Release date: May 8th 2025
Publisher: Wild Hunt Books
Pages: 93
Find it: Goodreads Waterstones
Source: The publisher kindly sent me an E-ARC to review
Rating: 4.25/5 stars

Synopsis

HE ALWAYS COMES FOR YOU…

Leo is just trying to catch his train back home to the village of Malacstone in North East England. But there’s disorder at the station, and when a loud young man heading for London boards the train accidentally, a usually easy journey descends into darkness and chaos. The train soon breaks down in the middle of nowhere, and as night falls, something…or someone steps out of the distance. Is it a man or something far more sinister?
When one of the passengers goes missing, Leo fears that a folkloric tale whispered to him in childhood might be the culprit.

Review

(Don’t) Call Mum is a tense and gripping novella that follows Leo as he catches a train back to his home in Malacstone in the North East of England. There’s a disgruntled passenger who got on the train by mistake and things are tense onboard the carriage. When the train breaks down in the middle of nowhere as night falls, Leo and the passenger begin to sense something sinister. Is it just being stuck in the middle of nowhere? Or is there something far more sinister trying to board the train?

I absolutely loved Matt Wesolowski’s Six Stories series so I was very intrigued to pick up something else by this author. This little novella is dark, compelling, and best devoured in a single, heart pounding sitting. I was completely glued to the story and I could not look away from the page. Wesolowski does an incredible job of building this tense, eerie atmosphere that just builds and builds throughout the story. I loved the slightly claustrophobic train setting and the way Wesolowski was able to create captivating, well developed characters in such a short amount of pages. There’s Leo – who’s travelling home, thinking about his past and how life didn’t turn out quite how he thought. There’s Angus – the loud, angry young man who got on the wrong train. He’s exceptionally rude and it was so easy to instantly dislike him. I thought Jodie was also an interesting character, someone Leo befriends as they are struck on this strange train journey.

One of the things I really enjoyed about Six Stories was the way Wesolowski was able to craft these scenes that genuinely frightened me and the same was true about (Don’t) Call Mum. There are definitely a few moments that sent a shiver up my spine and had me on the edge of my seat. This is a captivated, excellently crafted tale so if you’re looking for a horror novella that’s dark, tense and chilling, this one should without a doubt be your next read.