Main character Saul Donkers has a hidden disability that leads to traumatic shame, making him unable to build a lasting relationship. He finds his life insignificant, purposeless and meaningless. There is hope when his former colleague Naomi Loveling comes into his private life. However, he is too damaged to embrace the early happiness.
Masks of Shame is a dark psychological novel in which the amoral and depressed Saul Donkers directs his own downfall.

'Raw novel in the tradition of naturalism in which a degenerate main character convincingly takes the reader into his fatalistic worldview and the struggle with his sexuality.'
Eline van der Boog, Hebban reviewer.

'A dark, moving novel about a man whose psyche is eaten away by shame about 'the miserable core of his body.' With highly sensory descriptions, Van Beek shares with the reader Saul's struggles with his self-destructive fatalism and misanthropy.'
Robert Haasnoot, author of Waanzee and Duinbrand, among others.