I really, really can’t stay away from the Six Stories series. Deity is the fifth book in the series and I’ll probably finish the last book before the month is out! What can I say – this essentially has six long “chapters” and although I would ordinarily find the chapters long, each chapter/episode is so absorbing that I find myself flying through the book!

In Deity, podcaster Scott King turns his hand towards his most controversial case yet – the mysterious death of mega popstar Zach Chrystal. Chrystal’s music mesmerised the world and just as he was getting over rumours of predatory behaviour and making his comeback, he was burnt to death in his home. Was it a murder or was there something more, something connected to an otherworldly figure that haunted his home.

To be honest, when I first read about Zach Chrystal and the allegations about him, I felt like I knew exactly who inspired Deity – Michael Jackson. But happily, Wesolowski has given the case enough of a twist that even though I felt sure I knew what inspired the book, it still felt very original.

I mentioned in my review of Beast that I felt the supernatural aspects had been downplayed – well, I’m glad to say that in Deity, they are back! On one hand, I already knew that the possibility of a supernatural explanation has been ruled out after the last four books but on the other hand, I had chills reading about the haunted woods and genuinely wondered if Wesolowski was going to be doing something different with regards to the possibility of the supernatural up until the last chapter. This kind of ambiguity is what I’m here for!

And while the story stands alone, you’ll notice a very familiar character from the previous books. Personally, I quite liked the confirmation that these stories all took place in the same world and that they impact one another; I remember wondering in book two or three why the cases all seemed so independent and I’m glad to see that they aren’t (not entirely, anyway).

Looking back, Beast had a tough act to follow and it was trying something new with regards to what it means to explore a case from six angles and I do wish that I enjoyed it more. But I can’t deny that I enjoyed Deity more; it’s pretty much what I expected from a Six Stories book – a thrilling “cold case” tale with more than a hint of horror in it.