Six Stories: A Thriller: 1

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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. Six Stories is a novel constructed as a series of podcasts, in which an investigative journalist looks into the mysterious death of 15-year-old Tom Jeffries, which occurred twenty years ago. By interviewing people who knew Tom, podcast host Scott King attempts to paint as clear a picture as possible of the circumstances surrounding his death. The fourth is "Lunch at the Gotham Café." A little better and has violence and gore. Again, a man's wife leaves him and they meet at a NYC restaurant to discuss her grievances with her therapist as a mediator. All goes haywire when a looney Maitre'D goes psycho with a butcher knife. Was this planned by his soon to be ex? 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!

King decides to take on the 1996 disappearance of 15-year-old Tom Jeffries, who went missing during a trip his Outward Bound-type group took to the Scarclaw Fell Woodlands Centre. Tom was one of five teenagers who participated in the trip, and none of his peers knew what happened to him—when they went to bed he was there, and when they awoke in the morning, he was gone. Tom's body wasn't discovered until a year later by the son of the man who bought the land where the Centre once stood. His death was ruled a "misadventure," and no one was found liable.In fact, it was my love for the actual podcast that landed this work of fiction in my hands. Similar to Serial, this story is told over a series of weekly podcast episodes; six to be exact, hence the title. Sadly, I can’t say this book is anywhere near as gripping as the podcast it so willingly attached itself to. There’s nothing bold, noteworthy or even excitingly different about the plot itself, it’s simply the delivery that makes this feel shiny and new. Well, so there is a lot of precedent for fictional investigation of crime through a patchwork quilt of interviews – this was also what Truman Capote did in In Cold Blood and Norman Mailer in The Executioner’s Song – both brilliantly. 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.

Matt Wesolowski's Six Stories follows the work of investigative journalist Scott King, whose program of the same name explores complicated cases, looking at them from six different perspectives. (Get it? Six perspectives, six stories?) He doesn't have a particular purpose in selecting the case—he's not an advocate for freeing unfairly prosecuted criminals or looking to reopen cases, he's just fascinated by complicated cases. 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. Each book in the series is structured similarly. Scott King, himself an elusive figure, investigates a cold case – he describes what he does as “raking over old graves”. These cases always involve something inexplicable which seems to point to the possibility of supernatural influence. As the title suggests, King’s series aims to uncover the truth by examining six perspectives, often from people with strong differing opinions on the case, or those whose insight was initially overlooked. This book examines how so many of our young people rely on the validation of internet strangers. Willing to do anything to get the most "likes" and how often the way we present ourselves online is far different than the person we actually are. It's very easy to curate a beautiful life through photos and filters but what are we truly like when the camera is off. Horrible, right? We should have done something about it, shouldn’t we? We were fifteen; that’s what I have to keep reminding myself when I think about that day. We were just stupid children."Beautifully written, smart, compassionate – and scary as hell. Matt Wesolowski is one of the most exciting and original voices in crime fiction’ Alex North A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

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. Six arrives on Broadway via stints at the Edinburgh Fringe, in the West End and aboard the Norwegian Cruise Line. More than a concert and less than a musical, it has a thin, peppy conceit: these queens have gathered posthumously, with relevant heads intact, to each sing a song detailing her mistreatment at the meaty hands of Henry. As the ladies explain in an opening number, this is a contest. The most miserable woman wins: 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. The story itself is a beautifully twisted tale, slowly slowly things are revealed, each “episode” bringing new information to light, not necessarily traditionally but through the reader slowly coming to know the players involved in this drama. The setting is stunningly drawn, often insanely creepy, the mythology and legend embedded into the plot makes it so much more than just a mystery – it kind of gets under your skin, whilst it is not sudden jump scary you find yourself switching the light on when you awake at 3am because you feel like something is hovering. Really beautifully done. podcasts are radio programmes for modern people who don’t listen to the radio. It’s a way of getting their radio from iTunes.

Tv Season Info

Scarclaw, where even in the daylight there is darkness; where monsters and sprites may be lurking in the marshes; where some ghosts never die; where In 1996, fifteen year old Tom Jeffries went missing; where his body was found a year later in the nearby marshland. Ultimately it's a story you've seen elements of before - a dead body, people with secrets to keep, mysterious rumors, and a truth that's begging to come out. But throw in a clever format, some well plotted twists, and talented writing and it's a recipe for success.

There are a lot of elements in play in Beast, all contributing to a plot that is both rich, complex and utterly fulfilling. We have the horror element with the vampire legend, which definitely adds the right dose of suspense and creepiness to the story. We have the social media angle, which is absolutely fascinating and definitely on point. In Elizabeth we see just how far the need for likes, comments and statistics can go and both her character and those surrounding her help show how social media really can take over and potentially destroy lives... We also have the bullying, abuse and manipulation, which is of course partially related to the whole social media element in the first place. And this story also talks about other elements including animal cruelty, mental illness and piromancy. This seems like a lot to juggle in just one story, but each element is incorporated flawlessly into what is an absolutely brilliant read. 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. 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? 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. 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.To begin with I was really loving this. It’s formatted as though you are listening to a podcast, which is something I’ve never seen done in a book before and I enjoyed how it read. The writing was definitely my favourite aspect of this book. Matt Wesolowski is a masterful story teller and has found a unique niche in the “fictional true crime” podcast genre. I’m not sure that is even a genre, and if it wasn’t, it sure as hell is now. ‘Beast’ is the fourth episode of the “Six Stories” series narrated and curated by the one and only Scott King, podcast host extraordinaire, whose mission is to delve into true crime stories of intrigue and mystery, viewing the story through multiple angles and lenses, prodding and poking every component, seeking out the people who might provide a different and unique take on the heart of the story. Six is not interested in treating the trauma the queens each suffered as real and meaningful, not when there are fun bops to be made out of it. Six is not interested in telling its audience anything about the lives of the six wives of Henry VIII beyond the details of their marriages, not when their marriages were so dramatic and exciting. 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.