I am delighted to share my review today for Hydra by Matt Wesolowski. I have all of this authors Six Stories Series of books and I thought it was about time to catch up with them. I listened to the first book in the series and it worked brilliantly as an Audio, so how would I get on with reading Hydra, the second 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 north west of England, 21-year-old Arla Macleod bludgeoned her mother, father 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 witnesses and Arla herself, as he questions whether Arla’s responsibility for the massacre was a 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.

My Review…

I am stunned, in shock and have been left reeling after just finishing Hydra, the second book in the Six Stories series.

You know when you get towards the end of a story and suddenly there is that moment when the penny drops and things just suddenly fall into place? Well, this author didn’t just let a penny drop, he dropped the whole of the Royal Mint!!!! Talk about a brilliant ending or what?

Let me backtrack a moment… this is the second book in a series that is a podcast transcript format of a fictional true crime that is told via six voices of those who have some connection to the crime that was committed.

The crime is of the murder of a mum, stepdad and daughter. The perpetrator has been caught and is in a psychiatric facility, she is the elder daughter of the family.

The author weaves so a deliciously deep and addictive story about a young girl who has not had the best upbringing. As she enters her teens, she rebels. The story gradually goes into more detail about the rebellion and also attempts to identify the causes through the accounts of others. The podcast is run by Scott King, he interviews and hosts his podcast to allow people to make up their own minds rather than give people the answers.

I loved the format of these books, yes it is a podcast, but it is like you are reading a simplified transcript version. This makes it so much easier for reading and to allow the full story to flow. I listened to the first book and was intrigued as to how I would get on with it as an actual book, I have to say it works brilliantly.

The author sy=tarts with what appears to be a straightforward crime, I say straight-forward because the case has been to court and the murderer has been given a sentence. What the author now does is to start adding doubt, this comes through the witness accounts. While for the most part, they do come across as being good accounts, there is something that each one appears to hold back. This leads to doubt, mistrust and more questions than answers at some points.

The ending, however, well, wow! I am so glad I had my kindle on the table otherwise it would have gone into orbit! Sat there reading away, I was, then suddenly both arms were flung up in the air, imagine a one-woman Mexican wave… yeah that was me! I do believe a few unmentionable words may have been uttered!

This is a totally brilliant and addictive read and I cannot believe it has taken me this long to pick up this book. I do actually have all of the books in the series they just seem to have trickled down the reading pile. This is a book for those who love crime, mystery and thriller reads and that also have quite a strong psychological vibe to them. There is so much more to the story than I have divulged here and it is one I would absolutely recommend.

Many thanks for reading my post, a like or share would be amazing 🙂