Blog Tour: Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski #SixStories @ConcreteKraken

Published by Orenda in paperback on 15th March 2017. It is available as an e book now. My thanks to the publisher and author for the review copy and inviting me on to the blog tour.

One death. Six stories. Which one is true? 

1997. Scarclaw Fell. The body of teenager Tom Jeffries is found at an outward bound centre. Verdict? Misadventure. But not everyone is convinced. And the truth of what happened in the beautiful but eerie fell is locked in the memories of the tight-knit group of friends who embarked on that fateful trip, and the flimsy testimony of those living nearby. 

2017. 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 … As every interview unveils a new revelation, you’ll be forced to work out for yourself how Tom Jeffries died, and who is telling the truth. A chilling, unpredictable and startling thriller, Six Stories is also a classic murder mystery with a modern twist, and a devastating ending.

My Thoughts:

Orenda books is fast becoming my favourite publisher, I haven't read one book by them that I have disliked. Six Stories is no exception, quite frankly it is a feat of ingenuity and unlike anything I have ever read before. 

This book is told in 2017 about events that occurred in 1997 via the medium of podcasts. Six Podcast interviews, six transcripts of those interviews. This way of telling the story is original, genius and worked on every single level, I was hooked in from the very first line of the very first page, and knew that as a reader I had better get myself strapped in for one hell of a ride. 

Back in 1997 a group of friends make regular trips to an outward bound centre, liberal parenting means they pretty much have no supervision. On the fateful day one of the group, a fifteen year old boy goes missing, only to be found dead a year later. A verdict of misadventure was recorded but surely someone that was on that trip knows what really happened?

Suspense is built throughout, almost felt like real time, the reader is put in the unique position of being able to form their own opinions and theories as the interviews unfold. Whilst there are elements of crime and horror to this writing there are also parts of coming of age and rebellion. There is also a sad melancholy in places. An element that says childhood is not always as easy or as perfect as people would expect.

This book is dark and daring. I was going to say that is pushes the boundaries of genre but this would be doing it a disservice. This book defies genres, and sits in it own lane at the very forefront of current writing. I was intrigued and beguiled by the clean, crisp writing. The setting was atmospheric, cleverly again creating that sense of unease and darkness throughout.  

Everybody should read Six Stories and everybody should learn the name Matt Wesolowski, it is a name every household should know. 

This is the most original book I have read in a long, long time and I will be watching with interest as to what happens next with this writer. 

Don't take my word for it. I urge you to read this book and form your own opinions. 

About the Author:

Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor and leads Cuckoo Young Writers creative writing workshops for young people in association with New Writing North. Matt started his writing career in horror and his short horror fiction has been published in Ethereal Tales magazine, Midnight Movie Creature Feature anthology, 22 More Quick Shivers anthology and many more. His debut novella The Black Land, a horror set on the Northumberland coast, was published in 2013 and a new novella set in the forests of Sweden will be available shortly. Matt was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2015. He is currently working on his second crime novel Ashes, which involves black metal and Icelandic sorcery.

You can find him on Twitter: @ConcreteKraken

Please do have a look at the other stops in the blog tour.