother. He challenges the Hagbeast to an escalating war of attrition, serving his own feces for their nightly meals, convinced his waste is more toxic than hers. The conflict comes to a head when the Hagbeast, realizing his intent, attacks and nearly strangles him. Dog intervenes to save him, allowing Steven to attack her as she kills Dog. Steven finally overpowers his mother, tortures her, then kills her. He offers her corpse to Lucy, who frantically dissects it in search of the poison but finds nothing. For a time, Steven and Lucy live in the newly cleaned flat, attempting to build a perfect domestic life modeled on television sitcoms, and Lucy becomes pregnant.

Steven’s confidence soon falters, and he becomes consumed with anxiety, convinced he needs to commit more acts of violence to maintain his strength and protect his fragile new world. He returns to the meat plant after a month away, where the Guernsey reveals the cow community wants revenge on Cripps. Steven initially resists, adamant that he will not kill again. However, that night, Cripps takes Steven to the slaughter room and convinces him to join in the ritualistic murder of his co-worker, Gummy. Feeling empowered again, Steven decides that he needs to kill Cripps to unlock his true strength, so he contacts the Guernsey. Steven agrees to help but insists that he will be the one to do the actual killing.

Steven lures Cripps into the empty slaughter room at night, where the cows emerge from the vents. Steven shoots Cripps him in the knee with the boltgun before the cows carry them both to their vast underground chamber. There, as the herd watches, Steven methodically tortures and dismembers Cripps, who perversely cheers him on, believing Steven’s brutality is the ultimate validation of his life’s philosophy. After, the Guernsey warns Steven that the herd is beginning to see him as their leader and will demand more from him.

Over the next several weeks, Steven continues to work at the slaughterhouse. However, Lucy’s mental health begins to deteriorate. She becomes convinced that there is a poison growing inside her and that nothing she and Steven do will ever allow them to be truly happy. At the same time, Steven’s strength begins to dissipate; he becomes convinced he needs to return to the cows to kill again.

Steven returns to the sewer where he discovers that the Guernsey has become their leader. They have been going on raids to kill people in the tunnels. When the cows see Steven, however, they immediately seek his guidance, creating tension between Steven and the Guernsey. Steven leads the herd to a nearby train station where they trample a handful of passengers waiting for the train. After, he collects pieces of the flesh, then returns to the tunnels with the herd. As the Guernsey challenges his leadership, Steven argues that he is trying to teach them how to become human—not just how to kill them. He feeds the pieces of human flesh to the cows as they worship him.

Recharged by the murder, Steven returns home, only to discover Lucy dead on the kitchen floor. In a final, desperate attempt to rid herself of her internal poison, she cut the fetus from her womb. With his dream of a family shattered, Steven’s world collapses. He slips into a catatonic state for days until the back wall of the dilapidated apartment building gives way, forcing him out into the city. Overwhelmed by terror at the presence of other people, he flees into the sewers, the only sanctuary he can think of. He eventually finds his way to the cows’ chamber, seeking their companionship as a surrogate family.

Steven discovers that the herd, now led by the Guernsey, has become a tribe of predators, addicted to the thrill of stampeding through the tunnels and killing any humans they find. He waits for them to fall asleep, then approaches the Guernsey with a sharpened bone from Cripps’s skeleton and kills it in a final power struggle. He takes a young roan cow as his new mate and fully embraces his destiny as the god-king of the carnivorous herd, preparing to wake them for their next stampede.