08/28/2023
Cassidy’s tepid sophomore horror outing (after Mary) is more cagey than creepy. It kicks off when new parents Reid and Ana win an affordable housing lottery and move into a luxurious two-bedroom apartment overlooking Central Park in New York City’s historic Deptford building. The hapless duo jumps at the opportunity, hoping it means their luck has turned after almost a year of hardship following their daughter’s complicated birth, which left Ana paralyzed from the waist down and led to a tumultuous night the couple never talks about, the events of which are slowly teased out to readers. Moving in to the Deptford brings some familiar-feeling scares: a spooky concierge with an artificial smile, elevator operators that resemble gremlins, gargoyles that disappear, and wailing that drifts through the walls. Soon-to-be one-year-old Charlie is especially unsettled by the apartment, frequently waking her parents with screams of terror. The strangeness only intensifies the more Reid and Ana get to know their neighbors and gradually piece together what exactly is going on in their new building. Cassidy successfully sets up an ominous mystery around the Deptford’s history, but the pace is slow and the horror elements never truly terrify. This won’t have anyone sleeping with the lights on. (Oct.)
Praise for Nestlings
“Nestlings is so f***ing good it makes me mad.”—Chuck Wendig, author of Wayward
“The Deptford . . . is as memorable as literature’s well-known Overlook Hotel and Hill House. Nat Cassidy is good at revealing just enough to disquiet, steadily ratcheting up dread and “too late?” anxiety until you don’t know what the right choices are. This unusual vampire novel asks what is the price of belonging; how much is survival worth. No easy answers here.—NPR's Books We Love
“It’s a novel of New York, of antisemitism, of a marriage in disarray. Each of these elements is written with an enthusiasm that bounds off the page. . . . But there are also things waiting in the bowels of The Deptford for which no amount of horror reading could prepare you.”—Esquire, Best Horror of 2023
“. . . Cassidy gracefully and viciously goes right for the throat . . . It’s another elegant dance of terror from a great horror storyteller, and it’ll keep you hanging on every word until the very last page.”—Paste Magazine
“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
“I've read both Mary and Nestlings and highly recommend them both. Horror fans who enjoy edge-of-your-seat suspense, humor, colorful characters, old-school horror vibes, and cinematic tension complete with jump scares and puke-inducing body horror . . . jump in!”—Sadie Hartmann (Mother Horror)
“Nestlings is more than a novel; it’s a journey into the heart of horror. It’s a visceral plunge into the abyss, an exploration of the darkest corners of the human psyche. .”—Medium
“Cassidy's exercise in horror houses the raw pain of grief . . . and, ultimately, whether one is ever out from under grief's weight,”—ShelfAwareness
“Nestlings is a creature that buries deep beneath your skin only to sink its bloody fangs deep in your system.”—FanFiAddict
“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
“Disturbing and creepy, Nestlings is the perfect horror story to curl up with .”—Books, Bones & Buffy
