Lola by Melissa Scrivner Love

Perhaps surprisingly, there are relatively few novels about street gangs. There are gangster novels, certainly, but they tend to focus on the upper end: organised crime families and mafia organisations. The most famous such novel of course is Mario Puzo’s Godfather, which spawned the classic movies. While The Godfather traces the Corleone’s rise from bottom to top, the family is still born into the mafia tradition, and there is a sense of if not inevitability, at least entitlement. There is a sub-genre of course that focuses solely at the bottom of the criminal tree, novels such as Irvine Welsh’s trainspotting that focus on addicts, petty criminals and chancers. But despite the street gangs that blight many an inner city, comparatively few novels focus on this mid-level rung of the ladder, where gangs of young men and women struggle over street corners and lives are often cut short by homicide or long periods of incarceration.

Lola fits very much in this neglected territory. Lola Vasquez, the novel’s titular character, is the girlfriend of Garcia, the nominal head of the Crenshaw Six, a small street gang in Huntington Park, a neighbourhood of Los Angeles. We learn very early on however that Lola is far from just the little woman, rather she secretly leads the gang, having executed its previous leader, Carlos, after discovering that he was ripping them all off. Now she covertly leads, allowing Garcia to be the face of the gang as many might not accept a woman as leader.

The Crenshaw Six is tiny in the scheme of things, but when Los Liones, the powerful Mexican drug cartel that owns the monopoly for trafficking drugs into the city, asks the gang to sabotage a drop between one of their former clients and a new supplier trying to muscle into the trade, Lola and Garcia smell an opportunity to win favour and expand. Needless to say, things don’t quite work out to plan and the Crenshaw Six soon find themselves in debt to the cartel for two million in cash and two million worth of heroin. They must find and return both for the cartel or Lola, who the cartel still labours under the impression is merely a girlfriend, will be tortured and killed.

So begins Lola’s quest to find the loot for the cartel and thus save her life, navigate her gang through the treacherous waters of the city’s criminal landscape, all the while maintaining the fiction that Garcia is really the one in charge. Along the way she meets a corrupt cop, an enigmatic District Attorney who might be friend or foe, various gangbangers and other denizens of the underworld. A subplot is provided by Lola’s determined efforts to rescue the abused daughter of a heroin addict.

Lola is an interesting and compelling read for a number of reasons, not least its protagonist. This is a novel that was first published in 2017, just as the Me Too movement was building steam, and what is Lola if not a gangster for the Me Too and Time’s Up generation? And herein lies the twist in the narrative, the thing that makes Lola different to many a crime novel, for the protagonist is grappling with the age old issue that women across class, ethnicity, and history have had to: sexism and misogyny. There have been female gangsters in real life - for example, in Italy there were cases of women stepping into the role of godmother after male bosses were killed or locked up - and one wonders if they had similar experiences to Lola in this novel. Of course, a criminal is never a poster case for any social movement, but equally criminals are not divorced from the societies they live in - or prey on -and will be equally affected by them.

This is an interesting take on the crime novel but is also an entertaining read on its own merits. Despite the fact her gang is dealing heroin, one can’t help but cheer Lola on and the author imbues the character with enough morality (difficult in a heroin dealer) and charisma to make her compelling. The plot too, encompassing as it does this plucky little gang and its leader trying to outwit a Mexican drug cartel and various double crosses, is engaging and page-turning. All in all, this is a great read.

5 out of 5 stars

The Taking of Annie Thorne by C.J. Tudor

Joe Thorne is a teacher. He’s also a gambling addict and alcoholic who owes a lot of money to some bad people. Finally, he’s a man with a troubled past. Joe grew up in a Nottinghamshire pit village called Arnhill. Post the miner’s strike, the village sunk into a depression from which it has never really recovered. It was, and is, an insular and angry place. Growing up in Arnhill there’s not much to do, and despite the colliery being fenced off, with warning signs against trespass, kids tend to do just that. Joe fell in with the local bully, Stephen Hurst, more for survival than choice. One night the bully and his gang, Joe included, chance upon something in the depths of the tunnels of the colliery. Joe’s sister, Annie, has followed them down and needless to say, this being a horror/supernatural thriller similar to the kind of novel Stephen King would write (King praised the author’s previous book, another excellent read, The Chalk Man) things go downhill from here. Fast forward to the present day and Joe has received a cryptic email that has him return to Arnhill. He has unfinished business and scores to settle, and not a few mysteries to solve, and is soon butting heads with old adversaries who both don’t welcome his return or his asking of questions.

Like the author’s previous novel, The Taking of Annie Thorne has a tremendous sense of place, one really does get a sense of Arnhill. Again, to draw the comparison with Stephen King who often bases his fiction in a small town in Maine, in both her books C.J. Tudor brings to life a certain England that many will recognise: the small town that is suspicious of outsiders and suffering from economic and social woes, that while perhaps less visible than those to blight  inner cities, are no less pernicious to the residents that suffer. 

Tudor is also adept at bringing to life a character and in particular her portrayal of the petty and vicious bully, Stephen Hurst, is a strong feature of this second book. The misery inflicted by him on his victims is at times almost painful to read. Hurst will likely be uncannily familiar to all but the most tone deaf of reader - for who has never met such a character? Every school had a Stephen Hurst - though perhaps not as cruel - and whether readers avoided their attentions or not, I doubt any will not have memories brought vividly back.

Other characters are equally well drawn - Marie Gibson, Hurst’s girlfriend, who Joe is sweet on; and Nick Fletcher, Hurst’s Neanderthal thug - being two of note. There are characters in the current timeline too who make their presence felt - Beth Scattergood, a teacher who takes Joe under her wing, and Marcus Dawson, a sensitive soul who’s being relentlessly bullied by Hurst junior, Stephen Hurst’s son. While all these characters are brilliantly drawn and help bring this tale to life, they each contribute to the plot as well and propel events along.

The Taking of Annie Thorne has a more supernatural bent to it than Tudor’s previous book. Whereas The Chalk Man edged closer to crime fiction territory, this novel has a more folkloric bent. This isn’t a graphic novel, there’s not much violence or gore, rather a real sense of dread stalks its pages, and it’s an incredibly creepy read.

In conclusion, The Taking of Annie Thorne easily lives up to the author’s debut, The Chalk Man and I would recommend this novel heartily.

5 out of 5 stars  

Kill Redacted by Anthony Good

A terrorist bombing on the London Underground kills scores of people, one casualty being the wife of Michael, headteacher of an inner-city comprehensive boy’s school. Michael is devastated, he loved his wife, idolised her. But Michael does not sink into a pit of despair, though he is certainly depressed and has more than his fair share of bad days.  Neither does he channel his energies into charity work or campaigning, as some might do. Instead, Michael’s mind turns to revenge. It is not the terrorists or their masterminds who are the focus of his ire however, but rather the British Prime Minister whose policies Michael feels provoked the terrorist outrage.

Kill Redacted is told entirely from Michael’s point of view, via a diary he keeps, “self-reflections” he writes for his counsellor, Angela, and the occasional letter he writes to others. This proves a remarkably good way to tell Michael’s tale, as he is an exact man, highly intelligent with a precise grasp of logic. An old school disciplinarian, his writings are didactic and take the reader along threads of logical analysis and reasoning. If this sounds boring, it is anything but, Michael proving to be a complex and fascinating character, if not a little chilling. This feeling that he’s more than a little dangerous, someone you might be wise not to cross, ratchets up as the pages turn.

Much of what Michael writes concerns his thoughts on his wife’s loss. He feels grief at her passing, at the fact that he will never hear her play the piano again, but he also feels great anger and rage towards the Prime Minister. He ruminates on the nature of justice and how the scales can be balanced, but drip fed in amongst all this are the concrete steps he is taking. Throughout the novel it is unclear just how decided he is on vengeance, but as he starts lifting weights at the gym, training in Muay Thai, considering how he might purchase weapons, the notion increasingly comes to dominate his thoughts. Throughout the narrative we also learn of Michael’s past - how he met his wife; just how traditional he was as a headteacher; the pupil, Paul, who he came to take under his wing; Sultan, another pupil, who he punished in the most brutal manner. This all fleshes out Michael as a character and reinforces the impression that he is a man who might be capable of something quite frightening.

Kill Redacted is a brilliant novel and one that is certain to prove controversial, not least because the unnamed Prime Minister that Michael is determined to kill is clearly meant to be Tony Blair. No date is given for the events in the book, but the explosion on the tube that kills Michael’s wife could well be the 7^ThJuly bombings. Equally, Michael’s logic that the PM’s policies have provoked terror is exactly the criticism levelled at Blair. Indeed, Baroness Manningham-Buller, the former Director General of MI5, stated at the Iraq Inquiry that the invasion of that country had “substantially” increased the threat to the UK. 

Throughout Kill Redacted, the Prime Minister’s name is redacted, blacked out like in a confidential official report. One chapter of the novel is almost completely redacted, line by line, presumably the narrative making clear who the PM is supposed to be. At the start of the novel there is a note from the publisher claiming that this redaction was carried out for legal reasons, though whether that is true or just a marketing ploy I cannot say. Whether or not the PM is Blair and whether the redactions were for legal reasons or just a writing device, they add a certain frisson to the narrative, a sense that one is reading something prohibited, and thus add to the enjoyment. 

Kill Redacted is a brilliant novel and highly original. In fact, it is so good I think it’s going to take some beating. It’s only February and there’s another ten months to go but could this be my book of 2019? It’s more than a little possible. 

 5 out of 5 stars

Ironopolis by Glen James Brown

This is a novel of many parts and does not have a plot as such. Instead we have a cast of characters on the Burn Estate in Middlesbrough. Like many a post-industrial town in the north of England, Middlesbrough has struggled with the decline of heavy industry. Once upon a time known as Ironopolis due to its output of pig iron (hence the title of this novel), with the closing of plants and factories it’s suffered entrenched unemployment and associated social ills.

The Burn Estate of the novel is to be demolished and this serves as the backdrop to the stories of its residents. Another backdrop to the novel is the folklore tale of Peg Powler, a witch or faerie of some kind that lures children to water and drowns them. Peg haunts all the stories within the book and is a constant supernatural presence. Finally, there’s Vincent, a local hard man and bully who stalks the estate striking fear into those around him. The six stories that make up the narrative of Ironopolis flesh out these three threads while painting a vivid picture of life in the Burn Estate and in Middlesbrough more broadly. 

Ironopolis has been billed by some critics as a “working class” and a “northern” novel. As someone who is not of that background I cannot judge, but it certainly felt authentic. These are powerful tales that grapple with the issues and challenges that the residents of the estate have to face. But equally it tells their stories with real warmth and this is no simplistic “poverty porn”. 

The story that most touched me was that of Jim Clarke. He embraces the Acid House scene in the 1980’s but eventually tragedy strikes and those he had considered friends are nowhere to be found. As someone who went to many a rave party in the early 1990’s, this story mirrored to some extent my own experiences. The rave scene is often viewed through rose tinted glasses, but as hard man Vincent points out (even a thug can have transitory moments of wisdom) every youth movement thought that they had the answer but eventually passed into history. And the rave scene was as shallow as any, as Jim and I discovered to our cost (though my experience was nowhere near as catastrophic as his).

Ironopolis reminded me of a novel I’m yet to read but have heard much about and that’s Jon McGregor’s Reservoir 13. The reason Ironopolis reminds me of this novel, or rather the description of it that I’ve read, is that the narrative skirts around various issues. From what I’ve read Reservoir 13 features a missing teenage girl but does not really touch on this at all, but rather reveals the life of the English village and its residents from where the girl came. This is similar to Ironopolis’s approach; indeed, a number of girls have gone missing from the Burn Estate, their missing posters dotting the landscape. But like Peg Powler and the hulking presence of Vincent, these missing children are less the focus of the narrative and more supporting structure. Like Reservoir 13, Ironopolis is really an exploration of people and place.

This is an intriguing and emotional read and the stories of from within its pages will stay with me.

4 out of 5 stars

The Last by Hanna Jameson

Hanna Jameson is an author whom I first discovered quite by accident. As well as buying many a novel (far too many in fact, like many a bibliophile I find the compunction to purchase books irresistible and have far more titles than I can ever hope to read) as a book blogger I also receive books from publishers and request them through services such as NetGalley, Bookbridgr and NB Magazine. It was when perusing one of the last two - Bookbridgr or NB Magazine, I can’t recall which - that I came across Road Kill, the third title in the author’s series of crime novels. The cover was striking, the description also, and I ordered a copy. A hardback duly arrived and I read it in just one sitting. It was a great book (you can see my review here: https://bit.ly/2HAUu6d) and I quickly purchased the first two novels in the series.

So when I saw that the author had written a new novel, a standalone post-apocalyptic tale of survivors of a nuclear holocaust, I was more than a little intrigued and got hold of a copy. The Last is a big step change from the author’s previous series, which were crime thriller/gangster tales. Instead this tells the story of a collection of ordinary people (in the sense that they’re not gangsters at least, they have more than their share of foibles) who so happen to be guests staying in L’Hotel Sixieme, a hotel  in the middle of nowhere in Switzerland, when nuclear war breaks out. They watch in real time via the news, internet and social media as civilisation obliterates itself and now have to deal with the consequences.

The main protagonist is Jon Keller, an American historian. He was attending an academic conference, which was due to be held in a hotel nearer Vienna, but due to that hotel being gutted by fire, was moved with other attendees to L’Hotel Sixieme. For a combination of reasons he decides to keep a journal - his sanity, a desire not to be forgotten and thus a hope that someone might one day read it, an apologia to his wife and children who he left in the states. The novel consists entirely of this journal, which actually proves to be an effective way for this tale to be told.

In the immediate aftermath of the conflagration, most of the guests abandon the hotel, hoping to make it to the airport to fly home to loved ones. This despite the fact that such an act is illogical for most of the destinations they hope to go to have been wiped out. This leaves just a handful of guests, a core of whom Jon, and thus the reader, gets to know well. There are a variety of personalities, some likeable, some not, some who Jon clicks with, others with whom he clashes. When Jon and others find the body of a dead girl crammed into one of the water tanks on the roof they realise she was murdered, likely just before or on the day war broke out. Jon becomes obsessed with this murder and begins to investigate and this adds to the tension, for no longer is it just a matter of whether he gets on with the people there, the suspicion being that one of them is a murderer. Things are further complicated when food becomes scarce and they come across other, hostile survivors from outside the hotel. Soon the guests in  the hotel are breaking into cliques, wary and jealous of each other.

My assumption of nuclear war has always been that the world would just be wiped out and there would not be anywhere safe, anywhere survivable. Of course that might be the case, but equally sanity might intrude to limit the exchange. The author never spells out how the war occurred, we learn at the start that the US leadership has been taken out and Scotland destroyed, but equally the nuclear winter that follows is not utter darkness, the internet still functions (albeit haphazardly) and some people and places have survived. This implies that the war hasn’t been all out, that the nuclear powers haven’t unleashed every weapon in their nuclear arsenal. But things are bad and throughout there’s ominous signs: the trees in the surrounding forests are all dying and they rarely hear birds any more. As always, the very real and immediate threat is other people. They quickly discover that the nearest supermarket has been looted already and with other survivors looking for food it’s not long before they are bound to come into conflict with others.

The Last is a very enjoyable take on the post-apocalypse novel, not least because as with the author’s crime novels, there are subtle hints of urban myth and the supernatural. To name just a few: there’s the guest who is convinced that the ghost of a child follow’s him wherever he goes, sits in the corner of whichever room he lays his head; Jon is half-convinced that the hotel itself is cursed and that somehow it was fated for them all to be there at the end of the world; while the murdered girl in the water tank is reminiscent of the death of Elisa Lam, a Canadian woman who was found dead in the water tank of a Californian hotel, a case that has been much ruminated over by those interested in mysteries and urban legends (indeed in Road Kill, the author refers to the the same case in the narrative).

As with any post-apocalypse novel with a backdrop in nuclear war, this novel is not a bed of roses. But despite the subject matter and content, neither is it bleak. The Last is in actual fact rather upbeat in its worldly outlook. With its depiction of the survivors crafting a functioning micro-society amongst themselves and banding together despite the tensions that exists between their factions, it draws a more positive conclusion on the potential of human nature than the author’s earlier gangster novels. Whereas Road Kill was a nihilistic road trip, The Last is a tale of redemption, both of the personal - Jon coming to terms with the mistakes he has made in his past - and for the human race (the nuclear war was of course caused by humans and the survivors in a sense are trying to atone for this). 

In conclusion, The Last is a great read and an interesting take on the post-apocalypse genre (which as with dystopia more broadly has seen a resurgence in popularity in recent years). It’s well written, compelling, and full of interesting characters. A marked change in tone from the author’s earlier work, I’ll be interested to see what she writes next.

5 out of 5 stars

Hanna Jameson Q&A

Hanna Jameson is an author I discovered by accident, getting sent a copy of her novel Road Kill by one of the review services I use. I loved the book (you can read my review here: https://bit.ly/2HAUu6d) and quickly ordered the previous two titles in the series. Her latest novel The Last (which I review here:https://bit.ly/2UlBmdD) is a standalone, a post-apocalypse novel set in a Swiss hotel. Having been impressed by everything she’s written, I was keen to get her takeon the craft of writing.

How do you get your ideas? What’s the process and how do they go from vague inspiration to fully fleshed out notions?

I usually get an idea for either a scene or a character. I mull it over for weeks, sometimes months, letting it fill my head like a movie trailer, letting scenes come to me, moments of drama. I think about it before I go to sleep, when I listen to music, all the time. Eventually, something happens - I couldn’t tell you what, it can be anything - that causes the entire framework of a novel to fall into place, and suddenly I know exactly what I’m writing. Then I start. I can’t tell you the specifics of anything. It’s a process that I have to trust but it’s all intangible and emotional.

With The Last, what originally led you to want to write a post-apocalypse/dystopian novel? 

Our current political scape, nuclear war jokes on Twitter, a way to process my own feelings about where humanity is headed. I have also always loved JG Ballard, and his influence weighs heavily upon The Last. I love how he explores the idea of disaster as a catalyst for personal liberation and renewal, as well as chaos and collapse.

Tell me about the research that goes into your writing?

The level of research obviously depends on the project. I did some research into the effects of nuclear war for The Last, but the main disclaimer was that it had never happened before, so nothing could be certain. Contrast that with the research I’ve been doing for a TV project (historical drama), which has taken years of reading, a lot of help from an actual historian, and a few forays into archives.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I like to know the main beats of a scene, or a story, but if I plan too much or know too much in advance I get bored of the whole process and it doesn’t allow for that magic that sometimes happens at the page when you let characters run with it. I’m a pantser, I guess.

How do you make sure you don’t go off on wild tangents? 

The wild tangents are often what turns a story I like into a story I love, in what I watch, read, and write. The tangents are often what makes me care.

Tell me about your writing, do you write full time?

I do now, but it took me four books and over five years. I’m very lucky.

When is your most productive period of the day?

Annoyingly, between about 10pm and 2am. It can vary. But I am definitely not a morning person. I am barely functional before midday.

Is any part of your writing biographical or are any of that characters inspired by real people? 

I have experience in basing characters on real people for screen. It’s extremely challenging, and can easily result in that character becoming 2D, or a caricature. For characters in my novelsIoften borrow mannerisms, comments, outlines, even cool names, from everything and everyone I see around me. But in the context of the book, they have to be their own people or they don’t feel real to me.

The Last is a step change from your Underground series of novels. Road Kill ended with kind of a cliff hanger and I certainly could imagine the story continuing. Do you plan on returning to the series?

I loved those characters and originally saw the series as being five or six novels, so we’ll see.

One thing I like about your writing is how urban myth and hints of the supernatural are intertwined within the narratives, what attracts you to these types of stories?

I’m a collector of weird occurrences, paranormal incidents, ghost stories, folklore. I’m obsessed with them. If anyone were to meet me and tell me a weird story that happened to them, I’ll talk to them about it all evening. There is so much more to the world and to life than we can ever know or understand, and I love to explore that.

What other writing projects are you currently working on or have planned? 

I’m working on a TV show, which is a historical drama. I’m also working on another novel of a similar mix of genres.

Some writers get published with their first attempt at a novel (even if it takes years of changes) others have aborted previous attempts. Was Something You Are the first novel you tried to write?

No. I wrote my first full-length manuscript when I was 15. The concept was good but the execution - obviously - was not. I never sent it out. It was a crime-thriller though, like my first published novel. That first draft I wrote at 17, a couple of years later.

Tell me a little about your journey to success, how did you secure that all important agent and first publishing deal?

A lot of hard work and then a few quite stunning interventions from luck. I didn’t go to uni at first, resolving to work full-time out of college and focus on getting published instead. I spent three years sending that novel out and it was rejected by everyone. I redrafted it just before I applied to uni, but had given up on sending it out. I went to a gig in London (The Darkness) with a guy, and then to the aftershow party. The guy I was with got too drunk, so I took him for a sit down in the corner. We ended up sitting next to a friend of his, who worked at a literary agency. We talked for about five minutes. I sent a submission to her but - PLOT TWIST - she was on holiday when it arrived and it went into the slush pile, where - ANOTHER PLOT TWIST - a work experience student picked it out. I received a call from my first agent a few days later. An absurd story.

Finally, I’m going to shamelessly poach two questions the author Mark Hill (author of His First Lie and It Was Her) used to put to writers on his blog. Like me, Mark was a book blogger before he became a successful author and I like to think that the answers to these questions helped him glean valuable insight for his own writing. Certainly, reading them on his blog helped me. So here goes:

What’s the hardest lesson you ever had to learn about writing?

I don’t think I’ve ever been asked this question before. Cool! It doesn’t get easier. You can learn to be more disciplined with your routine and you can get better at self-editing and stretching and remembering to exercise but the writing itself doesn’t get easier. With every new book, I think (delude myself) that it will. Then I have my regularly scheduled meltdown at 10,000 words, and then I continue to have them approximately every 20,000 words after that. I think I’ll never write again. I’ll think I’ve had my last idea. I’ll cry, a lot, and then turn up at the page the next day to put words down. It’s the same every time. It doesn’t get easier. It’s always so, so hard. There are no instant gratifications with writing books. Books hate you.

Give me some advice about writing?

Finish your shit. Sit down and finish it. There is no workaround, there are no writing tips, no hacks that are gonna help you avoid this. Just sit down, start it, and finish it. Also, coffee.

Also, befriend other writers to talk about writing with. No one else gets it.

Blog Tour! - Changeling by Matt Wesolowski - Blog Tour!

This is the third book in the author’s Six Stories series and follows on from the first book, titled Six Stories (see my review here: https://bit.ly/2S4vNmm), and its sequel Hydra (which I reviewed here: https://bit.ly/2CyvI0F). Once again we’re with Scott King and his popular Six Stories True Crime podcast. King is not an investigative journalist as he is at pains to explain; rather than looking to solve a case or undo a miscarriage of justice, he examines cases through six different perspectives to ask why the crime occurred and what lay behind it. He tries to do this non-judgementally, allowing his listeners to make up their own minds.

Changeling follows on from the events of the second novel, Hydra, and while it is far from essential to have read the previous novel to enjoy this one, there are certain aspects of King’s behaviour while making this latest podcast that will make more sense having read it. For this instalment he examines the case of seven year old Alfie Marsden, who disappeared from his father’s car in the middle of Wentshire Forest. Sorel Marsden claims that as he was driving the child home one evening, he heard knocking from beneath the vehicle’s bonnet. He pulled over to check and was only looking under the hood for a few minutes. Upon his return, the child had vanished and has never been seen since. Thirty years on the mystery endures and King is on the case.

This is a mystery he has been reluctant to examine however. He is unsure why this so, but whenever listeners have suggested he take it on he has always demurred. But after receiving a letter from someone who mysteriously claims to have some information never heard in public before, he feels strangely compelled to take on the challenge. What follows is six perspectives on the Alfie Marsden disappearance, alongside short excerpts of King’s engagement with the author of the letter.

Wentshire Forest is a place with a strong folkloric tradition. There are stories of elves, strange sights and sounds. Most of all there is talk of the Wentshire Witch, who resides deep in the forest and lures people in. Once they fall prey to her spell these people are never seen again. Is this what happened to Alfie Marsden? Was he lured from his father’s car and deep into the forest by the Wentshire Witch? Finally there’s the Changeling of folklore. Throughout Europe there were tales of human children snatched and taken away by fairies, only for a fairy child to be left in its place. This child would look identical to the lost human child, but would be sickly, afflicted by various disorders, or full of malice. The myth was obviously an attempt by people at the time to explain sickness and developmental disorders in children, but what if these tales contain a germ of truth? Throughout the narrative there is reference to Changelings, particularly when it’s discovered that Alfie’s behaviour changed suddenly during his childhood. As  King’s investigation unfolds we find out more about Alfie, his family and his home life. We also learn more about the strange happenings in Wentshire Forest, which has since been bought by the Royal Air Force and closed off to the public.  

As with the previous two titles, while there is a resolution to the story and we discover some things for sure, there is much left unresolved and thus for the reader to decide. In particular, what to believe of the supernatural? But equally, there’s a huge twist at the end of this novel, unlike any seen in the previous two titles. I shan’t say more, for I don’t want to divulge any spoilers, but needless to say this is a big development not just in the narrative of this title, but in the character arc of Scott King himself. 

It will be interesting to see what direction the author, Matt Wesolowski, takes with the series after this. That’s of course assuming that he writes another Six Stories tale. After the events in Changeling it could make sense to wrap up the series and write something else. Certainly, after the twist at the end, it would be understandable if his protagonist, Scott King, wanted to stop podcasting. But equally he might choose to carry on. I sincerely hope there is another Six Stories novel as the series has been a joy to read. 

Changeling is a brilliant read that like its predecessors subtly tackles thorny social issues, which are woven adeptly into a psychological horror chiller. It’s a compelling, at times challenging novel, that had me turning the pages to the very end. I can’t recommend this enough, in fact I can’t recommend the series enough, and look forward to whatever Matt Wesolowski decides to write next.

5 out of 5 stars