The Wrong Train by Jeremy de Quidt

Okay, I've given this five stars but I'm not sure how much I really enjoyed it!  I mean, I kept reading and stuff because the stories were so compelling, but they were also completely terrifying and creepy.  I read this book in bed a couple of times and found that I had to read a couple of chapters of a nice fluffy contemporary before putting my light out to un-freak myself.

So the premise is that one night this boy gets on the wrong train home.  He realises his mistake and gets off the train as soon as he can, but the place he disembarks turns out to be a way station, not a real station.  His phone dies so he just has to sit in the dark and wait for the next train to come through.  Then this creepy old guy comes along and starts telling the boy stories.

Spoiler alert: none of the stories have a happy ending.

The stories are really good and all have a central theme of a young person unwittingly awakening some malevolent force.  They are super creepy.  I was freaked.  I would peg these stories as The Shining level of creepiness, and like I said before I had to read something else for a bit before trying to get off to sleep.

If you like your stories weird and creepy, I would definitely recommend this one.  I really enjoyed it.

5 stars