#AudiobookReview-‘Six Stories’ by Matt Wesolowski

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About the book…

So my husband got me one of the BEST presents for Christmas ever 2 years ago, it was a monthly Audible subscription. They have a fabulous-almost too extensive!-backcatalogue of dramatisations, radio series, book adaptations and original dramas.Also don’t tell him he is still paying for it all this time later….just between us ok?

As well as great selection, they periodically have sales or ‘Twofers’ and in the latest one, I picked up both ‘‘Six Stories’‘ and ‘‘Hydra’‘ by Matt Wesolowski. The cast is impressive for both, there are names I recognise from near constant listening to radio plays, and the format of the books-a series of podcasts, one for each story-lends itself perfectly to the audiobook format.

I have read ‘Changeling’ and ‘Hydra’ as physical books,but was keen to see how they translated into audiobooks-they completely terrified me so would the audio experience accentuate the terror? I put on my big girl pants and girded my whatsits and prepared to be scared…

One body. 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.

More than a year after he disappeared, the body of Tom Jeffries is discovered, and this, you would think, would create a sense of closure about the entire affair.

However, decades later, this unsolved mystery forms the first outing for podcast journalist Scott King in his ‘Six Stories’ investiagtions. He wears a disguise to interview his subjects, but whilst qeustioning them his attempts to remain annoynmous reveal far more to the listener than I think he would like. Plainly put, he interviews 6 people for 6 episodes of his podcast, not with the aim of actually solving the crime(that would be an added bonus), but in throwing light where there once was shade, and possibly drawing a line under extraordinary events such as this one.

This makes it the perfect audiobook candidate, the podcast format lends itself so well to the narrative and I found it really helped center the story to the north of England-it sounds a little silly, but hearing the accents of the cast added a third dimension to the tale. The modulation and class of the voices really helped the listener distinguish the people that Scott is talking to as well as those he is interviewing. It is clear that a lot of thought has gone into the selection of voice actors, and their talents in bringing the story to life come ringing through your headphones.

Scott King with his estuary English, the clipped upper class nervousness of Harry Saint Clement-Ramsay,autistic Haris Novak, the butt of local jokes who did not understand his condition in the late 90’s and was seen as a ‘weirdo’ as well as the earnest tones of Eva Bickers and Charlie Armstrong, all paint a vivid picture of Northumberland wilderness. I am not likely to forget the description of Tim’s body being recovered in a hurry..or the creeping horror of realising, along with Harry, that the woods of Scarclaw Fell are haunted by more than just folk tales…

This is the first ‘Six Stories’ but the last one I have ‘read’, so I am coming to the audio fresh and with no conceptions of how the plot will progress. The voices are all very distinct and it is amazing how the inflection and emphasis placed on the written word carries a different weight when listened to. Scott King comes across as a slightly arrogant lead, he is the quintessential unreliable narrotor as we, the listener, is relying on him to ask the correct questions during his interviews and to tease the correct response from his interviwees. We have to trust that he is not just honest in his intent to portray his subjects, but also in his editing process.

In this search for facts surrounding Tom’s disappearance, he takes us to the ill feted site of the Rangers expedition, back to the teenage experience of the late 90’s and the lasting effects of the outing. The fallout from this death has not only added to the folk tales of the area-the so called Belkeld Beast and Nana Wrack-but in a sense, confirmed their very existence.In the absence of a logical conclusion, the monsters must have taken him because there appears to be no actual explanation from any of the people who saw him last.

Picking away at testimonies, with the benefit of 20 years hindsight, Scott creates a taut, compelling narrative of a specific time and place. What he unveils is a tale of misfits and outsiders. Nana Wrack is an example of female exorcision from general society-witches were tortured and murdered on the vaguest of notions(we do it more gently these days via social media). Derek Bickers was seen as a hippy ne’er do well whose lenient attitude towards teens was responsible for Tom’s death in the court of public opinion -the same public who were happy to let a man wander off with their children in to woods without any official training or professional status.His fellow adult supervisor Sally Mullins, was never really considered to be involved in what happened, despite threats of being charged along with Derek, for childhood neglect.

Amongst the teen members of the Rangers,Innuit Anyu and her mother were never really welcomed into the town, and after Scarclaw went back to Labrador. Charlie Armstrong was described as a ‘goth’and the classic outsider teen, Eva Bickers was seen as product of her parents ‘lax’ upbringing, Brian Mings , bullied private school kid , and finally Tom Jeffries himself. Mixed up in dodgy activities, his mother had sought out the Rangers thinking it would be a positive outlet for his pent up energy.Oh how wrong she was..

Haris Novak, local oddfellow, persecuted and suspected of being involved somehow.

All outsiders to society, all drawn together to that place, at that time, with a fatal conclusion.

5 children and 2 adults went up Scarclaw Fell, 2 adults and 4 children returned…

Will the truth come out, or will the mystery deepen? There is only one way to find out and that is to listen to ‘Six Stories’ and risk sleepless nights….try not to let Nana Wrack or the Belkeld Beast crawl into your dreams…or thevision of the forever grasping hand of Tom Jeffries looking for rescue which never came…

About the cast…

Following the hyperlinks, all other audiobooks with these vocieover actors available on Audible will appear.

About the author..

Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor for children in care and leads creative writing workshops for young people in association with New Writing North.

Wesolowski started his writing career in horror and was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at ‘Bloody Scotland’; Crime Writing Festival 2015. His subsequent debut crime novel ‘Six Stories’ was published by Orenda Books in the spring of 2016 with follow-up ‘Hydra’ published in the winter of 2017.

‘Six Stories’ has been optioned by a major Hollywood studio and the third book in the series, ‘Changeling’ is available now.

Links-http://orendabooks.co.uk/

Twitter @ConcreteKraken

@OrendaBooks @AudibleUK