Hydra by Matt Wesolowski – Blog Tour Review.

About the Book

In November 2014 Arla Macleod bludgeoned her mother, father and sister to death with a hammer. 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.

My Review

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received.
I was thrilled when I heard that there would be a follow-up novel to the brilliant Six Stories which I enjoyed immensely.
The author has followed the same format, that of a series of six interviews. One with Arla and the others with friends she knew from school and some that she had met on holiday. A few of them requested anonymity.
It takes place in NW England. Instantly I noticed the ‘accent’ was extremely accurate. It’s not something I see often. It was evident throughout the whole book and is one of the reasons that I would like to listen to the audio book.
Arla admits her guilt but her reasoning is chilling. Especially when all of the people interviewed as well as Scott are receiving threats if they don’t distance themselves from Arla. Scott is also being ‘trolled’ on his social media accounts and he makes his settings private but refuses to stop the series. The severity of the threats increase as the novel progresses.
This book had me seeing and hearing things that could not have been there. I read the majority of it on a long distance flight, where it should be impossible to see ‘black-eyed children’ through the window, and by kindle light in a pitch black hotel room. This book, however has the power to terrify where ever you read it. It is deeply unsettling.
It was just before starting the book that I looked up ‘ black-eyed children’ on the internet. I had never heard of them before, and the one photograph that I saw stopped me looking closer.
A brilliant and scary follow-up that I would love to see dramatised.