Uncommon Cruelty by Liz Mistry - Blog Blitz Q&A

Life Of A Nerdish Mum is taking part on the last day of the blog blitz celebrating the release of Liz Mistry's newest book, Uncommon Cruelty. I am honoured to host a fabulous Q&A with Liz.

Uncommon Cruelty 

DI Gus McGuire and his team are called in to investigate the disappearance of a teenage boy after his parents return from a weekend away, to find their home trashed and their son missing. But that is just the beginning. 

As the investigation unfolds, Gus must discover what links a violent bikers’ gang, a Muslim youth group and a fundamentalist American based Christian church. 

Alongside this, two cases from the past come back to haunt DI Gus McGuire and his DS, Alice Cooper.

Gus has a lot to juggle, but will he cope?

Uncommon Cruelty is the fourth in the DI Gus McGuire series set in Bradford West Yorkshire and is a gritty, Northern Noir read.

Q&A

Are you much of a reader yourself?

I read quite a lot and usually in the crime fiction genre.  I love gritty serial killer novels and Chris

Carter is one of my favourites for that.  I adore Tartan Noir and make no secret of the fact that I really

rate Stuart MacBride’s Logan McRae novels.  His character Detective Roberta Steele is fantastic. I

love the way he combines the gritty Noir with laugh out loud humour.

I started a PhD in October 2017 and have been doing quite a bit of academic reading.  However,

because I’m researching the use of the teen voice in adult crime fiction, I’ve been reading a lot of

Young Adult crime fiction and really enjoying it.

I’ve just been sent an ARC of Jeffrey Deaver’s new novel Cutting Edge which, I believe, is out in the

UK in May and am itching to get stuck into that – I’ll be reviewing it on The Crime Warp in May.  I

also have Vicky Newham’s debut novel on my kindle ready to read – that’ll be next, I think, after

Jeffrey that is.

Who could you see playing Gus if the series was adapted for the screen?

Can you imagine how giddy I’d be if my series was adapted for the screen?  How ace would that be?

I’ve been asked this before and my answer hasn’t changed – it would have to be OT Fagbenle who

was in The Handmaid’s Tale, Harlan Coben’s The Five and BBC’s The Interceptor, to name but a

few.  I think he would easily make a sultry, deep and pensive Gus McGuire and he’s a brilliant actor.

(fan art of DI Gus McGuire)

Do you find it harder or easier writing books in a series?

I’ve not written any standalones, so I’m not sure.  All I can say is that I love writing Gus and the

team. As the series progresses, the characters are becoming more well rounded and I can intuitively

guess what their responses are going to be.  In Uncommon Cruelty things are shaken up quite a bit

and by the end, Gus is facing one of his worst times to date.  I love pushing them, taking them that bit

further, exploring their pasts and seeing how what happened before impacts on them in the present.

 In my next one, Compo comes into his own a bit more. I haven’t really explored his character in

depth yet, so I’m looking forward to peeling off the layers and showing the reader a bit more about

what makes Compo tick.  

I still have a fair few Gus and co books in mind, so I visualise the Gus McGuire series going on for a

long time to come.  So, watch out Bradford … who knows which parts of the city I’ll feature in my

next books.

What would be your dream writing space?

At the minute, I share my time writing in either my home office which is ‘cosy’ (cramped), but has

everything I need and Leeds Trinity University Library, where I can’t get distracted too much.  I also

love writing in café’s and pubs. I’m a people watcher and an avid eavesdropper, so anywhere there

are people suits me. If I could have a custom-built writing space it would be just like my home office

only bigger.  I have cork boards on the walls and have loads of stuff pinned on there. I have book

shelves and loads and loads of notebooks and pens in different colours. In the corner I have a single

futon folded up, which I use to read on when I’m fed up sitting at the computer.  

What do you know now which you wished you knew when you were first setting out on your

writing journey?

Well, for a long time, I wasn’t even sure I could finish writing a book, then I did.  But then I was

thrown into this alien world of edits and proof reads and self-publicity and things I didn’t know I’d

need to learn … and I love it.  So, I suppose what I wish I’d known then was how much I was going

to love my new life as a published author, creative writing teacher, PhD student and sometimes

literary festival panellist.  I wish I’d had faith in myself years ago … but then Bloodhound Books

weren’t around years ago, were they? So, maybe things happened at just the right time for me.

About The Author 

Liz writes crime fiction books set in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The DI Gus McGuire series is gritty Northern noir with a bit of Scottish thrown in.  She is currently researching for a Ph. D in creative writing at Leeds Trinity University. As part of her Ph.D she is researching how the teen killer’s voice is portrayed in the adult crime fiction novel with specific reference to the influence of  teen social media usage, with a view to writing a crime fiction novel around these issues.

Liz also teaches creative writing, specialising in crime fiction and is a regular panellist at literary festivals throughout the UK.  She enjoys reading her work at Open Mic and Noir at the Bar events. She was chosen to be one of the spotlighted authors at the Bloody Scotland crime writing festival in 2016.  She is the lead blogger for the well renowned crime fiction blog The Crime warp which reviews contemporary, mainly UK based, crime fiction, comments on current issues around the genre and creative writing in general and interviews authors on a regular basis. 

She is available to comment on current issues around creative writing in general and crime fiction in particular and to speak at local and national festivals and conferences

To Connect With The Author

Facebook: @LizMistrybooks

Email: LizMistryAuthor@yahoo.com

Twitter: @LizCrimeWarp

Blog: https://thecrimewarp.blogspot.co.uk/

Website: https://lizmistrycrimewriter.wordpress.com/

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Too Close To Breathe by Olivia Kiernan - Blog Tour Review

Today Life Of A Nerdish Mum is honoured to be a part of the blog tour for the debut novel by Olivia Kiernan, Too Close To Breathe. 

Too Close To Breathe

TOO SOON TO SEE

Polished. Professional. Perfect. Dead. Respected scientist Dr Eleanor Costello is found hanging in her immaculate home: the scene the very picture of a suicide.

TOO LATE TO HIDE

DCS Frankie Sheehan is handed the case, and almost immediately spots foul play. Sheehan, a trained profiler, is seeking a murderer with a talent for death.

TOO CLOSE TO BREATHE

As Frankie strives to paint a picture of the killer, and their victim, she starts to sense they are part of a larger, darker canvas, on which the lines between the two blur.

My Review

You would never know that Too Close To Breathe is a debut novel, the writing and story telling is absolutely top and thoroughly enjoyable. The author does take a risk in how they develop the main character, DCS Frankie Sheehan, as when I first started reading I had to double check I hadn't missed a previous book or prequel explaining what had actually happened to her before this case and what she is recovering from. However once I was happy that I hadn't missed anything, it worked really well how the story of what happened is eked out alongside the main story. 

Too Close To breathe is quite dark and gritty and covers some of the seedier sides of crime including the Dark Web. It's also quite graphic in it's descriptions, particularly of the autopsies, which I haven't seen for a while but it was a nice touch, though may be too much for someone with a weaker stomach! The story is fast paced and it kept me guessing right until the end which I really liked (though was secretly frustrated because I loved "solving" the crimes myself first!)

Overall an incredibly strong debut and I am looking forward to continuing with the series when the next book comes out and learning more about DCS Sheehan. I would also like to see more of Dublin playing a part in the future stories too as it's such a distinctive place.

I gave this book 4 stars. 

About The Author

Olivia Kiernan is the author of TOO CLOSE TO BREATHE, a crime thriller where DCS Frankie Sheehan investigates the murder of Dr Eleanor Costello. At first glance the murder appears uncomplicated but soon spills out onto a dark canvas of fear, lies and murder.

Olivia Kiernan grew up in the Irish countryside, a background which left her with a great appreciation of storytelling. Being almost sensible she shelved aspirations of becoming a writer and embarked on a career in science, spending six years in university studying anatomy and physiology before receiving a BSc in Chiropractic in 2003. She worked in this vein for over a decade, always writing in the evenings after work and completing an MA in Creative Writing through part-time study in 2012.
In 2015, she began writing TOO CLOSE TO BREATHE as part of National Novel Writing Month, polishing off half the first draft by the end of the month-long writing marathon. After hiding the manuscript on her hard drive for close to a year, revisiting it from time to time to add a scene or remove one, she sent it out to agents. Within a month she had signed with a literary agent and in 2017 a dream was realised when TOO CLOSE TO BREATHE sold.

TOO CLOSE TO BREATHE will be released on 5th April 2018 in the UK, and the 3rd of April in the US.

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Pendle Fire by Paul Southern - Blog Blitz Review

Life Of A Nerdish Mum is super excited to be taking part in the blog blitz for Paul Southern's newest release, Pendle Fire. 

Pendle Fire

Social worker Johnny Malkin is battling a crippling workload and a hostile local community. That’s on a good day: things are about to get a whole lot worse.

Two fourteen-year-old girls are found wandering Aitken Wood on the slopes of Pendle Hill, claiming to have been raped by a gang of men. With no female social workers available, Johnny is assigned to their case. But what, at first, looks like yet another incident of child exploitation takes a sinister turn when the girls start speaking of a forthcoming apocalypse.

When Johnny interviews one of the girls, Jenna Dunham, her story starts to unravel. His investigation draws him into a tight-knit village community in the shadow of Pendle Hill, where whispers of witchcraft and child abuse go back to the Middle Ages.

One name recurs: The Hobbledy Man. Is he responsible for the outbreaks of violence sweeping across the country?

Is he more than just myth?

My Review

When I first heard of Pendle Fire, I was instantly interested as I lived at the base of Pendle Hill for a couple of years and I'm very familiar with the area and Aitken Wood itself. The area is full of myth and mystery (particularly about witches), so I knew this book would fit perfectly in that atmosphere just from the blurb. 

I was not disappointed. Pendle Fire is a lot darker than a lot of crime and it doesn't shy away from dealing with extremely sensitive and yet relevant topics in this day and age. This can make it a difficult read at times due to the gritty realism of the racism and grooming, it's hard knowing that these things happen and the awful consequences that follow. The author does a really good job in my eyes of portraying this all in a realistic but respectful way. 

Johnny Malkin is an interesting and complex character. I really found myself feeling for him and his mental health as he tries to deal with his demanding job and all the darkness which, that entails as well as trying to maintain his own life. At times I just wanted him to get away from it all and be free of the darkness. 

The story itself is really well done and I thought the mythology surrounding the Hobbledy Man was very well executed. I love a bit of local mythology (real or not) and I kind of wish there was something like a Wiki page about the Hobbledy Man so I could go off and do more research about him! 

Overall a really excellent book! I gave Pendle Fire 4 stars. 

About The Author

Paul Southern was born in the 1960s to itinerant parents who moved from city to city. He lived in Liverpool, Belfast, London and Leeds, then escaped to university, where he nearly died of a brain haemorrhage. After an unexpected recovery, he co-formed an underground indie group (Sexus). Made immediate plans to become rich and famous, but ended up in Manchester. Shared a house with mice, cockroaches, and slugs; shared the street with criminals. Five years later, hit the big time with a Warners record deal. Concerts at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, Melody Maker front cover, Smash Hits Single of the Week, Radio 1 and EastEnders. Mixed with the really rich and famous. Then mixed with lawyers. Ended up back in Manchester, broke.

He got a PhD in English (he is the world's leading authority on Tennyson's stage plays!), then wrote his first novel, The Craze, based on his experiences of the Muslim community. He has three other published books and has written for ITV. He was shortlisted for a CWA Dagger award in 2002 and received positive reviews from national and international press, including The Guardian, Arena, Radio 4, Ladsmag, and Kirkus, amongst many others.

To Connect With The Author

www.paulsouthern.org

 

https://www.facebook.com/paulsouthernauthor/

 

https://twitter.com/psouthernauthor

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A Glimmer Of Hope by Steve McHugh - Guest Post

Life Of A Nerdish Mum is honoured to be a part of the blog tour for Steve McHugh's newest release, A Glimmer Of Hope. I recently reviewed the last book in his previous series, The Hellequin Chronicles, which was absolutely fabulous so I'm really excited about getting my hands on this book too. 

Now to hand over to Steve and a fabulous guest post on character creation...

Character Creation

Character creation is one of the cornerstones of being an author and writing something people want to read. Bad characters will doom a book, and good characters can carry a book along even if the plot isn’t that interesting. They’re frankly essential. They’re also one of the more difficult parts of writing to get right.

Now, I’m not saying I have the magical best method to do this, because no one does and anyone saying they do is wrong, but my method works for me, so maybe it’ll work for someone else.

And now for the part of the blog post where I discuss spreadsheets.

Yep, spreadsheets. I can almost hear a groan of boredom, and to be honest Excel isn’t exactly the most exciting of things to use, but stay with me.

Creating characters is something that gets easier the more you do it, but you probably don’t want to not have half a dozen people in the book who all look, sound, and act the same. That’s where the mighty spreadsheet comes in.

When I go to create a character, I start with a few details. Are they male or female? How old are they? What species are they? What’s their name? What’s their profession? What do they look like?

These details are necessary to figure out any character, and for characters that only have a small part, that’s fine. I log the details in my spreadsheet, giving a row to each character and the names of topics as the column headers. I’ll add them to the spreadsheet as I go through the book, as I don’t like to plan out in advance by a such a degree that I know all of the bit players before I get to them.

For characters I need to know more about from the start of the book (or  those that just pop in when you’re halfway through and you realize you need a new character), I have more columns for information to be added. So, more detailed abilities, their homelands, where they were born, allegiances, likes, dislikes, sexuality, etc.

It’s a lot of information to think about, but it really helps set the character to be something more real in my head. It also helps me, at least initially, to keep characters traits separate so I don’t have them start to behave in a way that isn’t realistic to that person.

The last thing you want to do is change how a character behaves because you forgot something, or because you wrote yourself into a corner. And I find that having all of the information about them readily available avoids that. It’s not perfect, but it works for me, and once I’ve filled in an entire row for a character, I usually find I have a good grasp on them. Also, it helps me change things about the character if I find they’re not working. If I get to the end of the row and something isn’t sitting right in my head, it’s usually easy to point to the part that I don’t think works.

So, yes, spreadsheets aren’t exactly sexy, nor are they the most exciting thing in the world, but they’re incredibly useful. I use them for all kinds of world building stuff by just putting tabs with different aspects of the world I’m working on. The time I spend entering the characters and details of the world they live in, allows me to realize who these people are.

A Glimmer Of Hope

From Steve McHugh, the bestselling author of The Hellequin Chronicles, comes a new urban fantasy series packed with mystery, action, and, above all, magic.

Layla Cassidy has always wanted a normal life, and the chance to put her father’s brutal legacy behind her. And in her final year of university she’s finally found it. Or so she thinks.

But when Layla accidentally activates an ancient scroll, she is bestowed with an incredible, inhuman power. She plunges into a dangerous new world, full of mythical creatures and menace—all while a group of fanatics will stop at nothing to turn her abilities to their cause.

To protect those she loves most, Layla must take control of her new powers…before they destroy her. All is not yet lost—there is a light shining, but Layla must survive long enough to see it.

To Pick Up Your Own Copy - Amazon UK

About The Author

Steve's been writing from an early age, his first completed story was done in an English lesson. Unfortunately, after the teacher read it, he had to have a chat with the head of the year about the violent content and bad language. The follow up 'One boy and his frog' was less concerning to his teachers and got him an A.

It wasn't for another decade that he would start work on a full length novel, the result of which is Crimes Against Magic.

He was born in a small village called Mexborough, South Yorkshire, but now lives with his wife and three young daughters in Southampton.

Twitter @StevejMchugh

Website: http://www.stevejmchugh.wordpress.com/

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The Rising Storm by Ceri A Lowe - Cover Reveal

Today I am proud to be part of the cover reveal team for an upcoming YA dystopian novel, The Rising Storm by Ceri A Lowe. I will also have a review around publication date as part of the blog tour, so keep your eye open for more news about that in the future. So first, about the book...

The Rising Storm

What if the end of the world was just the beginning?
15-year-old Alice Davenport was a loner and an outcast before the Storms swept away everything she knew. Saved from the ravaged remains of London by the mysterious and all-powerful Paradigm Industries, her fierce independence and unique skills soon gain her recognition from the highest levels of command. But their plans to rebuild civilisation from scratch mean destroying all remnants of the past – no matter what, or who, gets left behind.

Alice must decide if she will fight for the old world, or the new…

Decades later, 15-year-old Carter Warren is woken from the Catacombs after years of cryonic sleep. He’s determined to do whatever it takes to climb the ranks to Controller General - until he realises the Industry’s control methods have become harsher than ever. The Barricades make sure nothing from the Deadlands can get in to the Community – and no one can get out. And a shocking discovery about his own family causes Carter to question everything he’s ever known…

As Alice becomes entangled in the Industry’s plan for the future, and Carter delves into the secrets of his past, they must make sacrifices which threaten to tear them apart. And both of them are forced to confront an impossible question…

Would you dare to risk it all for the perfect world?

I am so excited to pick this book up! Now onto the cover...

How gorgeous is this cover?! Also I'm a huge fan of purple so the colour really speaks to me personally! Let me know what you think and whether you'll be picking The Rising Storm up at publication. 

About The Author

When Ceri isn’t writing, she’s a self-employed project management consultant specialising in financial services. She lives in Bristol, England and has various obsessions including all things Spanish, renovating houses, travelling and her dog, Pablo.

In the last few years she’s won the Exeter Short Story Award, Global Short Stories annual prize, the Flash 500 Award, the Story Star Publishing Prize and the Writers’ Forum Short Story competition

The Mirror Of Pharos by J.S. Landor - Blog Tour Review

Life Of A Nerdish Mum is the stop today on the blog tour for The Mirror Of Pharos by J.S. Landor and I am excited to be sharing my review of this wonderful book.

The Mirror Of Pharos

Jack Tideswell’s parents died in a tragic diving accident while exploring the underwater ruins of the ancient Pharos lighthouse in Egypt. So Jack wants nothing to do with adventure. Until that is, a seagull delivers a strange disc, addressed to him in his own handwriting.

In the blink of an eye, all kinds of magic are let loose, sending Jack on a dangerous journey. Can he learn to navigate time before it’s too late to save the one person who can help him unravel the secrets of the disc?

Whether he likes it or not, there’s no more hiding away. And no looking back. Especially when Alpha is watching. A wolf who sees all there is to see … 

For readers aged 10 plus, The Mirror of Pharos is a contemporary fantasy with a hint of sci-fi.

My Review

Though I'm way out of the age range of a middle grade books target audience, I always think if a book is good enough, it shouldn't matter how old you are when you are reading it. The Mirror Of Pharos is one of those good books and I thoroughly enjoyed myself throughout its entirety.

Jack, the main character, is a wonderful and easily likeable character. He's gone through a lot in his short life but he is dealing with it the way he think is for the best. The Mirror Of Pharos covers big topics like grief (Jack has lost both his parents) and bullying and none of it is dumbed down or babied for a younger reader, which I thought was really well done.

I absolutely loved the two most important people in Jack's life, his Nan and Charlie his best friend. Nan was beautifully written and was easily imaginable, she was what you'd want in a Nan and had a touch of magic about her, but aren't all grandparents magical. Charlie was strong and was Jack's anchor through a lot of things and she felt really important to me.

The story is fast paced and the adventure is fun and well thought out. I raced through the book as I couldn't put it down! I have immediately passed this on to my step daughter and she's already thoroughly enjoying it. I really recommend The Mirror Of Pharos to any age, as it's fun and clever and really feeds the imagination.

I gave this book 5 stars.

About The Author

I grew up in Luton, an industrial town famous for making hats. Dad was an engineer, Mum was Mum, and my little brother, Steve, was a big pest – and my best friend. Life was fairly ordinary. Until, one day, adventure called. We packed up our belongings in a crate and sailed on an ocean liner to Canada.

The crossing took a whole week, an epic voyage for a five-year-old. That amount of rolling sea is not easily forgotten! Nor the seagulls. Nor the slot machine that unexpectedly unloaded such a heap of coins I mistakenly thought I was rich. No surprise that years later the ship (or a fictional version of her) sailed right into one of my stories: The Mirror of Pharos.

As an eight-year old returning to primary school in Luton I was the odd one out. When my funny accent caused some teasing I felt sad and missed my old home in Toronto. But some great new friends soon came to the rescue. And by then I was a bookworm so half my buddies were characters in stories anyway!

After school I studied literature at university and edited a magazine called Magus (look out for that word in the story). Later I became a journalist, a farmer and eventually a publishing editor. But all the while another adventure was beckoning. Someone had whispered a secret to me on a school field trip when I was just seven. Looking back it shaped my destiny. It’s the reason I became a storyteller.

Author Links

Website - https://www.jslandor.com/ - The website is absolutely wonderful and you can meet the characters, read bits of The Mirror Of Pharos and view some gorgeous art work. 

Twitter : @js_landor 

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The Journal Of Curious Letters (The 13th Reality #1) by James Dashner - Blog Tour Review

For people who have followed Life Of A Nerdish Mum for a couple of years now, will know that I went through a huge Maze Runner phase and I read every thing I could find in the series (though I'm now slacking as I still haven't read the Fever Code!) So when I got the opportunity to review the first book in James Dashner's middle grade series, The 13th Reality - The Journal Of Curious Letters, I absolutely jumped at the chance. As well as my review today, I have an exciting tag for people to complete and share, so definitely make sure you check that out! 

The Journal Of Curious Letters (13th Reality #1) 

What if every time you made a choice that had a significant consequence, a new, alternate reality was created — the life that would’ve been had you made the other choice? What if those new realities were in danger? What if it fell to you to save all the realities?

Atticus Higginbottom, a.k.a. Tick, is an average thirteen-year-old boy until the day a strange letter arrives in his mailbox. Postmarked from Alaska and cryptically signed with the initials “M.G.,” the letter informs Tick that dangerous — perhaps even deadly — events have been set in motion that could result in the destruction of reality itself. M.G. promises to send Tick twelve riddles that will reveal on a certain day, at a certain time, at a certain place, something extraordinary will happen. Will Tick have the courage to follow the twelve clues M.G. sends to him? Will he be able to solve the riddles in time? Will Tick discover the life he was meant to live?

My Review

The Journal Of Curious Letters was so much fun! I really enjoyed the riddles and the fast paced adventure through the book. 

Tick was a really great character and he felt very realistic to me. He wasn't the usual perfect protagonist and he had his own faults, so it all just made him more loveable and easy to get behind. It was also so very nice to see a happy family and a character having a good relationship with their dad. It's so incredibly rare to see this is any kind of book. 

The riddles themselves were interesting and they weren't dumbed down for a younger audience, so me as a person (ever so slightly haha) over the target age enjoyed trying to work out the clues alongside Tick. 

Overall this was a really good book, with plenty of action and it certainly kept me invested and on the edge of my seat. You can tell this is the first book in the series as it feels very much like a set up for future action, but this didn't detract from how much I enjoyed the story and I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series. 

I gave this book 4 stars. 

Thank you very much to Sweet Cherry Publishing and James Dashner for the opportunity to review The Journal Of Curious Letters. 

The Tag!

And here are the prompts for the tag! I'll be tagging a couple of people on twitter, but if you want to do the tag yourself, then consider yourself tagged! My own answers to the tag will be up on a blog post very soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that in the near future. If you do complete the tag, make sure you use the #The13thReality so people can check out your answers. 

About The Author

James Dashner was born and raised in Georgia but now lives and writes in the Rocky Mountains. He is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Maze Runner series: The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure, and The Kill Order. His newest series is The Mortality Doctrine: The Eye of Minds, The Rule of Thoughts, and The Game of Lives.

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Hydra by Matt Wesolowski - Blog Tour Review

I don't think I can put into words, just how excited I am to be part of the blog tour for Matt Wesolowski's newest novel, Hydra. I absolutely loved Six Stories, so jumped immediatey at the chance of reading more of his work! 

Hydra

One cold November night in 2014, in a small town in the north west of England, 26-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 Children, whose presence extends far beyond the delusions of a murderess. 

My Review

Matt Wesolowski is officially a genius. The way he crafts and weaves his stories is just, well....genius! I didn't think you could get a better book than Six Stories and then out came Hydra and proved me very wrong. 

Telling the story through podcasts is such a modern and unique way of storytelling and it really lays everything out so nicely for the reader. The writing is so exquisite that you feel like you are actually "listening" to a podcast instead of reading it. Scott King is an extremely interesting character in himself and I enjoy the way he goes about investigating cold cases, not necessarily to solve them, but to try and shed more light on them. Its definitively something I would listen to in real life or watch a documentary on. 

I won't touch on the plot as to do so would be to take away any new readers discovery of the twists and turns throughout. I will say however that you can really feel Wesolowski's origins in horror as Hydra is extremely creepy and gave me chills throughout the book. The story is fresh and full of surprises and I really enjoyed trying to discover the why of the horrendous crime that had occurred. 

Without gushing too much more, all I can say is go out and buy Six Stories and Hydra and read them immediately, you will not regret it! 

I gave this book ALL THE STARS! 

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 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. 

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