Nestlings

Reviews

Praise for Nestlings

“Nestlings is so f***ing good it makes me mad.”—Chuck Wendig, author of Wayward

“A truly creepy story of urban and bodily unease. Nat Cassidy has created a terrifyingly claustrophobic world, and his clean, beautiful prose manages to make the horrific events he describes here feel dismayingly plausible. You’ll certainly never look at a gargoyle the same way again.”—Scott B. Smith, Bestselling author of The Ruins and A Simple Plan

“An absolute triumph of a book. Propulsive and eerie . . .There's a furious grief to the book, a heartbroken rage that threads the pages together.”—Cassandra Khaw, best-selling author of Nothing But Blackened Teeth

“Ruthlessly terrifying, with the relentless pace of New York City itself. Nestlings will utterly possess you. You’ve been warned.”—Liz Kerin, author of Night’s Edge

“This book will mess you up, and you’ll be glad. Pitch-perfect creeping horror with heart (and viscera) in spades.”—Kiersten White, #1 NYT bestselling author of Hide

“Step into the Deptford, if you dare! Equally parts Rosemary's Baby and ‘Salem's Lot, I was squirming with shivers and reading this behind my fingers!”—Erin A. Craig, #1 NYT Bestselling author of House of Roots & Ruin and Small Favors

“Nestlings cleverly pays homage to classic horror while also filling its Manhattan highrise with post-2020 frights and concerns. Nat Cassidy has written a creepy page-turner where the scariest things of all are what reside in the human (or inhuman) heart.”—Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts.

“Nestlings builds on the success of Nat Cassidy's first novel, the strong Mary: An Awakening of Terror. An impressive accomplishment in its own right, Nestlings shows Cassidy expanding his range as a writer with skill and confidence, with this gripping twenty-first century take on some old terrors.”—John Langan, author of The Fisherman

“Delectably dark, gorgeously gory, and hypnotically engrossing. With its strong Rosemary's Baby vibe and contemporary sensibilities, Nestlings brings the Manhattan gothic to a triumphant new level.”—Zoje Stage, bestselling author of Baby Teeth and Mothered

“Nat Cassidy is a master of creeping fear, of urban unease, of uncanny dread and outright horror. In Nestlings he brings his considerable imagination to bear on a creature we may think we're all too familiar with and imbues it with new life, reclaiming it for terror. It's a triumph and a vision you won't soon forget.”—Ramsey Campbell, award-winning author

“Oh you like Rosemary’s Baby? 'Salem's Lot? Just wait until you read Nestlings by Nat Cassidy. It’s about the curse and revelation of survival. About the intense emotional complexity of family. It’s also about super weird superstar vampires. And it’s just so funny and smart. This is the horror book of the year.”—Erika T. Wurth, author of White Horse

“Finished Nestlings by Nat Cassidy and have already been recommending it left and right. So, so creepy. Well placed dashes of dark humor. Kept me on my toes till the very end!”—Erin E. Adams, author of Jackal

“I just finished reading Nestlings and Nat Cassidy has done it again, folks. Steeped in modern fears with old school horrors lurking behind every door. Go read it now!”—Brian McAuley, author of Curse of the Reaper

“When things are bad, can they possibly get worse? Life is upended in Cassidy’s darkly rich and layered Nestlings, as terror sweeps across the fragile.”—Cynthia Pelayo, Bram Stoker Award nominated author of Children of Chicago

“A fresh take on an old monster, Nestlings is an absolutely horrifying tale. Just remember: when you’re reading into the wee hours, turn on all the lights in the house. It helps. A little.”—Andy Davidson, author of The Hollow Kind

“Told with the same verve and sharpness of classic 1980s literary horror blockbusters penned by Stephen King or Robert R. McCammon, Nestlings is a modern, dread-filled masterpiece that cements Nat Cassidy as one of the most compelling and exciting horror authors to appear on the scene in quite some time.”—Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

“Nestlings is a living, breathing, bleeding, haunting marvel of storytelling that does more than create skin-crawling terror; it slides beneath the itchy flesh and burrows, tick-like, into your heart . . . Reading this book will fill you with terror and (all-too-human) moments of despair, it will flood your senses with the sweet calling of the dark. But worry not, because Cassidy leaves a pinprick of light within reach, a distant beacon that feels like hope.”–Philip Fracassi, author of Boys in the Valley

“Surprising and mysterious. Nestlings is rich in the ominous discomfort of a prize that's too good to be true. This book sticks to your skin.”—Hailey Piper, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Queen of Teeth

“Like The Shining meets The Changeling. And whew, is it scary. . . . I think people are going to lose their minds over this book. Like Mary, it has all the makings of a classic." —Rachel Harrison, Bestselling author of Cackle and Such Sharp Teeth

“Couldn't put it down."—Clay McLeod Chapman, author of The Remaking

"Cassidy builds the intense atmosphere, characters, and fascinating vampire lore without sacrificing the pacing... A visceral story that will entertain readers from start to finish, coating them in dread even as it plays with their minds and pushes their limits."—Booklist

Praise for Mary

“Razor-sharp horror debut.... Cassidy expertly twists the invisibility and disposability of society’s most vulnerable into qualities ideally suited to a terrifying avenging angel. It’s as scary as it is smart.”—Publishers Weekly

“This tale of horror is a good read-alike for Stephen King’s Carrie and Paul Tremblay’s A Head Full of Ghosts.”—Booklist

“[An] emerging genre genre star . . .”—Library Journal

“Searing imagery. Immediate chills. Also, you see this cover?”—Rachel Harrison, author of Cackle

“Gripping from the start. What begins in a bloodbath leads us through decades into a nightmare of cults, ghosts, and self-hatred, where great and terrible expectations await. Mary is a devastating threat made manifest.”—Hailey Piper, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Queen of Teeth

“Operatic and tremendously unsettling, there's a dangerous current churning beneath the pages . . . a current that will carry you far away and forever change you the way all excellent books do. This is first class horror.”—Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

“Genius... Intense... No two readers will experience [MARY] quite the same. The reading discoveries are exciting and thrilling. Cassidy has a skilled storytelling voice capable of intense, graphic imagery and scary scenes as well as laugh-out-loud humor.”—Sadie “Mother Horror” Hartmann, author of 101 Horror Books to Read Before You're Murdered

“Who doesn’t want to read the book equivalent of vampire Kathy Bates killing some hipsters in the fifth season of American Horror Story? Middle-aged women’s rage is in this year, and I couldn’t be happier.”—CrimeReads

“All I can say is, it has haunted me since I read it, and I may have to re-read it again soon.”—Horrorble Books

“Cassidy has given us a classic horror novel of a middle-aged woman tormented by all the little-town horrors of her past—those she can remember and those she is forced to remember. Who is Mary, or better yet, what is Mary? She has been called home to find out. A fine read.”—Elizabeth Engstrom, author of When Darkness Loves Us

“A collision of supernatural and real-life horrors, Nat Cassidy's Mary throbs with a relentlessly sinister energy. Packed with visceral shocks and quiet menace, breakneck storytelling and profound character work, Mary is absolutely riveting. I can't recommend it highly enough.”—Jonathan Janz, author of The Siren and the Specter and The Raven

“Mary, Mary, quite extraordinary... How does your novel grow? With pillow cases hiding sliced off faces, and porcelain dolls all in a row. With an acidic sense of humor more barbed than any cactus, Nat Cassidy's fast-paced Mary is a perfect blend of Stephen King's Dolores Claiborne and Frank De Felitta's Audrey Rose. This book goes out to all those bad seeds who have gone beyond their bloom and entered the twilight of their murderous lives.”—Clay McLeod Chapman, author of The Remaking

“[E]very bit as brilliant as everyone's saying: a gory, body horror-soaked exploration of menopause, cults, self-worth, & true crime junkies. I can't recommend this book enough—even the afterword is revelatory.”—Ally Wilkes, author of All the White Spaces

“Just finished Mary: An Awakening of Terror by Nat Cassidy & WOW! The horror arrives like a monsoon thunderstorm: ominous page 1 rumbles that build to a frenzied, spectacular conclusion that'll leave you awestruck & trembling. Smart, scary & full of heart, Mary is a force of nature!”—KC Jones, author of Black Tide

“Genuinely scary, and at times both heartfelt and heartbreaking, Mary is a powerhouse of a horror novel, with something important to say. We need more like this. Standing ovation!”—Brian Keene

“Nat Cassidy's Mary is a bravura journey into horror, cults, and the estrangement of middle age. It's one BANANAS ride, by a very talented writer.”—Sarah Langan

“Congrats on a loud and bloody Mary. She's going to make herself heard and then some.”—Kathe Koja