Readers will want to take a bite out of this bloody goody, horrific, riveting, and shocking book!!!! Nat Cassidy slayed the werewolf paranormal fiction genre with When the Wolf Comes Home!!! Nat Cassidy wowed me with Nestlings and I could not wait to devour this powerhouse of a book. He seriously delivered and then some! This book kept me on my toes, turning the pages, and on the edge of my seat.

Whew! Jess, a struggling actress, has had a horrible night at work and comes home to a find a five-year-old boy hiding in her bushes. Soon a horrific, violent, and bloody attack involving the boy's father brutally unfolds. She is beyond scared, traumatized and runs with the boy. Those who enjoy the horror genre know that you can run but you can't hide!

Holy Moly! This is not, I repeat, this is not your usual werewolf story! This one is deep, brilliant, shocking, evokes emotion, and provides shock and shock. Nat Cassidy has more instore than I imagined when I picked this book up. You will need to buckle up while reading this one as it is a wild thrilling and jaw dropping ride. This book is sooo original and unique. It is also terrifying and thought provoking. This is a book where you may want to cover your eyes while reading yet will keep pulling your hands down because you just must keep reading!

I love it when I am certain that I know where a book is going and then *bam* it becomes so much more than I could ever imagine. That is the case with this book. I loved the writing, the vivid descriptions, the tension, the suspense, and the characters. This one sucked me in, chewed me up, spit me out, then chewed me up again! My head is still spinning, and my pulse is still pounding! I don't think I have ever said 'OMG' and 'Wait, what did I just read?' so many times while reading a book. I mean that in the best possible way.

*Be sure to read the Author's note at the end of this awesome book!

Dark, shocking, brutal, and beyond brilliant!

"When The Wolf Comes Home" is a remarkably creative and skillfully written piece, distinguished by its deep impact and unwavering originality. It is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable tales I have come across. Nat Cassidy has an extraordinary gift for storytelling. Giving it just five stars seems insufficient, and it will take an exceptional thriller to outshine this outstanding work in 2025. #netgalley.

The tension in this bloody, chilling novel ratchets up and up to a shocking, abrupt ending that will linger with you. What made me fall in love with the characters was the dialogue and internal voices of our two MCs, Jess and kiddo. They're distinctive, believable, and endearing in the way they interact with each other. That central relationship really shone. Some of the worldbuilding and explanations for events in the story fell a little flat for me. Overall, this is an unexpected and heavy-hitting twist on the werewolf story.

Another excellent novel from Nat Cassidy. This is a fast paced, riveting book that does a fantastic job of mixing old-school classic horror with other supernatural tropes to take a look at family tragedy and trauma. Highly recommend.

Quick synopsis: An aspiring actress in LA, Jess, stumbles upon a young boy one night running away from his father… the same night a bear/wolf thing attacks her apartment complex and her and the boy spend the next few days on the run from something that seems to be following them everywhere they go.
Review: Nat Cassidy always eats with his horror novels. This was so fresh and new to me; the concepts and the imagination of this story was so creative and fun and edge of the seat thrillery! Definitely a twilight zone-esque homage with sci-fi elements. This is the kind of book you don’t want to/ you can’t put down once you start, it’s fast paced and electrifying and you just gotta know how it ends! From the first page you’re strapped in for a ride full of stress and fear with an emotionally stirring story. There does end up being POV shifts that take a second to realize when the next person who is controlling the story is, from Jess, the little boy, the detective on the case, the father, to the mother of Jess and probably more I might be missing. It wasn’t over complicated though and I enjoyed getting inside the head of different characters and not staying inside just one for the whole story. I will say even though this was a fairy-tale esque horror novel, don’t expect happy endings. Sometimes the world really is just bleak. Also if you have time, please read the afterword from the author, it really gives insight to the driving factor for how this gut-wrenching story was created!
✨Thanks @netgalley and @tornightfire for the eARC sun exchange for my honest review!
When the wolf comes home is officially published April 22 2025! ✨

Wow, okay, Nat Cassidy, I see you. I see what you’re capable of. I’d heard great things about this one from other early readers and about how action-packed it is and how emotional it gets. They were right! It is that and soooo much more.

The basic premise is a woman named Jess, after a nightmare graveyard shift at the diner, returns home to find a young boy hiding in the bushes. The boy seems to be running from something. Is he running from his own father? Why? Because his father seems to be…. something else. And bloodshed and carnage follow them as they go on the run.

This book is action-packed, it is full of pulse-pounding horror moments, it is full of heart. Cassidy is great at writing fleshed out, flawed, characters. He’s also really good at writing horror that you just HAVE to turn the page.

I was expecting the kind of horror that monsters bring. Some gore and terror. I was NOT expecting the level of existential terror and absolute mindfuckery that he weaves in here.

With all that said, what this book is really about amongst all the craziness, is the difficulties of parenting, complicated relationships between child and a parent who doesn’t know how to be a parent.

How do you protect?

This has become an all-timer for me. If you’re a fan of pulse-pounding horror thriller with a ton of heart and that is going to hit you right in the feels, BUY THIS BOOK. Pre-order it. Request it from your library. All of it.

This will be one of THE horror books of the year.

Nat Cassidy, you wrote a masterpiece, sir.

THANK YOU to Tor Nightfire, NetGalley, and the author for providing me with an advanced eBook in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not sure that I *like* how the book ended, but I will say that it was so powerful that the silence after I finished the last page just sort of... echoed. Like the absence of sound after a sonic boom. As I said, maybe I don't like it, but it... fits?

Cassidy himself said this was about fear, and absolutely it is. It's also about love, and how to love, and how NOT to love, and how fear is inescapable and how it follows you everywhere. I had to sit with the ending for a full week before I knew what to say, but the 5-star review is courtesy of the fact that I wouldn't change a single thing, if given the chance. This story was an experience. It was a specifically curated one. I'm grateful it's one I got to have.

As far as the experience of reading this, it's a whirlwind. It's very hard to put down, very easy to get caught up in the world of the characters and in their dilemmas. They're often super frustrating because they're in SUPER frustrating circumstances. They're pretty realistic, and I respect Cassidy for that. He's good with injecting dimension into the page. He's also so good with filling relationships with so much color and life. I laughed, I cursed, I jumped a time or two, maybe I even cried. And I'd do it all again for the first time if I could! If anyone out there hasn't read Nestlings or Mary, hop on it! Like, today!

Nat Cassidy is such a unique and original storyteller! I have enjoyed each of his books that he has provided readers and WHEN THE WOLF COMES HOME is no different. This book is hands-down the most action-packed, adrenaline-fueled suspense story he's provided readers, but don't worry horror fans, he still provides all the makings of a fantastic horror story.

The story is centered around a young woman named Jess, a struggling actress, discovering a five-year-old runaway hiding outside her apartment, leading to a brutal confrontation with the boy’s father that sends them on the run. As they flee, a series of horrifying, surreal events reveals that the true danger is far worse than Jess ever imagined—and when the wolf comes home, no one will be spared. I won't dive into the story anymore since the synopsis is short and sweet, leading you to figure things out on your own.

WHEN THE WOLF COMES HOME is way more than just a potential werewolf story. Nat Cassidy weaves in various metaphorical messages involving relationships with parents and their children, but also provides entertaining, and at times, suspense-oozed storylines that will leave readers aching to race against the clock with Jess. The story is bizarre to say the least, but I've come to know that Nat Cassidy will never provide readers with anything straightlaced when it comes to his horror storytelling. This book is a bit of a pivot for the author as it dives into thriller territory at times. If you like 80s themed action-horror novels (think Survive the Night/Riley Sager, and Firestarter/Stephen King), then WHEN THE WOLF COMES HOME will be a perfect read for you. This story will have me thinking some theories about the world Cassidy has built here and I hope that he chooses to come to it again for more. Nat Cassidy is an auto-read author for me and this book is another landslide win!

Firestarter meets Before I Wake meets The Big Bad Wolf. A roller coaster of constant thrills, chills, and deep character introspection you won't be able to put down.

I deliberately didn't read any reviews or blurbs about When the Wolf Comes Home before I read it; I loved Nat Cassidy's debut enough to know I'd read this one no matter what, so I wanted to go in with no ideas and I'm so glad I did because I did not know what an absolutely wild ride I was in for, so the whole book was a delightful (and horrifying!) surprise.

This book is on my list of favorites forever now. Just great.

🐺 No One Will Be Spared When The Wolf Comes Home 🐺

I know this one is HIGH on a lot of y’all’s list. And it should be for good reason! This book was absolutely fantastic from start to finish. So grateful for the arc provided by NetGalley and Tornightfire!

This book features daddy issues, fear, and a horrifying road trip.

The book follows Jess—a struggling actress trying to make ends meet. After a shocking evening at the diner she works at, the last thing she expects to find when she gets home is a small boy. She takes him in, but when the father he’s running from finds him, all hell breaks loose. Jess and the boy must flee if they want to survive. And the boy may be harboring a dangerous power that seems uncontrollable.

This book hits so close to home with the state of the world today. Fear is prevalent everywhere. Can you imagine if your every fear became truth? Say one night you’re lying in bed and thinking about something horrible that could happen at work. That thought alone turns into a reality. Now imagine you’re a kid and everything is scary to you. You’re gullible and believe everything you hear.

This book both warmed my heart and shattered it by the end. It was so twisty.

My only complaint isn’t really even a complaint. I just wanted to know more. I didn’t want the book to end.

Nat Cassidy will forever be an auto buy author for me!

A solid ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book will release April 22, 2025! Be sure to preorder it!

"When the Wolf Comes Home" is another win for Nat Cassidy. I've read Nestlings, Mary, Rest Stop, and now this one and all of them are great (Nestlings is still my favourite, but it's become one of my favourite reads of the last few years so it's hard top top it).

Cassidy is very talented at taking popular horror tropes and using them to explore the complicated messiness of the human condition, and he always does this with so much empathy and compassion for his very flawed, very human characters. As with his other books, this one is pretty brutal and does not hold back. There's a lot here to like if you're just looking for a gory creature feature, but of course Cassidy elevates this to a story about redemption (or the lack thereof), family, and intergenerational trauma. The afterword really pulls all of this together. I very much appreciate his afterwords and they really add a lot to my experience of his work!

I'm giving this four stars because creature features of this sort are not really my thing, and I found my attention dragging in action-y parts that will probably be the most exciting and cool parts for other readers. I also tend to avoid horrors that feature children (again, just not my thing), but even though I don't usually like this trope, it worked well here. The great strength of this novel for me is Jess, who is just such a great, well-developed and complex character. Any sections that really focused in on Jess and her relationships with others pulled me back in.

Thanks for the ARC!

When the Wolf Comes Home was my first Nat Cassidy book and I’m so pleased / devastated to have read it. Jess, a struggling actress with daddy issues and her mother as her best friend, is suddenly thrust into the role of protecting a superhuman-boy-on-the-run. There’s so much here about parenthood and childhood and how easy it is to both fail and forgive each other. It’s propulsive, relatable, and horrific. As mentioned from the author himself, it definitely has vibes from sci-fi horror media like the X-Files and Firestarter, with a healthy dose of modern anxiety added on top. I appreciated the twist on the typical wolf-monster stories we’re used to hearing, and will be running to read more of Cassidy’s books.

DNF @ 32%.

For as much as I dug Nat Cassidy’s MARY, I’m finding myself at the polar opposite end with WHEN THE WOLF COMES HOME. I had so badly wanted a killer new werewolf book, which Cassidy’s latest starts off as, but then morphs into something else. The premise certainly has some high-octane thriller potential, with a struggling actress on the run with a kid she has rescued from his abusive father, being hunted by that same father cum monster. Unfortunately, Cassidy makes it all very terribly silly.

The five-year-old kid is both dumb as rocks but written far older than his years. There are reasons, I’m sure, but I’m not interested enough in Cassidy’s half-horror, half-comical farce to find out. The kid, of course, also has powers, which are telegraphed a mile away and so clumsily handled that I’m honestly not sure if Cassidy meant for there to be some grand reveal to shock and awe us, or if it was deliberately made to be oh so obvious that we’re forced to impatiently wait for the actress/waitress/heroine to finally get a clue.

WHEN THE WOLF COMES HOME reminds me a bit of a Dean Koontz book, with its focus on a precocious kid, the pseudo-mother figure to be who has rescued him, and the nonstop chase from an evil force that is hunting them. Only this isn’t good, classic, bald-headed, mustachioed G. Gordon Liddy-lookalike Koontz. It’s bad hair-transplant, New Agey dog religion worshipping, spiritually cringey, god-awful Koontz. Frankly, I’ve had enough of that particular Koontz without Cassidy aping it, too.

(4.5 ⭐️ rounded up)
What a wild read! This book was totally entertaining and beautifully written! It felt different from the author’s other books I’ve read, but in the best way! One minute I’m cracking up, the next I’m saying “WTF?!” 😂 I can’t wait to see what @catnassidy has in store for us next!

Gahhhhhhhhh I am a fan of this man!!!! This is my 3rd Nat Cassidy and much like the last 2 I've read (Mary and Nestlings) When the Wolf Comes Home is an absolute FEVER DREAM. Fast paced, unhinged, gory, funny? (yes, at times) truly unputdownable. This definitely gave me Jumanji Vibes if the movie was written and directed by The Brothers Grimm, with a bit of Harold and the Purple Crayon, except our creepy little one (unnamed for a reason) only needed belief, fear, and imagination to make the most dark and macabre things come to life. This book had me a bit afraid of my own imagination but what I loved the most about this book was the underlying story about fathers, their children and what impact they make as well as the effect they have on us whether that be positive or negative. NOTE TO READERS.....PLEASE do NOT skip the AFTERWORD. It had me just as emotional as the book and certainly brought a lot of perspective to the story. I highly recommend this When the Wolf Comes Home but please check your triggers before going in.

Thank you, Tor/Forge and NetGalley for my ARC

These thoughts and opinions are my own

Hey, come backstage with me real quick, I gotta talk to you about something:

Nat Cassidy, you have given the entire world a gift. An absolute masterpiece. A treasure. A work of art that’ll span generations.

I finished Nat Cassidy’s upcoming novel, When The Wolf Comes Home, roughly 10 days ago. I needed to let it sit for a bit before I started to write a review. This book is like nothing I have ever experienced before.

Nat’s forwards are the best “take my hand” you could ask for. Wolf’s is no different, if not better. Upon finishing that and the first chapter, I knew this was right in my wheelhouse and I was about to have an EPIC EXPERIENCE. By the time I turned the final page (and his always amazing afterword), tears streaming down my face, When The Wolf Comes Home became an all-time favorite.

This book, man… this book was the most imaginative, the most beautifully written, the most powerful, relentless, unique, and impressive story I have ever read.

I read a lot of books, but few have sent me through the emotional gauntlet like Wolf did and still is. I laughed my ass off, I cried till I had no tears left. I cringed back from my phone screen after some particularly gnarly scenes. I was legitimately scared at points. I was in awe for almost every sequence of this story and I even smiled with some happy tears at times.

Parenthood, fathers in particular, and Fear are the driving force of this book. They go hand in hand, really, and are particularly poignant in our current state of affairs. When The Wolf Comes Home isn’t a political book, but it is extremely powerful and unique. It’s something we need right now.

When The Wolf Comes Home, is the easiest 5/5 I will ever give a book. If I could rate it higher I would. I want to read it again already. I’ll save that for release day — April 22nd from Tor Nightfire.

Please, do yourself a favor and get your preorders in. You NEED a copy of this book. Everyone you know NEEDS a copy. This is an unbelievably impressive and important and special piece. The world needs to know. The world needs to experience this. I don’t care how the message is spread; let’s get it done.

Fade to Black. Close curtains.

Completely unique, utterly horrifying, and deeply poetic.
This is Nat Cassidy at his best.
Thank you, Nat. Next stop is therapy to unravel whatever it was that this book found in me.

I hesitate to really summarize what happens in this book because the best part about this story is unraveling what's happening to yourself. But here is my "go into this blind, please, I beg of you" summary:

After being poked with a dirty needle, Jess is in a rush to get to a hospital for a blood test to make sure she's not...you know...DYING! Life has other plans, though; a 5-year-old boy shows up on her doorstep before she can get to a hospital. Saddled with the worst babysitting job in the world, Jess goes on a cross-country trip to save her life and everyone else around her. While on this trip, she is faced with not only the physical horrors she encounters but the mental anguish she carries with her because of the death of her deadbeat father.

Action-packed, thought-provoking, and gory to boot. This was so much fun to read, and I can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy (pre-ordered, of course).

This one was so different than what I was expecting being a huge Nat Cassidy fan girl but I really enjoyed this one. It was super fast paced and had me saying wtf almost every other page. While this one wasn’t my favorite by him, I would still recommend this and everything else by him.

This was my first experience with Nat Cassidy’s work. It will definitely not be my last.

A young woman from LA goes on the run with a 5-year-old boy. They are running from a danger too powerful to fully comprehend. But is she running from the danger, or with?

The book is well written and expertly paced.

I didn’t find it scary or creepy. Nor did I find it psychologically or emotionally challenging, which is generally the kind of horror I prefer. I’m not even sure I would qualify this as a horror book. Yes, there is a good amount of blood and violence and monsters. But, to me, it read more like an action-adventure than a horror book, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I liked the protagonist. She felt relatable and real to me, and quirky enough to be interesting without taking it over the top (which some writers may do). The side characters are diverse, compelling, and, for the most, part well fleshed out. The stand-outs for me were Cookie and Uncle Pepsi.

I read this book relatively quickly (4 days). It’s not long. It gave me page-turning tension. And it moves at a steady pace, never lingering on a particular scene for too long, yet long enough to give me the kind of immersive reading experience I expect from a novel.

I would give this book a high recommendations for adult readers who like their horror action-packed and who favour fun over creepy, scary, or disturbing.

I’m eager to read more from this author.