“The Pram” by Joe Hill

“The Pram” by Joe Hill is a story that is part of Amazon’s Creature Feature Collection which features spooky tales from various authors. The story is about a couple Willy and Marianne who went through a depressive episode after Marianne experienced a miscarriage. They decide to relocate from Brooklyn for change in environment. They move into a farmhouse in Hobomeck, a small town in Maine. 

Willy finds a lonesome bridle path near the farmhouse that connects to the supermarket. When the local man from the supermarket loans him a baby carriage to take home the groceries, things turn sinister. He strolls through the bridle path pushing the baby carriage around and starts to hear cooing noises coming from it. Is he hallucinating or is he experiencing some paranormal activity?

Willy had bottled up the resentment he had felt after the tragic incident and doesn’t express it for fear of doing so will seem selfish on his part. But, once he starts to like the stroll through the bridle path just to hear the cooing noises of a baby from the pram, he realises that he was hurt by the loss of their unborn baby more than he thought. Marianne, on the other hand suffers from the guilt and she wants to patch things up in their married life. Though Willy is the primary character and the story revolves around his desperation to have a baby, Marianne’s character is more relatable. 

Joe Hill

The story starts off slow with spooky descriptions of the atmosphere. But, it has a solid premise that keeps it alive. There is also a religious sacrament angle built into the story that blends well to suggest how religious rituals feed into people’s fear and grief. The analogy with Willy’s descent into depression and his stroll through the eerie bridle path with a fitting end in the climax is interesting. But, the unsettling climactic end with gory events that unfold doesn’t sit well.

"The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins

"The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins is a mystery novel that revolves around three central female characters - Anna, Megan and Rachel whose lives are intertwined with jealousy, betrayal and contempt. 

Rachel, an alcoholic who is unable to cope up with her failed marriage takes the train in and out of London everyday and notices the lives of people living along the tracks when the train stops at the signal. She begins to notice a happy couple and builds an imaginary world about them in her mind. But, she notices something off one day and that changes everything she had imagined. She realises that she knows too much about the couple only when the lady in the house goes missing one Saturday night. To top that, she was in the same street that night but she is not able to remember anything that happened as she was drunk. Does she have any connect with the disappearance of the lady? Did she notice anything odd that would be of importance in the ongoing investigation? Is she responsible in anyway for what happened?

The novel is a slow-burn thriller that takes time to build up the suspense, but it gives a feeling something bad is going to happen until the point when it actually happens. The non-linear narrative is confusing at times with the timelines going back and forth, narrated by three different women. But, the novel stays focused and doesn't deviate much holding the attention of the readers all through.

Though the novel becomes predictable towards the end, the intense scenes, the backstory of each character, the justification behind their actions, the uninterrupted flow of events in this unsettling thriller make it a compelling read.