Six Stories: A Thriller: 1

Product Information

The way we have been watching the show, Parr informs the audience, is wrong. It is wrong to pit women and their trauma against each other and make them compete for our enjoyment. It is wrong to care about their lives only in the context of their marriages to Henry, and not to care about everything else they did. Podcasts are simply amazing. If I’m not reading a book or listening to an audiobook, then I’m listening to a podcast. They are informative, we have a great selection at the tap of a finger, it has never been easier to be instantly entertained.

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. What was the motive for the unspeakable act? What drove those two children to commit such a terrible crime? Disturbing, compelling and atmospheric, it will terrify and enthral you in equal measure’ M W Craven Matt Wesolowski crafts his story with descriptors imbued with a deep physical sense. You seem to hear the crunch underfoot and experience the rawness of the swampy woodland that holds a death knell for the abandoned mine shafts hidden in the choke of winding growth. There is not a lot else to say – Six Stories is one of those books that just envelop you into its world, intelligent plotting, multi-layered characters, a little twist in the tale and a genuinely absorbing bit of storytelling. These are the books I read for.

Table of Contents

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? Definitely 4.5 stars for this one because I read it all the way through in one sitting, though I was in the car and didn't have much else to do, regardless it kept my attention all the way to the end. I have seen Serial and though I don't listen to podcasts on my own much my boyfriend loves them so I have listened to a variety of them. I personally like podcasts and how they kind of play into the oral story telling tradition, though I do tend to forget I'm listening and miss chunks of what is being said. The book really captured my favorite parts of listening to podcasts though, especially ones that have a story line that they build up on through out the episodes. I think the book did an excellent job building up the suspense and I was basically dying of anticipation to know what had happened to Tom.

And maybe the truth is all of those, maybe a bit of some, a bit of another, because that’s how stories are; a mix of truth, lies and conjecture.” P237 Holds on to breaches and rolls from heal to toes* Well, what do we have here? Another chilling Wesolowski rollercoaster, that's what we have. How does he do it? It's an unbelievable talent it is, through the use of his words Matt executes an unsettling read that entwines aspects of societal issues with the snowy covering of horrifying warpness! Through multi-narration, including that of Scott King and six individual's close to the victim in question - YouTube channel host, Elizabeth Barton, as well as segments of this channel, an eerie deathly journey has been created, a cold case has been drawn out of the shadows and investigated with the use of a podcast format. Personally, for me, the format in which Matt pens his novels is something uniquely special, it merges both my love for podcasts, crime and reading. Another reason why I absolutely love the creative format in which Matt writes, is that each 'episode' introduces a new character, that allows the story to unfold that little bit more with their own independent voices. This is a read that I also can't wait for in Audible - it'll be superb, I just know it! This one gets points for originality and for telling the story from various viewpoints without becoming boring or redundant. The various characters had distinct personalities which helped set the stage and move the story along.A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! *** Before I sign out, I just wanted to touch on the issue of bullying and how it was portrayed in the book. I'm pleased the author not only included such a relative and timely problem, but didn't shy away from showing it's horror and unpleasantness to the full. I'm always appreciative of diverse characters being added into a book, and I felt the character portrayed with Autism was well done with respect and honor. Having a child with Autism, I could easily recognize the signs and symptoms, and I felt each scene with a realness others who don't experience that lifestyle on a daily basis might not catch as sensitively. Living in North East England myself I found the Northumberland setting to the story very captivating and the author (who is also from the North East) is fantastic in describing Scarclaw Fell in such atmospheric detail you'd think you were standing amongst the trees, ferns, wildlife and woodland paths yourself. The characters are just brilliant and I loved how the story was told through each of the teenagers involved now they are adults. After hearing one recollection you just had to read the next, forming your own opinion and view on the tragedy that happened. 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.” You know the thrill of it. The creep that slithers in from drawing out ancient tales of the undead. The inability to turn away when the whispers begin to ooze out of mouths recanting stories of those dark, gnarly figures that walk soundlessly through the night. Searching, clawing their way out to encompass the unsuspecting......

I'm still not 100 percent sure how everything tied together, or what really happened in the end, but I enjoyed the ride Wesolowski took me on. Definitely one of those books that grabs you and doesn't really let you go. Six Stories is a popular podcast hosted by Scott King. The premise is simple, six stories from six different people all with links to a specific case told over six episodes. King uses the podcast to look into cold cases and unsolved mysteries where he delves deep in search of answers to unanswered questions and the truth surrounded the case. This is the fourth novel in the author’s Six Stories series and once again we’re with podcaster Scott King as he investigates a mysterious event over six episodes, in each one speaking to someone with a different perspective of what occurred.Six Stories is written in the form of a true crime podcast and I just love the concept! I listen to podcasts all the time though they’re mostly horror than true crime. I thought the framing of the mystery in the form of podcast interviews lends a raw, chaotic feeling to the story. And here I go wrestling with my own wishy-washy thoughts some more—there's one aspect of the ending I found surprising, but then there’s the part that was sort of expected. Ok, maybe expected isn’t the right word to use. I guess a better way to say this is—there are only so many possible motives—and leave it at that. Or, been there, done that . . . many times before.

Three young men, part of an alleged 'cult', were convicted of this terrible crime, which they described as a 'prank gone wrong'. However, in the small town of Ergarth, questions have been raised about the nature of Elizabeth Barton's death and whether the three convicted youths were even responsible. 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. 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. Throughout this book I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop: When was I finally going to become invested in these characters, these six eponymous stories? When was the thrill part of “thriller” going to make an appearance? I mention all this because Changeling was always going to be a very tough act to follow, and it definitely affected the way I read and reacted to Beast. This fourth book is enjoyable but, in contrast to its predecessor, does not present a complete narrative or a revelatory conclusion. Instead, it's a very different take on the perspective 'six stories' can provide.

Each book in the Six Stories series reads like the transcript of a podcast, with supplementary material, such as letters and news articles, thrown in. It’s an unusual narrative style, but it works so well. I listen to a lot of podcasts, so whenever I’m reading the latest book in the series, Scott is usually voiced in my head by whatever podca This was my least favourite of the Six Stories series. The story was not engaging, nor was it convincing. It was with the publication of Changeling, however, that the brilliance of Wesolowski’s project really became apparent. It’s effective as a horror novel, with some incredibly creepy moments. It’s also a well-researched and sensitively told – and more than that, important – story about people and relationships. In an astoundingly clever piece of storytelling which delves into themes of manipulation and coercive control, the narrative itself mirrors the devious behaviour of the villain. When the truth is revealed, the reader – inevitably wrongfooted – is forced to confront their own understanding of the characters’ accounts. As if that wasn’t enough, Changeling also brings Scott King to the fore, integrating the series’ narrator into the plot ingeniously. However, in attempting that worthy aim, what Six has done instead is give Jane a song in which she explains that actually, it is extremely strong and badass of her to stand by her abusive and violent husband no matter what he threatens to do to her. There are ways to treat Jane Seymour with respect, but lauding her alleged love for her wife-murdering husband does not seem to me to be a productive way to achieve that goal. This is a dark study in characterization like no other. Wesolowski almost forces you to walk around inside the heads of these people who hold onto their secrets like the sap adhering to those well-worn trees. But it is in the telling that Wesolowski reveals just enough with each podcast to have you perplexed.....perplexed with the inability to fit the puzzle pieces together.....and the fear that they just might.