One cold November night in 2014 in a small town in the north west of England 26-year-old Arla Macleod bludgeoned her mother father & younger sister to death with a hammer in an unprovoked attack known as the ' Macleod Massacre' Now incarcerated at a medium-security mental-health institution Arla will speak to no one but Scott King an investigative journalist whose Six Stories' podcasts have become an internet sensation King finds himself immersed in an increasingly complex case interviewing five witnesses & Arla herself as he questions whether Arla's responsibility for the massacre was a diminished as her legal team made out As he unpicks the stories he finds himself thrust into a world of deadly forbidden games' online trolls & the mysterious Black-eyed Children whose presence extends far beyond the delusions of a murderess Dark chilling & gripping Hydra is both a classic murder mystery & an up-to-the-minute startling thriller that shines light in places you may never ever want to see again