#BookReview ‘Beast’ by Matt Wesolowski

About the book…

The fourth in the super successful ‘Six Stories’ series is out now in ebook format, as well as an audiobook and paperback release!

‘Beast’ is the return of journalist Scott King in a winter-y chiller that will leave you shivering from the bones outwards.

In the wake of the ‘Beast from the East’ cold snap that ravaged the UK in 2018, a grisly discovery was made in a ruin on the Northumbrian coast. Twenty-four-year-old vlogger, Elizabeth Barton, had been barricaded inside what locals refer to as ‘The Vampire Tower’, where she was later found frozen to death.

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.

Elusive online journalist Scott King speaks to six witnesses – people who knew both the victim and the three killers – to peer beneath the surface of the case. He uncovers whispers of a shocking online craze that held the young of Ergarth in its thrall and drove them to escalate a series of pranks in the name of internet fame. He hears of an abattoir on the edge of town, which held more than simple slaughter behind its walls, the tragic and chilling legend of the ‘Ergarth Vampire’…

Both a compulsive, taut and terrifying thriller, and a bleak and distressing look at modern society’s desperation for attention, Beast will unveil a darkness from which you may never return…

Still reeling from the events of ‘Changeling’, but determined to re-invigorate his Six Stories podcast from a platform of honesty and clarity, Scott King has chosen the Ergath Vampire as his next subject.

The case appears straight forward-rising ‘vlogger’ and ‘influencer’ (god how I hate that word….) Elizabeth Barton (akak Lizzie B) was found murdered in a supposedly unaccessible tower/prison edifice on the cliff edge of a north of England town named Ergath. Ostensibly murdered by 3 alleged ‘satanists’ , the same year that the ‘Beast From The East’ storm struck the UK, it seems pretty open and shut. Phone evidence and DNA convicted Martin, Solomon and George of this heinous crime. So why, 2 years later, has graffiti scrawled on her parent’s garden fence re-awakened interest in what happened?

Via the format of Six Stories,Scott King interviews 6 different witnesses, not looking to solve what happened but rather to shed light on the societal constructs and traditions which allowed this urban legend to develop and include Elizabeth into the fold.

”All anyone has to say is that they wonder how they did it,those three.That’s how it is these days.The killers become the story.The criminals are more exciting than the victims.We’re the ones left behind in all this.”

As with previous books, Matt delves deep into the alienation felt by those living in small towns who have disaffected youths, lack of ammenities, opportunities and how the devil therefore lurks waiting to make work for idle hands.

In the case of Ergath, the one job which you can be relied upon to secure is working in the local abattoir. The stench of death literally hangs over this town, obscuring the world view of its teens, offering them this or drugs and declining mental health. As a small town dweller, this is bang on accurate-it’s the kind of place you leave and never come back to,and if you do, you perceive it as a failure to make anything of your life.

Disaffection, dissociation, drug abuse and lack of opportunities are mixed with tales that spring up around pretty much every small town-that facts are lacking is never really an issue. For example, George was well known as a fire starter but whether there was actually any proof of this is unknown, it seems accepted as is the ‘fact’ that all 3 were satanists. In the absence of proof, rumour and innuendo are used as stop gaps and this is where Scott King excels, he takes these ‘truths’ and dismantles them. The intrinsic sense of horror and dread is established not merely by the eye witness accounts of ‘vampires’ but also by the notion that these people truly believe every word they are saying.

He acts like Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz, pulling back the curtain to reveal the mummery behind it, all the time acknowledging the environment which allows the telling of such tales to keep people in line.

It is bone chilling, soul searing stuff as the role that social media plays in validation and sense of worth is examined in depth, We all know someone like this, a person who relies on the stats to identify themself as a ‘success’ or ‘failure’,as we become more disconnected with the actual people in our day to day life, having a ‘tribe’ or a ‘following’ becomes ever more important to a sense of self worth.

”That’s all some girls live for,most of the lads too! Likes and comments.Nothing else seemed to mean anything to them. I hated all that, I still do.It’s like poison,it’s like an addiction:it is an addiction.”

The sadness and sense of loss of communal and individual identity is as penetrating as the chill that pervades each page. The terror coming from the loss of humanity juxtaposed with the legend of the Ergath vampire (herself a woman kidnapped during the Crimean War, held to ransom then murdered when the townsfolk felt she was responsible for the last Beast From The East storm, due to inherent superstitions) is beautifully done, there is such an art about the way in which Matt sets his books up, and brings the reader down with him to where the dark things crawl.

A young woman with delusions of grandeur, seeking validation from her online army, takes on a social media challenge-Dead In Six Days-and creates her own urban legend by dying as she predicted.

But did she meet a vampire?

And who, or what, is the real beast which demands blood from its acolytes?

If you can only afford one version of this book, I would 100% recommend the audiobook version- it is an Audible exclusive and they have a month’s free trial ongoing(you can download one title) which then charges £7.99 a month thereafter for a monthly audiobook. In my humble opinion it is well worth it, it’s the format the book was designed for and the actors bring it so much to life that when you read the physical books, it is hard not to ‘hear’ Tim Bruce in the first 3 , and Oliver Devoti in ‘Beast’ as Scott King.

Part folk horror, part social commentary, part mystery solving, all terrifying, please give the Six Stories series a try and then look forward to the fifth instalment, ‘Deity’,available to pre-order NOW!

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.

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 and ‘Changeling’ in 2018.

‘Six Stories’ has been optioned by a major Hollywood studio and the third book in the series, ‘Changeling’ was longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, 2019 Amazon Publishing Readers’ Award for Best Thriller and Best Independent Voice.

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

Twitter @ConcreteKraken @OrendaBooks