Changeling By Matt Wesolowski – A Book Review

Blurb:

A missing child
A family in denial
Six witnesses
Six stories
Which one is true?

On Christmas Eve in 1988, seven-year-old Alfie Marsden vanished in the dark Wentshire Forest Pass, when his father, Sorrel, stopped the car to investigate a mysterious knocking sound. No trace of the child, nor his remains, have ever been found. Alfie Marsden was declared officially dead in 1995.

Elusive online journalist, Scott King, whose ‘Six Stories’ podcasts have become an internet sensation, investigates the disappearance, interviewing six witnesses, including Sorrel and his ex-partner, to try to find out what really happened that fateful night. Journeying through the trees of the Wentshire Forest – a place synonymous with strange sightings, and tales of hidden folk who dwell there, he talks to a company that tried and failed to build a development in the forest, and a psychic who claims to know what happened to the little boy…

 

Author: Matt Wesolowski

Publisher: Orenda Books

Series: Six Stories #3

Genre: Thriller/Mystery

Pages: 198

Release Date: 15/11/2018

My Chosen Format: Kindle

My Rating for ‘Changeling’: 5 out of 5

Purchase: Amazon UK, Amazon US, Audible UK, Audible US

 

Review:

I’m just going to come out and say that, as this book went on, I was expecting to hate it. In Hydra, Wesolowski began to touch on the edges of the supernatural and in this one it felt like he had leapt straight across the line and forgotten anything to do with reality.

I was, however, about as wrong as a Flat-Earther preaching their dogma. I used the word ‘about’ there. So I’ll clear up any chance of ambiguity. I was wrong. Entirely wrong. About as far from being right as its ever been possible to be. The Earth is round and The Changeling is awesome. 

I say awesome, it’s actually my favourite so far. It feels like Wesolowski is getting stronger and stronger with each passing book and, in every case he manages to hit you so hard, and so quick, with something you just didn’t see coming.

Changeling is the shortest in the series so far but it packs one heck of a punch in such a small package. It revolves around the disappearance of a child and our favourite mystery podcast host, Scott King’s, in-depth search into those surrounding the case to get a better look at all involved and see just what might have led to said disappearance. 

As with any Six Stories book, there are two plotlines going alongside each other. The first being the investigation via podcast into Alfie Marsden’s disappearing act all those years ago, and the second involving Scott King as he talks to someone outside of the realms of the pod cast. 

The writing is, typically for Wesolowski, very good. My only slight negative is that, when going over certain parts of what happened, the same things get repeated again and again and again. I know this is how actual serialised podcasts work, but it can get a tad tedious when reading. Not for the first time I wish I had the audio book versions instead of the physical, but I digress. This slight issue is only very slight and in no way hurt my enjoyment or this book scoring full marks.

That flat-earth level wrongness I mentioned of mine resulted in this going from a three star to a five star score. So yea, hard and fast with that unexpected storytelling punch from Wesolowski. Everything just made so much sense.

TLDR:

The Earth is round.