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A review by kellyvandamme
The Six by Luca Veste
5.0
Six friends are off to a festival: three women, three men, three couples. They have known each other for ages, some have gone from friends to lovers, and this festival is like a rite to say goodbye to their youth and welcome adulthood. They’re having a great time, until one of them is attacked at night. The others jump in and the attacker dies. The logical thing to do would be to call the police. But they don’t. Something like mass hysteria kicks in, they convince themselves and each other that they will be blamed and they decide to bury the man instead. So far so good, but then they stumble over another body in the woods, a young man, a red candle in a storm lantern next to him. They have to assume this is a victim of the elusive Candle Man, a serial killer whose trademark is exactly that: leaving a red candle in a storm lantern by the body, a killer whose very existence is denied by the authorities, but legend has it he is responsible for many more bodies than those actually found. And if this is the Candle Man’s victim, does that mean they’ve just killed the killer?
Wowsers! That was one creepy as hell start! The tension simmers down a little after this epic opening, and we fast-forward a year to the current events, while alternatingly going back to the 90s so get to know our characters a little better. A year after what happened in the woods, two of the three couples have fallen apart and then tragedy strikes again when one the six friends dies. Is it suicide because he couldn’t live with the secret anymore, or does someone know what they did last summer and was he punished for it? And in that case, will they be picked off one by one?
Told in the first person from the POV of one of the characters, The Six takes you on quite the rollercoaster ride! There’s an underlying tension, a constant threat simmering just below the surface, and you can’t help but wonder who will be next. I was also dying to figure out what was what! Loads of questions and zero answers propelled me through the book in search of answers. And let me tell you, the answers I got were ones I hadn’t expected in the least!
I also loved the 90s vibe emanating from the pages right from the start. I’m about the same age as the characters, so their nostalgia is my nostalgia and I felt right at home with the six.
So there you have it: I loved everything about this book! I really enjoyed The Bone Keeper last year, but with The Six, Luca Veste really knocks it out of the park! If you’re in the mood for a creepy, suspenseful thriller, look no more and pick up The Six!
Many thanks to Simon and Schuster UK and NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.
Wowsers! That was one creepy as hell start! The tension simmers down a little after this epic opening, and we fast-forward a year to the current events, while alternatingly going back to the 90s so get to know our characters a little better. A year after what happened in the woods, two of the three couples have fallen apart and then tragedy strikes again when one the six friends dies. Is it suicide because he couldn’t live with the secret anymore, or does someone know what they did last summer and was he punished for it? And in that case, will they be picked off one by one?
Told in the first person from the POV of one of the characters, The Six takes you on quite the rollercoaster ride! There’s an underlying tension, a constant threat simmering just below the surface, and you can’t help but wonder who will be next. I was also dying to figure out what was what! Loads of questions and zero answers propelled me through the book in search of answers. And let me tell you, the answers I got were ones I hadn’t expected in the least!
I also loved the 90s vibe emanating from the pages right from the start. I’m about the same age as the characters, so their nostalgia is my nostalgia and I felt right at home with the six.
So there you have it: I loved everything about this book! I really enjoyed The Bone Keeper last year, but with The Six, Luca Veste really knocks it out of the park! If you’re in the mood for a creepy, suspenseful thriller, look no more and pick up The Six!
Many thanks to Simon and Schuster UK and NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.