{"id":104164,"date":"2025-02-22T23:01:01","date_gmt":"2025-02-22T23:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/entertainment\/books\/dont-call-mum-by-matt-wesolowski-bookreview\/"},"modified":"2025-02-22T23:01:01","modified_gmt":"2025-02-22T23:01:01","slug":"dont-call-mum-by-matt-wesolowski-bookreview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=104164","title":{"rendered":"(Don’t) Call Mum by Matt Wesolowski #BookReview"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Leo is just trying to catch his train back home to the village of Malacstone in North East England. But there\u2019s 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?\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

When one of the passengers goes missing, Leo fears that a folkloric tale whispered to him in childhood might be the culprit.<\/i><\/p>\n

It’s my pleasure to be sharing my review of\u00a0 (Don’t) Call Mum by Matt Wesolowski today. Many thanks to Wild Hunt Books for my advance copy of the novella.<\/p>\n

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(Don\u2019t) Call Mum is part of the Northern Weird Project; throughout 2025, Wild Hunt Books will publish six pocket-sized novellas from authors based in the North of England and who are also engaging with the North as setting, subject and character. I\u2019m a huge fan of Matt Wesolowski\u2019s Six Stories series and particularly enjoy the way he combines urban grittiness with chilling folkloric elements in his books.\u00a0 I also remember loving reading horror books as a teenager and still have the copies of the Pan Books of Horror Stories given to me by my uncle so I was excited to read (Don\u2019t) Call Mum and put aside a few hours to indulge myself as I knew this would be a compelling, one-sitting read.<\/p>\n

Despite only being a fairly short book, the plot and character development is superb throughout. Readers are introduced to Leo as he waits on the platform for the train that will take him to York before he catches the Northern Sprinter service back to his mum and the Northumberland village he grew up in. He is a rather jaded postgrad student who isn\u2019t really comfortable with who he is and is both irritated and amused by the undergraduates also waiting at the station. His luck initially appears to be in though as they are headed in a different direction and for once his train is on time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The steady pacing of the story mirrors the rhythm of a train journey as it gradually picks up speed. At first everything seems to be running smoothly; he is looking forward to a Chinese takeaway and enjoys some lighthearted conversation with fellow traveller, Jodie. They continue to exchange pleasantries when it transpires they are both catching the train north east but even at this early stage there is another, more introspective side to Leo. He is drawn to a news article about a missing man and a thought pops into his head about Underwood, a village that has long haunted him. His own father walked out on him and his mum years ago and as a child, he was told dad had gone to Underwood and later warned never to go there himself.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an unnerving sense of foreboding with this revelation because Underwood is one of the stops on his journey home. However, a more immediately obnoxious presence comes in the form of Angus, a southerner whose arrival changes the dynamic of the storyline. We\u2019ve all had the displeasure of coming across an Angus at some point; he\u2019s a rude, braying loud-mouth and so it\u2019s initially difficult to feel much sympathy with his predicament when it turns out he is on the wrong train.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s from this point that this dark, twisted tale takes a disturbing turn and the creepily atmospheric descriptions really escalate the sense of dread. I\u2019ve never travelled that far north on a train but I\u2019ve passed through plenty of eerily quiet village stations late at night and Matt\u00a0 Wesolowski captures the unsettling feeling of isolation perfectly. As the train draws inexorably closer to Underwood, the descent into chaos and terror had my heart in my mouth; I read (Don\u2019t) Call Mum in the afternoon but I can imagine that reading it at night or worse on a train would be even more spine-chilling.<\/p>\n

As Leo\u2019s trip home becomes a journey into madness, the tension is almost unbearable and the shocking conclusion is both desperately poignant and absolutely horrific to contemplate. However, while (Don\u2019t) Call Mum is a grimly thrilling story, it bears all the usual hallmarks of a Matt Wesolowski novel. It is beautifully written, with vividly haunting descriptions and is a moving, perceptive exploration of human behaviour \u2013 after all, isn\u2019t it natural in times of dire need to want to call mum\u2026<\/p>\n

About the Author<\/u><\/i><\/p>\n

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<\/i>Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK. He is a former English teacher for young people in the PRU and care systems. Matt was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2015. His debut thriller, Six Stories, was an Amazon bestseller in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia, and a WHSmith Fresh Talent pick. Hydra, was published in 2018 and became an international bestseller. Changeling, the third book in the series, was published in 2019 and was longlisted for the Theakston\u2019s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. His fourth book, Beast, won the Amazon Publishing Readers\u2019 Independent Voice Book of the Year award in 2020 and was followed by Deity and then Demon in 2022. The Six Stories series is currently being adapted for television. Matt currently works as a tutor for Faber Academy. He lives in Newcastle with his partner and son, several tanks of rescued goldfish, a snake and a cat and an axolotl.<\/i><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leo is just trying to catch his train back home to the village of Malacstone in North East England. But there\u2019s 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. 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