2.5 Stars
Loved the premise of this book and it started of really well, with more than a passing resemblance to 'I Know What You Did Last Summer'.
Unfortunately for me it didn't live up to it's early promise. None of the characters were particularly likeable, some of their actions were very questionable, the reveal of the perpetrator was odd and I found the ending to be a bit of a let down.

I have to admit to my heart sinking when I started to read this book which opens with a group of thirty somethings going to a music festival as it ass seemed a bit twee. However this bubble is soon burst and the whole thing takes a darker turn. This is a book about lies, guilt, consequences and friendship. The writing is very good and there are some parts of the narrative where the tension can be felt through your body. I didn't expect it to end the way it did and when you thought you knew how it was going to turn out there is a final kick to the gut. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone.

#TheSix #NetGalley

This is my first read by Luca Veste , The Six, and what a cracker it is!

When Six friends go to a music festival, their last big party before accepting adulthood has arrived, something inexplicable happens to them which changes the course of their lives forever. Someone dies, and on their hands is the blood, making a promise to tell no one, they cover up the killing and attempt to go about their usual lives.

Spin forward a year and with the anniversary of what they did coming fast, the story takes us to the present day where tragedy has struck and on the six has died, committing suicide... or did he?

Matt begins looking into both the death of his friend while trying to piece together what happened on that dark night nearly a year ago..

With the friendships fracturing, Luca Veste writes a brilliant tale, of desperation and survival, delving into the human psyche and what lengths people will go to for self-preservation.

A serial killer thriller with a very different and clever take, not an idea I’ve read before and I loved it. Going back into the 90s, we learn how 'The Six' came together and what shaped them today,

With references to the music and culture of the 90s, the protagonists in this book are the same age as me so it was like being taken back to being a teenager.

This is a brilliant, compelling and gripping take on a murder mystery, pulling you one way while you think you knows whats coming, the ending is as shocking as you would expect.

Luca Veste is definitely an author I’ll be reading more of very soon.

Highly Recommended

4🔥🔥🔥🔥

The Six by Luca Veste is a psychological thriller.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Simon and Schuster, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

 
My Synopsis:   (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)

Friends forever, three couples decide to re-live their youth by attending a 3-day music festival in a farmers field.  On the last night of their stay,  one of their group is attacked, and they all come to his rescue.

What follows becomes their secret.  Instead of trying to explain the circumstances to the police, they form a pact to never discuss where they buried the body, or to wonder what happened to the other one.   But that is easier said than done.

A year later, Matt and Alexandra have separated.  Neither one of them has ever really gotten over that night.  Matt is barely sleeping.  Stuart and Michelle are not together either, but Chris and Nicola seem to have moved on from that horrendous night.

When it becomes evident that someone is targeting the six, both Matt and Michelle are sure that a serial killer has re-surfaced, and is out for revenge.  The others are not convinced.  How many will die before Matt figures out who the killer is.


My Opinions:  

After reading The Bone Keeper by this author, I have kept my eyes open for his next stand-alone novel, so was thrilled when I saw this.  My only concern was that my expectations may be a little too high.  I was wrong.  This book sucked me in and did not let go.  It is a captivating, creepy and totally gripping book.

The story, written from Matt's point of view, allowed the reader to see into the mind of a guilt-ridden, very tired and somewhat agoraphobic man, who just wants to save his friends...and sleep.   (Sometimes I wondered if he was a reliable narrator.)  We learned how the friendship between these six came to be, their childhood escapades and university triumphs, right up to the fateful night that changed everything.   We also learned how a secret among friends can have adverse affects on each of them, and put a strain on their relationships with each other.  The author nailed the way the information was given out, in piece-meal, thereby not giving too much away at one time, and yet keeping everything straight-forward.

The writing was excellent, there were a number of interesting twists, and I loved the ending.  What more can I say....highly recommended!

A competent thriller, The Six by Luca Veste tells the story of a group of friends who share a terrible secret. Going to the music festival was supposed to be a fun weekend, a chance to relive their teenage years now that those days were far behind them and adult responsibilities like marriage and mortgages are beckoning, but on the last night, one of the group is attacked , and in their attempts to defend themselves, they kill the attacker. Unsure of what to do, but wary of police involvement, they decide to bury him in the forest, a decision that seems even wiser when they stumble across a second body, and realise that the man they killed must have had a dark secret of his own. Secrets take a toll however, and when we rejoin the six a year later, friendships and relationships have fallen apart, and only the tragic death of one of the group brings them back together. It seems that someone has broken the pact they made that night however, because one by one they become targets and the killing starts up all over again.
I liked the premise of the book, and as always the author does a good job of setting a disturbing scene and building tension into the book. I was disappointed by how similar the characters were, they were almost indistinguishable at times, and none really stood out , which made it difficult to care about what happened to any of them , I often found myself checking back to see which characters point of view I was reading. I also struggled with the ending, it felt a little desperate and flat.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

As a huge fan of the Two Crime Writers and a Microphone podcast, which Veste co-hosts with fellow crime fiction writer Steve Cavanagh, I was aware that Veste usually writes police procedurals that are a blend of crime fiction and horror and that comment on the nature of mythology. The Six is Veste's first book that isn't a police procedural. Instead, it features a group of six friends who have a life-changing experience at a nineties-themed music festival. The book is narrated by Matt, one of the friends, both in the present (immediately before, during, and after the event) and in the past (when the friends were in high school and college). The past narrative brilliantly gives us an insight into the relationships between the six friends, as well as stirring up more questions about what might really have happened in the woods that night. 

The sections set in the past, as well as the festival itself, contain plenty of authentic nineties nostalgia through music and television references. I'm about the same age as Veste so I identify with the issues in the book: thirty-somethings at the cusp of adulthood, unable to go back but also hesitant about the future. In addition, referencing the nineties creates an interesting juxtaposition between the cheesy pop artists mentioned playing at the festival and in a playlist Matt created to accompany the weekend (including Steps, Britney Spears, East 17, and Will Smith to name a few) and the wealth of now classic horror films released during the nineties; the book is indirectly infused with the atmosphere of films including Se7en, The Silence of the Lambs, Scream, and The Blair Witch Project (a feat I'm also trying to add to my own book that I'm writing at the moment) so kudos to Veste for achieving this so vividly. The book is gloriously creepy as the group have no idea what they're up against and features one particularly disturbing scene of body horror involving a train.

The book is also a commentary on mythology and media and online coverage of murder cases and missing persons cases. As a result, the friends are unsure whether they have even come in contact with a serial killer, The Candle Man. To add to this, it's unclear whether there is such a killer, or group of killers, as the police have denied that such a figure exists. The book is a creepy mystery as Matt becomes plagued with paranoia and anxiety as he searches for answers online about what really happened and who might be after the group. Yet, his narrative never seems completely trustworthy in itself as he questions everyone around him and his friends start to question him. It's a brilliant commentary on paranoia within groups of friends and dealing with the consequences of a crime and the collective trauma this can cause.

I haven't read any of Veste's previous books, including those in the Murphy and Rossi series, but I'll be rectifying this pretty quickly. The Six is a highly accomplished and thoroughly enjoyable psychological thriller with a great dose of horror.

My thanks to Luca Veste, Simon & Schuster UK, and NetGalley for giving me an advanced review copy in return for an honest review.

Luca Veste's The Six is about a group of friends who struggle to keep a secret after killing a man one night whilst at a festival.

The book is superbly written with numerous twists and turns which draw you in and keep you hooked throughout

This is the first book by Luca Veste that I have read but it won't be the last one

Definitely recommended

This has all the elements of an enjoyable creepy story. There's the urban myth of the 'Candle Man' who leaves red candles at the scenes of his crime. A camping trip that goes very wrong. Six friends held together by their shared past and by the buried body they have told no-one about, but it seems that someone or something knows something about what happened, and there is a price to be paid for this.
The story is told from the point of view of Matt (who is one of the six friends), in the present day which is one year on from the camping trip and in flashback to both the camping trip, and the origins of the group of friends. Matt makes a fabulous unreliable narrator. Is his anxiety clouding his judgement? Does he remember his childhood as the way things really were, or through the haze of nostalgia? Can he really be sure of what is happening if he hasn't spoken to his friends in over a year?Add in a hint of the supernatural and the hairs on the back of my neck were standing to attention.

It's fun, it's fast paced, it's spooky and nostalgic and the ending unexpected. I loved it and will definitely be looking out for more books from this author.

My thanks go to the publishers and Net Galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

I have to preface this review, this novel should be made in to a movie.
Packed full of suspense. An absolute page turner that has you gripped from start to finish.

Having loved everything that Luca Veste has put out, I had high hopes for this one too. It definately didn't disappoint. Fast paced and intriguing. Good to see a local author doing brilliantly. I'm hoping that he gets some of his novels optioned for film as they would definately stand up to the big screen

Brilliant story. I love this author. What a unique and amazing story. I loved it. Fantastic and as always well weitten

What a fantastic novel, the tense and suspense and the final twist were brilliant. I haven’t read any Luca Veste before but I can honestly say this was a brilliant read. The last 50% I read in two days so it shows how it grips you in and then you’re hooked. Well done Luca.

Very 'meh'. At the end of the book, I wasn't satisfied with the ending, and I realised it was largely because I didn't care about any of the characters. None of them were particularly likeable, and the narrator Matt spent too much of the book using only short sentences, which for me killed the flow. I was also a little irritated by all the mentions of "that night" or "what we did"; everybody kept talking in riddles. When the killer explains their motives, they were so unbelievable and simplistic compared to other books I've read. That said, it was an easy enough read - not too long and not too heavy going.

This is the story of six friends, most having grown up together, and their attempts at revisiting their lost youth when they attend a festival for a last hurrah before actually admitting that they all need to proper settle down. But their festivities are cut short by what happens on the Saturday night. A body is buried and a secret is sworn. But the repercussions are felt by all, guilt and shame carried. We pick up the action a year later when one of the six dies and the remaining five meet at the funeral. They then swap stories about the intervening time and, more importantly, strange things that have been happening in the present and it soon becomes evident that they haven't left their joint past behind. What happened that night still haunts their dreams and now, appears to now be haunting their waking time too.
I have a fair few reservations about some of the stuff that happens along the way in this book. As well as the present, and one year ago, we also hear from their more distant past as they grow up together; most meeting at school. But my reservations were on the whole minor things so I wasn't about to let them spoil the rest of what was happening, and I'm also not going to spoil the book for you by listing them here, They just irked me a tad along the way and made the book not flow as smoothly as it maybe could have for me.
The storyline was well plotted and executed. There was a level of darkness and intrigue all the way through the book with multiple explanations and suspects to try and hypothesise over. Yes there were a few thing along the way that I had to swallow, accept and carry on, but I've never been in that situation myself so who am I really to judge?
On the other hand, I pretty much hated all the characters. Not my people. Maybe the author wrote them all that way so as to keep certain things in play throughout the book but, for me, I didn't really care for any of them and thus didn't really care what happened to them. Not enough to stop reading mind as, despite all that, I still wanted to know the truth. Kudos to the author for that at least! He also writes in a way that suits my reading. Not too much waffle and padding and he did get on with the story well.
All in all, a solid read that kept my attention more/less throughout and left me mostly satisfied at its conclusion. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Six friends that have known each other from school, decide to go to a 90’s music festival. Now in their 30’s they go to reminisce the good old days when they first met. After the festival they camp down for the night. In the middle of the night, they realise that Stuart is missing so they search the nearby wood to search for him. What they witness will change their lives forever. They all agree not to speak of it again, they struggle with the consequences.
A year later, Stuart is found dead an apparent suicide. But certain evidence shows that he was murdered. Matt is on the search for the truth. In the meantime, other members of the group start to disappear. The story goes back and forth in time, showing the lives and the relationships between the six and the events that bring up to the present day.
This is the first Luca Veste book I have read. I found it slow to start but I am glad I carried on. I thought that it was well written, creepy thriller which I enjoyed very much. I will look out for more books from this author.

This book is basically I know what you did last summer but with adults who should know better. The friend group were meh characters who I didn't dislike or like. The story was basic.

The Six is a riveting read! Six friends meet up at a reunion music festival reliving their youth but one of them is attacked in the woods 7and the others protect him resulting in a murder. In a reckless act of solidarity the friends hide the body but another murder is discovered close by and their situation becomes precarious as they know suspicion will fall on them. Their efforts for self preservation backfires on them as a serial killer called The Candle Man is implicated and seems to be after them too as they attempt to return to their normal lives. Relationships between them break down as suspicion and accusations are thrown back and forth. As the story unfolds the Six realise that they didn't know each other as well as they thought and they are all in danger
Tense and compulsive, dark and menacing set in contemporary and familiar middle England.

Thank you Netgalley and Publishers for granting me early access to "The Six".

I'm currently in the middle of a major move, and will definitely come back at a later time and write out a full review and rating.

Thank you so much!

I could definitely see this book as a film. The thriller plot centres around a group of friends who return to their youth with a trip to a festival. However, it turns out not to be the happy time they anticipated, instead it becomes the scene of a brutal event that changes all of their lives in an instant.
I enjoyed the narrative flashbacks whilst we begin to piece together the personalities and events of the past, mixed into the current events and the aftermath of that weekend.
A mix of thriller and serial killer crime drama this book is certainly entertaining. I wasn’t the biggest face of the OTT rooftop drama towards the end of the book ~ I can only use my suspension of disbelief so much... however it’s overall a well-written, nicely paced and plotted story with an exciting cast of characters to discover.
Recommended read.

Matt, Alexandra, Chris, Michelle, Stuart and Nicola know each other since school. Now they are all in their thirties and are accepting the fact that they are adults now. They have houses, jobs, are married. When they decide to go on a trip to a music festival they did not know that this trip will change their lives. On their last night camping on the festival ground something happens. Afterwards nothing is like it used to be. They friendships cracked and a year after the horrible events one of them is dead.

This book was just what I needed. A solid psychological thriller, well-crafted and the writing is superb. The author creates a chilling atmosphere. The friends made a wrong decision in a moment of panic and now they are paying a high price for their actions. I found the characters well developed and I envied them for their lasting friendship. The thing about the serial killer and how he worms his way into their lives is creepy and the twist at the end was a surprise. I did not see that coming although in hindsight I can see there where some red flags but I did not get them. I especially liked the writing and how the author sucked me into his creepy story right from the beginning. The reason I only give 4 Stars is because the story slowed down after a while. The showdown at the end on that roof was a bit overdramatic and unrealistic. But I enjoyed the book, though. This was my first book from Luca Veste but definitely not my last one. I already found the German edition of “Dead Gone” on my kindle which I somehow never managed to read. I will change that very soon.