Nat Cassidy is screenwriter, an actor, and novelist. His recent novels include Mary, Nestlings, the upcoming novella Rest Stop and his anticipated 2025 novel When the Wolf Comes.
His novels Mary and Nestlings have become TikTok darlings with many readers including them on their top reading lists. Many readers are excited about his upcoming When the Wolf Comes and I’m sure it will be another viral hit.
Cassidy’s writing is relaxed and approachable, yet often deeply philosophical, thoughtful, and introspective.
Although, don’t get too comfortable with his words, because even though it’s quiet at times, one shouldn’t feel too at ease because that’s when the horror begins to seep in, boldly and present on the page.
Cassidy has been vocal that Stephen King has been a major influence in terms of his love of the horror genre, and his inspiration for developing his own works. Cassidy has worked with some familiar tropes, twisting and reversing them, shifting the prism through which we’ve previously looked at these themes, and he’s done so in brilliant ways.
Beyond exploring serial killers and vampires, Cassidy has examined much more complex cultural phenomena, like societal paranoia and what that looked like during specific decades. His works lean character-focused, with strong female representations.
In previous interviews, Cassidy has said women have been the primary influence in his life and that he’s worked closely with women in developing his characters.
Following is a sampling of his current work and what is to come.
Mary: An Awakening of Terror
Mary is hearing voices, hallucinating, and experiencing other strange symptoms she attributes to perimenopause.
When she loses her job in a bookstore, Mary moves in with her Aunt Nadine in Arroyo, Arizona, a town occupied with religious fanatics and haunted by the history of a gruesome serial killer.
However, when Mary returns, the symptoms, and her rage, only increase. There are gruesome visions, and well, more, so much more.
Mary has some slight coincidences with a famous Stephen King character, and as you continue reading through, you’ll surely discover who that is. Throughout the novel, we are in Mary’s head, witnessing her insights, thoughts, and wit.
Yet, the question presented throughout is that of trauma, what happens to it with time and where does it go.
Mary, the novel and the character are completely engrossing. Aunt Nadine, is well, as crass as you could imagine, and the secrets that linger around the town and the house will leave you shocked.
Nestlings
Cassidy returns with an intense novel wrought with tension. Nestlings is said to have nods to Rosemary’s Baby and Salem’s Lot, and those are great assessments.
This novel takes place in a New York City residential building. We meet Ana and Reid who have been through a lot, and what’s wonderful and gripping about Cassidy’s writing is that he’s able to really focus in on the chaos of human experiences—which are horrors themselves.
While in Mary, he looked at perimenopause, here he looks at postpartum, and in particular the effects of a complicated childbirth. Reid has to care for Ana who is now in a wheelchair after the birth of their daughter.
There are massive life changes here, physical (one’s body), location/physical (they have just moved), social (there are new people in the building for them to meet), emotional (processing it all).
Cassidy then takes all of this trauma and all of these changes this new family is experiencing and inserts utter terror. Traumatic, multi-layered, and absolutely creepy.
Rest Stop: A Novella
Coming October 2024, Rest Stop is a novella that follows a young musician who finds himself locked in a gas station bathroom—and there’s an unseen assailant nearby.
Cassidy once again gives a nod to Stephen King likening this work to Green Room meets Gerald’s Game. This is work falls more in line with what can be considered extreme horror.
It’s gory, but this is Nat Cassidy so the insights here are marvelous. This story is tense, tight, and strange, but once you’re locked in there’s no letting go.
When the Wolf Comes Home
This isn’t a spoiler, but there are wolves in this (See the title). When The Wolf Comes Home is Cassidy’s homage to 1980s horror, particularly paperback horror that you could find on a rack in the grocery store.
For those of us who remember, these often had glossy covers with wild and creepy images that enticed us with even creepier dolls, terrifying monsters, and yes, sometimes even a werewolf or two.
Once again, Cassidy writes a female lead and once again his female characters are rich and complex. We follow Jess, a struggling actress by day and a waitress at a diner by night who after a strange shift at work returns home to find a small boy hiding outside her apartment.
She takes him in and when his father comes for him Jess and the boy flee, fearing for their lives once it’s clear why the boy left. This is a story about making quick life-changing decisions, feeling like you’re making the right choice, all throughout being with someone you do not know.
Jess has to face mounting horrors to protect this boy from his father, and more.
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