Short Story Sunday: Audiobook Review: The Pram by Joe Hill
The Pram
Series: Creature Feature short stories 1 of 6
Author: Joe Hill
Narrator: Robert Petkoff
Published: September 26, 2023
Audiobook: 1 hour 34 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Date Listened To: December 24, 2023
Jessica’s Rating: 3 stars
Short Story Description:
A husband’s obsessive desire for a child leads to an unexpected manifestation of his yearning in a nightmarish short story about fatherhood dreams by New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill.
Willy and Marianne’s farmhouse in Maine has acres of meadow and fresh air, and a lonesome bridle path in the forest along which Willy daydreams and ambles. When he’s loaned a decrepit old baby stroller to cart his groceries home, the rickety squeak of the wheels comforts him. So do the sweet coos of a baby Willy knows can’t be real. Can it? In this twisted thicket, wishes come true—with a price.
Joe Hill’s The Pram is part of Creature Feature, a collection of devilishly creepy stories that tingle the spine and twist the mind. They can be read or listened to in one petrifying sitting.
Jessica’s Review:
It seems strange to call part of this story refreshing but in a way it is: We have a couple who lost a bay due to miscarriage. Instead of the grief of the mother, the reader/listener experiences the grief of the father-to-be. This is hardly ever done in stories. In addition to the grief, we have a very creepy story with some gore to it.
This is a short story written by Joe Hill who is Stephen King’s son and mini-me! It was about a 90-minute listen and part of the Creature Feature short story collection from Amazon. This short story was narrated by Robert Petkoff who did a good job with his narration once I adjusted to his voice. I did have to start the story over as I had no idea what was going on, but that might have just been me.
We have a couple, Willy and Marianne, who have suffered a miscarriage and they move into a new town. There is a small country store that is about a mile from their home through a path where Willy buys their groceries from. One day he is loaned a pram to bring his groceries home in. Later on the pram takes on a life of its own.
The story just moves along well despite its short length. As the story continues it just gets creepier until it gets to the conclusion. Again it is gory! The creepiness goes long the lines of Rosemary’s baby: Just what is in the pram and what is going to happen next! The journey is far creepier than the ending, but that is creepy as well.
Overall this one was just average for me. I don’t know why I am really indifferent to it. It just wasn’t a story for me. Or it may be that Joe Hill isn’t for me. I tried to read a novel of his once and DNF’d it. I have loved his father’s work: I read Stephen King as a teenager and that must be where my love of thrillers/horror comes from. Those of us Gen X’ers who read him as teens are all messed up adults now! But we realize it and are fine with it!
Book Review: NOS4A2 by Joe Hill
NOS4A2
Author: Joe Hill
Published: April 30, 2013
704 Pages
Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Victoria McQueen has a secret gift for finding things: a misplaced bracelet, a missing photograph, answers to unanswerable questions. On her Raleigh Tuff Burner bike, she makes her way to a rickety covered bridge that, within moments, takes her wherever she needs to go, whether it’s across Massachusetts or across the country.
Charles Talent Manx has a way with children. He likes to take them for rides in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the NOS4A2 vanity plate. With his old car, he can slip right out of the everyday world, and onto the hidden roads that transport them to an astonishing – and terrifying – playground of amusements he calls “Christmasland.”
Then, one day, Vic goes looking for trouble—and finds Manx. That was a lifetime ago. Now Vic, the only kid to ever escape Manx’s unmitigated evil, is all grown up and desperate to forget. But Charlie Manx never stopped thinking about Victoria McQueen. He’s on the road again and he’s picked up a new passenger: Vic’s own son.
Kim’s Review:
First Joe Hill book … worth it! As soon as I read the description, I was hooked. And he had me almost the whole time. The only reason I took away a star is because he unfortunately falls into the same flaw as his father, sometimes he just drew out the story when it should have been condensed. However, I still really enjoyed this book! I liked his timeline within the story. I loved the characters! There was a lot of growth and emotions. I didn’t know how it was going to end, but when the end came, I loved it. There were so many scary elements that kept me on edge. The mystical, metaphorical elements, I actually got most of them! I feel like I understood the story and I don’t always say that with these ambiguous plots. I really liked this book a lot. It kept me engaged (most of the time), I cared about the characters, and I understood it! I can’t wait to read more Joe Hill!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
