Suspense thriller set in Lancashire and Cornwall

2nd February 2018

Hydra by Matt Wesolowski – suspense thriller set in Lancashire and Cornwall.

Hydra is thriller – not so much a ‘who done it’, but rather more a ‘why she done it’. We know that Arla Macleod, a troubled 21 year old, bludgeoned to death her mother, father, and sister. She is committed to a psychiatric facility, the judge having determined that she was mentally unfit for conventional punishment.

There is a radio podcast, with a cult following, called Six Stories. Its presenter, Scott King, takes an old controversial mystery and explores it. Each mystery has six episodes devoted to it. Scott does not attempt to apportion guilt or blame – rather he sets out to provide his audience with the facts on which they can come to their own conclusions. He does this by focussing each episode around an interview with someone who can throw his or her perspective on the situation.

Scott is given the opportunity to interview Arla and run a series on what had become known as the Macleod Massacre. As well as Arla, he interviews five others who can shed light on her development and teenage years. These range from friends / acquaintances at school to those she had encountered on a family holiday in Cornwall. What had turned her in the undoubted fiend that she had become? He discovers a young lady heavily into controversial and dark pop star, Stexxixx, and dangerous internet games. She is misunderstood and unloved by her parents, who focus their attention on her much more attractive and conventional younger sister, Alice. She has imagined viewings of the ‘black eyed kids’ who tell her what to do and try to control her life. She is a mess.

But what caused her to go off the rails? Hydra explores the possibilities and leads the listener to his or her own conclusions. There is a denouement on the very last page which I didn’t see coming…

Hydra is the second in Matt’s Six Stories series – the first, set in Northumberland, was called simply Six Stories. The very clever format stays in place – the book really does read like a podcast, some of the interviews ramble a bit (as they would), and some details are redacted to give the impression that we are listening to a true story. The format works really well on its second outing, but I’m not sure how much further it can go. Maybe at least one more before we tire? Matt is a great and innovative talent – and I would not like to see his writing become too formulaic.

I enjoyed the original Six Stories enormously. The follow up, Hydra, did not in any way disappoint.

Tony for the TripFiction team

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