#BlogTour Changeling by Matt Wesolowski

Today it is my absolute pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Changeling by Matt Wesolowski. It is the third book or episode in the brilliant Six Stories series. If you haven’t read a book in this series then I can only suggest you do so, because it is a fascinating premise.

About the Author

Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor for young people in care. Matt started his writing career in horror, and his short horror fiction has been published in numerous UK- and US-based anthologies such as Midnight Movie Creature, Selfies from the End of the World, Cold Iron and many more. His novella, The Black Land, a horror story set on the Northumberland coast, was published in 2013. Matt was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at Bloody Scotland Crime WritingFestival in 2015. His debut thriller, Six Stories, was an Amazon bestseller in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia, and a WH Smith Fresh Talent pick, and TV rights were sold to a major Hollywood studio. A prequel, Hydra, was published in 2018 and became an international bestseller.

Follow @ConcreteKraken or @Orendabooks on Matt-Wesolowski on Facebook or visit him at mjwesolowskiauthor.wordpress.com

Buy Changeling

About the book

On Christmas Eve in 1988, seven-year-old Alfie Marsden vanished in the dark Wentshire Forest Pass, when his father, Sorrel, stopped the car to investigate a mysterious knocking sound. No trace of the child, nor his remains, have ever been found. Alfie Marsden was declared officially dead in 1995.

Elusive online journalist, Scott King, whose ‘Six Stories’ podcasts have become an internet sensation, investigates the disappearance, interviewing six witnesses, including Sorrel and his ex partner, to try to find out what really happened that fateful night. Journeying through the trees of the Wentshire Forest – a place synonymous with strange sightings, and tales of hidden folk who dwell there, he talks to a company that tried and failed to build a development in the forest, and a psychic who claims to know what happened to the little boy…

Intensely dark, deeply chilling and searingly thought-provoking, Changeling is the latest in the critically acclaimed, international bestselling Six Stories series, written as six Serial-style podcasts, and which are being adapted for TV by a major US studio.

Review

Changeling is the third part of the Six Stories series, an innovative fresh idea in a sea full of stories.

This episode of Six Stories is different in a sense that Scott King immerses himself in a completely different way this time. In the other episodes there was always an element of distance to the people, the crimes, the myths and the folklore. In this episode the reader gets a deeper look into the main characters soul, and also into that of the author.

The disappearance of a seven-year-old boy over three decades ago is still a story that gets tongues wagging. He vanished into the darkness in the middle of the night near a forest. A wooded area connected to a lot of disturbing tales and a lifetime of folklore. The fairie folk have taken him, the monsters in the woods have eaten him or maybe the trees have made the little boy become one with them. All of that and plenty more is fodder for the curious, the gossips, the amateur sleuths and even the family members of the child.

I often think it is easier for society to believe the unbelievable than to accept the possibility that humans are worse than the monsters we imagine in our minds. The inability to acknowledge the inhumanity in some of us leaves us weakened and unprotected against the evil living among us.

Kudos to the author for giving a platform to the abuse featured in this particular mystery. Sometimes you don’t know what you’re experiencing or seeing when you encounter this kind of subtle, hidden systemic abuse. The problem is people are happy to pass on a malicious rumour or assume something they have been told is the truth without knowing whether it is or not.

Been there, done that, met the monster and got the t-shirt..

If you haven’t read a book in this series then I can only suggest you do so, because it is a fascinating premise. I can’t wait to see what the TV adaptation looks like. It is a dark menacing premise that Wesolowski has given a 21st century vibe to. He delves into the darkest depths of human nature, and plays with fractured memories, hidden fears and the ancient folklore and myths embedded in our culture. Podcasts meet rumours, theories and facts to create a fascinating murder mystery with a thriller come horror vibe. You don’t want to miss this series or the author.

Buy Changeling (Six Stories #3) at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

Publisher: Orenda Books; pub date 24 Jan. 2019

Read my review of Six Stories #1

Read my review of Hydra (Six Stories #2)

#BlogTour Hydra by Matt Wesolowski

Matt Wesolowski is back with another venture into his extraordinary premise and story format Six Stories. Hydra lives up to its name with its many heads and threads, as the author lops them off one by one only to be confronted by yet another unanswered question. I am thrilled to be participating in the BlogTour for Hydra and hope you enjoy hearing about it as much as I enjoyed reading it.

About the Author

Matt Wesolowski is from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor for young people in care. Matt started his writing career in horror, and his short horror fiction has been published in numerous UK- and US-based anthologies such as Midnight Movie Creature Feature, Selfies from the End of the World, Cold Iron and many more. His novella, The Black Land, a horror set on the Northumberland coast, was published in 2013. Matt was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2015. His debut thriller, Six Stories, was an Amazon bestseller in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia, and a WHSmith Fresh Talent pick, and film rights were sold to a major Hollywood studio..

Follow @ConcreteKraken or @Orendabooks on Matt-Wesolowski on Facebook or visit him at mjwesolowskiauthor.wordpress.com

Buy Hydra (Six Stories 2) here

About the book

A family massacre. A deluded murderess. Five witnesses. Six Stories. Which one is true?

One cold November night in 2014, in a small town in the northwest of England, 21-year-old Arla Macleod bludgeoned her mother, stepfather and younger sister to death with a hammer, in an unprovoked attack known as the Macleod Massacre. Now incarcerated at a medium-security mental-health institution, Arla will speak to no one but Scott King, an investigative journalist, whose Six Stories podcasts have become an internet sensation.

King finds himself immersed in an increasingly complex case, interviewing five key witnesses and Arla herself, as he questions whether Arla’s responsibility for the massacre was as diminished as her legal team made out.

As he unpicks the stories, he finds himself thrust into a world of deadly forbidden ‘games’, online trolls, and the mysterious black-eyed kids, whose presence seems to extend far beyond the delusions of a murderess… Dark, chilling and gripping, Hydra is both a classic murder mystery and an up-to-the-minute, startling thriller that shines light in places you may never, ever want to see again.

Review

When I read Six Stories I thought it was a refreshing premise. I think it is ingenious that Wesowloski has chosen to use the same format again, indeed now he has done it again a series wouldn’t go amiss.

We are back with our investigative journalist Scott King, who uses podcasts to engage with his audience. Hydra is a set of interviews by Scott with the killer and people who have something to add to the case. Friends, acquaintances and anyone who can give insight into why this young woman would decide to just annihilate her entire family one day.

This time he is re-examining the Macleod Massacre. A young girl called Arla has been convicted of bludgeoning her parents and sister to death with a hammer. She is serving her sentence at a medium security mental institution, because the court found there was enough evidence to suggest diminished capacity at the time of the event.

There doesn’t seem to be any reason why, and yet as Scott talks with one person after the other a picture emerges of abuse, stolen innocence and of betrayal on a massive scale. In a way it is a snapshot of how society fails so many vulnerable children, and how we are too willing to ignore signs of distress and calls for help.

What appears to be a tragic and yet simple case of girl gone psycho slowly develops, under the watchful and inquisitive eye of Scott, into a series of events that in the end cause an avalanche of violence.

Wesolowski pokes the bear and angers the hive with this poignant and introspective story. Embedded in this tale of assault is the power hungry drive of a specific breed of social media user, who thrive on the fear and pain of others. Anonymity allows them to leave any semblance of societal rule and order behind, and they use their online power to spread hate and cause havoc.

It’s time the troll living under the bridge was taught that the darkness of the web isn’t impenetrable. There needs to be accountability for both words and actions, and most importantly they need to acknowledge the hypocrisy of threatening others with exposure while they themselves sit behind a shrouded cloud of anonymity.

Once again Wesolowski delivers an engrossing read with a 21st century feel, and in the midst of this intriguing thriller, he takes a well-aimed shot at the more nefarious side of the world wide web. Hopefully this won’t be the last time he rolls out Scott King the investigative journalist, podcaster extraordinaire.

Buy Hydra at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.