Deity by Matt Wesolowski – A Book Review

Blurb:

A shamed pop star
A devastating fire
Six witnesses
Six stories
Which one is true?

When pop megastar Zach Crystal dies in a fire at his remote mansion, his mysterious demise rips open the bitter divide between those who adored his music and his endless charity work, and those who viewed him as a despicable predator, who manipulated and abused young and vulnerable girls.

Online journalist, Scott King, whose Six Stories podcasts have become an internet sensation, investigates the accusations of sexual abuse and murder that were levelled at Crystal before he died. But as Scott begins to ask questions and rake over old graves, some startling inconsistencies emerge: Was the fire at Crystal’s remote home really an accident? Are reports of a haunting really true? Why was he never officially charged?

Author: Matt Wesolowski

Publisher: Orenda Books

Series: Six Stories #5

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 253

Release Date: 18/12/2020

My Chosen Format: Kindle

My Rating for ‘Deity’: 5 out of 5

Purchase: Amazon UK, Amazon US

Review:

Up until finishing Deity, Changeling was my favourite thriller I’d read this year. It was also my favourite in the Six Stories series. Deity has robbed that wonderful book of the top spot for both. 

Where Changeling was excellent for the unexpected reveals and long-lasting ramifications it has for the series, Deity was brilliant for not only having potential ramifications going forward with the series, but for being one heck of a complete story. It literally had everything I wanted from a Six Stories episode and I can’t think of anything I would have changed were I given carte blanche to do so.

With the focus being around the once global pop mega star, Zach Crystal, we are treated to a character that exudes the controversial vibes of Michael Jackson whilst being mired with the possibility of the horrific darkness of Gary Glitter. You certainly get images of both as far as the meteoric rise to stardom and the subsequent cult-like following he has globally.

At it’s core, Deity is a story about how enough fanatics can make even the most evil and heinous of accusations go away as if they never happened. It’s a look into how much trust and love we pour into the very idea of ‘celebrity’ and how much we’d be willing to let our idols get away with when at the heights of their power.

I think the main strength that Wesolowski possesses is his ability to create fictional characters that exist in our real world and make them feel so very real. When people are mentioned from earlier books you feel like they’re names you’re used to seeing in the headlines, or the musicians are people you expect to see on Youtube whenever you click on for a music fix. In short, Wesolowski does a wonderful job of making the fiction incredibly believable. 

Another one of his strengths, one that certainly resonated with Deity, is the ability to make the reader feel uncomfortable at what is happening (given the subject matter it’s hard not to feel like having a bit of a cringe every now and then) yet leaving you with that insatiable desire to see what’s actually occurring. 

This was the best of the bunch for me for a number of reasons, some of which I have already mentioned but, chief amongst them would have to be the fact that, at no point was I completely certain of what was happening/would happen. Looking back, there were clues that I could have pieced together, but they were given in such a blasé, normal way that you don’t think to do so. Even had I guessed most of what was happening, I got to the conclusion and felt that, even had I a crystal ball, I’d not have been able to get everything all straightened out as it had been when laid bare at the end. 

To cut a long story short, Matt has left me keen to see what happens with Scott next and I only hope there are many more episodes of Six Stories in the pipeline. This was my 100th, and final, book of the year and I’m glad that I saved the best thriller novel until last.