Six Stories: A Thriller: 1

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Scott King, our not-so-much-elusive-anymore online podcaster, travels to the, quite frankly, utterly miserable town or Ergarth to delve in to the case of Elizabeth Barton’s death. Elizabeth was twenty-four years old and a successful and popular vlogger when she was found murdered inside, what locals refer to as, The Vampire Tower. Three young men were found guilty of her murder. The “who” seems to have been solved, but what about the “why”? An unusual approach in a mystery book ALWAYS gets my attention! This one is presented in a podcast-style format. OH YES. YES. I do love me a crime podcast. By the way, this book keeps referencing SERIAL, but SERIAL is kind of old news by now. Can we talk about ATLANTA MONSTER? MY FAVORITE MURDER? CRIMINAL? SWORD & SCALE? Buried in a marsh, the body of Tom Jeffries wasn't found until a year after his disappearance, when the landowner and a couple of his mates came upon it while hunting deer (or so they say). The official ruling was 'misadventure', but questions have always swirled around why Tom went missing and how his body could have been left undiscovered for so long. The creator of Six Stories – the pseudonymous Scott King, who, thanks to the success of previous series, has become something of a celebrity while remaining largely anonymous – believes the case warrants further investigation. So, what makes Beast (and this series in general for that matter) so special? There are so many elements I loved in this story, but I think the first thing that stands out is the format. The whole series has an unique podcast format with a narrator, Scott King, who tries to be removed from the case he investigates. Scott King doesn't judge, doesn't solve the (cold) cases he talks about, but instead just puts six podcast episodes out there that might help those who follow his podcast uncover the truth. It is this unique and absolutely brilliant format that really takes the story to the next level, and it is also one of the few stories that actually makes me want to give audiobooks another chance, as I can imagine it would make for a fantastic listen.

Interspersed with the six podcast episodes you also get to see the research that Scott has done on the case and snippets of Elizabeth and her YouTube channel too. It’s split into six episodes/interviews from six people directly involved with the victim of the crime. You get their take on the crime and the victim and perpetrator, you get the whole spectrum, good and bad. Let me make this absolutely clear this is a podcast that yanks at your attention as you weigh up the different points of view. Beast will turn you into just that – a hungering beast clawing at every bit of evidence, every scrap that Scott King will throw at us. What happens next is somewhat disturbing to me. I’d like to think that when I die people will let me rest in peace. Unfortunately for the protagonist, a few of the doctors in charge of performing his autopsy aren’t so respectful to the dead. One doctor in particular, Rusty, who thinks Howard has an uncanny resemblance to Michael Bolton, finds it amusing to move Howards mouth in sync with his singing. Thankfully, Dr. Arlen doesn’t find this display very amusing and removes Rusty from the room.

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And I’m Uh? What was that again? For a start there’s only one single dead teenager. That’s not very many. I prefer more than one dead teenager – three is usually when the fun really begins. But that’s just me. Secondly, there were a lot of characters interviewed about the events leading up to the murder. Now, isn’t that what Hercule Poirot does, or Miss Marples? Sure, they didn’t do it for a podcast, but I thought, same thing really. I may be in the minority, but I never listened to any of the Serial podcast. I know, I know...it was supposed to be fantastic, but strangely enough, I have a real problem focusing if I have to just concentrate on listening to something. Reading, watching television, listening to music are all fine, but listening to a podcast or an audio book doesn't work for me. I'm a little too manic, I guess! huge thank you goes to Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for putting together the blog tour for Demon by Matt Wesolowski, as well as to Orenda Books and Matt Wesolowski for the gifted digital copy, which publishes in June 2022 in Canada.

First of all, it was delightful to read about the North East of England, where I grew up! It’s always a weirdly awesome feeling, reading about somewhere you know – or is that just me? Not only that but having lived through the ‘Beast from the East’, there was a great sense of reality to this book. It made me feel even more invested. There is actually no way I can improve on what everyone else has been saying, Six Stories is a genuine marvel of a novel with its tense, atmospheric writing vibe and the ability to make you crazy. Inspired by the “Serial” set of podcasts this is bang on relevant in today’s wonderful world of technology but Matt Wesolowski manages to make it feel both modern and as old as time – a classic in the making, a touch of old school genius brought bang up to date. Again, not a fast-paced book but one that slowly creeps up on you, gets under your skin and sends shivers down your spine. Six Stories is a creepy, atmospheric, suspense filled psychological thriller fueled by unreliable memories coupled with fear, myth, and darkness. While every book in this series contains suggestions of horror, I feel pretty sure Demon goes the hardest on that front (especially the climactic scenes of episode 3... shudder). At the same time, it also delves the deepest into the ethics of true crime – again, a thread that runs through the whole series, but never more prominent than it is here. Just as Changeling turned out to be about coercive control, or Deity about the corruptive nature of power, Demon explores the problem of what people do, think and say in response to a tragedy such as the Ussalthwaite murder.Once again, I love this book. Every single thing about it. Each character is unique in their own story, age, characteristics, and even in their connection to Sydney’s death. They all have their own distinct voice and manner of explaining events that make the entire story feel so real and believable.

A chilling, unpredictable and startling thriller, Six Stories is also a classic murder mystery with a modern twist, and a devastating ending.Even when Six’s song pairings don’t make much historical sense, they can still be fun, as long as we operate on the principle of “don’t worry about it too much!” Marlow and Moss lampshade the idea that they won’t be portraying Anne Boleyn (Andrea Mascasaet, impeccable comic timing) as the smirking, plotting temptress that so much historical fiction shows us. Instead, Six’s Boleyn is a deadpan valley girl who is very interested in getting “X-rated” with her royal boyfriend, but who breezily declares politics to be “not my thing.” What a unique read! Capitalizing on the recent success of the iTunes podcasts 'Serial', but in book form. This could have been a hot mess, but it is really well done. In fact I would bet that the audio is even better!

Musicals aren’t always kind to women (some classics are downright misogynist), but Six is a joyous celebration of sisterhood. It’s the kind of show that makes you want to be a teenager again; if you’d found Six when you were sixteen, you’d be obsessed too. No wonder it’s getting 60,000 streams per day. As the series continues, it becomes extremely popular & reignites media attention. Everyone is on edge waiting for the final instalment & Harry begins to wonder if he made a terrible mistake. In alternate chapters, we walk with him as he visits the fell for the first time in years & reexamines everything that happened the night they found Tom’s body. Yet it seems this is the point. Sometimes there is no real answer. Investigating a mystery can result in confusion rather than clarity. Here, the 'six stories' are not puzzle pieces slotting together, but a jumble of contradictions that overlap and obscure one another. This is, in its own way, as important a lesson as the one we learned in Changeling, but it is certainly less satisfying.

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Howard tries to communicate with the doctors multiple times but to no avail. Every time it seems that Howard has a chance, it’s ripped away. It’s a rollercoaster of a story, but not in a scary sense, it’s more frustrating than anything. The way King chose to end the story is so original, it was never expected. I thoroughly enjoyed this short, dark tale about “Howard the Conqueror”. Enter elusive investigative journalist Scott King, whose podcast examinations of complicated cases have rivalled the success of Serial, with his concealed identity making him a cult internet figure. In a series of six interviews, King attempts to work out how the dynamics of a group of idle teenagers conspired with the sinister legends surrounding the fell to result in Jeffries’ mysterious death. And who’s to blame… The minxy Anne Boleyn sings a catchy Lily Allen-ish number entitled Don’t Lose Your Head and Jane Seymour is the queen of the power ballad. With a torch song to lost love, Izuka Hoyle suggests that there was more than meets the eye to Catherine Parr, the surviving wife who lost the love of her life in marrying the king but used her position to support female education.