BOOK REVIEW | WHEN THE WOOF COMES HOME | NAT CASSIDY

 BOOK REVIEW | WHEN THE W9LF COMES HOME | NAT CASSIDY

BOOK DESCRIPTION 

An unabashed, adrenaline-fueled pop horror thriller about parenthood and other monsters from "The Stephen King of TikTok" The Lineup, reminiscent of Joe Hill and Grady Hendrix.

One night, Jess, a struggling actress, finds a five-year-old runaway hiding in the bushes outside her apartment. After a violent, bloody encounter with the boy's father, she and the boy find themselves running for their lives.

As they attempt to evade the boy's increasingly desperate father, horrifying incidents of butchery follow them. At first Jess thinks she understands what they're up against, but she's about to learn there's more to these surreal and grisly events than she could've ever imagined.

And that when the wolf finally comes home, none will be spared.

REVIEW

Nat Cassidy’s latest book is a pumping horror thriller reminiscent of books like The Fury, Firestarter mixed with It’s a Good Life.

Jess is a struggling actor who works at a local diner. One night she experiences a life changing event. First, whilst cleaning the bathroom she has a needle stick injury from a used hypodermic needle hidden behind the toilet.

Second she finds a young boy hiding in the bushes. Giving him sanctuary she is soon thrust into a life and death situation.

What happens next is a propulsive chase novel as Jess and the boy run from the father who will do anything to get his boy back. 

It’s obvious that Cassidy is having shedloads of fun in this novel. There are a number of set pieces that are just plain barking and had me laughing with joyful glee at the sheer bloody (literally) absurdity of them. However, whilst he is having fun, he manages to put a beating heart in the story that revolves around familial relationships and how this impacts on our kids. 

From the start of the book, Cassidy wastes little scene time building the characters of the story and they come fully formed with their own problems and insecurities. Jess already has a life that is littered with problems and joys. The boy (we never really know his name and he is just referred to as kiddo for most of the book) has his relationship with his father. 

Cassidy carefully plays with expectations throughout the whole of the book. There are many times that he tantalises the reader with what type of story they expect, but then quickly upends expectations and the story morphs into something else and sends it off into unexpected directions. 

When the Wolf Comes Home is a nerve shredding horror thriller that never relents in throwing expectations out of the window. Full of twists and turns and oodles of the red stuff, it ultimately has a beating heart that has an emotional tug. One of my horror releases of the year.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nat Cassidy is the author of the acclaimed novels Mary: An Awakening of Terror and Nestlings. His books have been featured in best-of lists from Esquire, Harper's Bazaar, NPR, the Chicago Review of Books, the NY Public Library, and more, and he was named one of the "writers shaping horror’s next golden age" by Esquire. His award-winning horror plays have been produced throughout New York City, as well as across the country, and he was commissioned to write the libretto for a world premiere short opera at the Kennedy Center (about the end of the world, of course). You've also likely seen Nat on TV, playing various monsters and Bad Guys of the Week on shows such as Law & Order: SVU, Blue Bloods, Bull, Quantico, FBI, and many others ... but that's a topic for a different bio. He lives in New York City with his wife.