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

Now, I know that’s an annoyingly privileged thing to say, but there’s something here that I think applies no matter where you might find yourself as far as contracts go. It’s a principle I applied to my playwriting, too, and that was always on spec. How clever, (I thought) to take what is already a difficult transition in a woman's life and turn it into a horror novel. I thought this was a novel about a woman who had suffered some trauma or breakdown in her life, now trying to cope with menopause and further emotional and physical upset. Mary is about to have her 50th birthday, and she is going through some normal and not-so-normal experiences. Unfortunately, Mary is also an unreliable narrator and this book is full of unlikable characters. Nat Cassidy’s highly commercial, debut horror novel Mary: An Awakening of Terror**, blends** Midsommar with elements of American Psycho and a pinch of I'll Be Gone in the Dark**.** My final recommendation: This is an original, quirky, fun book that no two readers will experience 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. Here’s the big question: how do you know when it’s done? How do you stop tinkering with it? How do you end a relationship that has been so open-ended for so long?At first, I could somewhat relate to her, the feeling invisible, the avoidance of mirrors. The story has a really strong beginning with creepy scenes and some humor too. Then it sort of peters out and turns into a draggy slow paced festival of weirdness that is too out there even for me. And that is really saying something. I'm not that bothered that a male author attempted to write from the viewpoint of a menopausal woman, in fact, kudos for even trying to understand. I have no problem with male authors writing female characters or vice versa. It just didn't really work for me. It tried to combine too many elements into one plot that stretched on for too long. You may enjoy it more than I did. Other than that, Sheriff Brannigan thinks, it’s a pretty nice bathroom. At least compared to any bathroom he’s ever had. My reading experience: At one point in the story, Mary says something to her Aunt Nadine's dog, Chipotle (they say it like chip-oh-dull, haha), and the actress, Jennifer Coolidge got in my mind and stayed for the duration of this book, which was genius. This book is a clever balance between horror and comedy. The characters, especially Aunt Nadine, are larger-than-life. The dialogue exchanges between Nadine and Mary are intense. There's an obvious power dynamic between them. Nadine is verbally abusive and mean, but then as soon as Mary is on her own, there's a transformation. It was tough to know how to feel about Mary, she's a complicated narrator. Mary can’t look in the mirror without fainting. She experiences lapses in her memory, particularly her childhood, and the voices in her head whisper cruel taunts and commands of violence.

Mary knows what's happening to her isn't normal. Nothing about any of this is normal. When her Aunt Nadine calls her from Arizona, asking for her help due to poor health, Mary makes the move from NYC. Perhaps going home will grant her some much needed clarity. Then again, maybe the chaos of her mind will be unleashed for all of us to bare witness to. FYI, this book has a very long trigger warning, and I suggest that you read it and decide if you want to read this book or skip it. I absolutely adore Aunt Nadine’s darkly sarcastic and humorous character. Susan Bennet perfectly captures her wit and personality. I could listen to an entire book about Aunt Nadine!This approach also does lead to the one negative in the work. Mary is a difficult character to empathize with at times as her immensely introverted nature gives the character a slightly nihilistic edge (at points). There were a number of factors. First off, it was a challenging story and a challenging character. It took a lot of work to figure out. That kind of work is hard and often very slow going.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?… The joke passes through his mind like a bit of trash blowing down a deserted street. 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 His debut novel, MARY: AN AWAKENING OF TERROR, was published by Tor Nightfire in July 2022 and was named one of the best horror novels of that year by Esquire, Paste Magazine, Harper's Bazaar, CrimeReads, and The Lineup. His follow up novel, NESTLINGS, is due out by Nightfire in October 2023. But now that I was actually writing the story for real, something about Eleanor wasn’t working. She didn’t fit, and the vibes she gave to the reader affected the supervibes of the book in ways I knew weren’t helpful. All of which is to say I wasn’t in the best mindset to write ANYTHING, let alone a debut original novel with a lot of personal baggage and pressure attached to it.

This book has been on my TBR for months—c’mon, once you see this cover, it’s impossible to not be intrigued, right?! The ominous cover only alludes to what may be one of the most bizarre and creepy reads I’ve read this year. Eggs and bunnies; this was always just another fertility ritual, wasn't it? A celebration of reproduction. So many cultural rites to celebrate birth, adolescence, adulthood, reproduction. Why isn't there any sort of ritual to celebrate the other side of fertility? Why isn't there a holiday for middle age?” Cassidy describes Spacek, drenched in red, eyes wide in fuming fury, with a hand outstretched, claw-like, and hungry for flesh. Brannigan doesn’t turn around; something is squirming under the red center of the pillowcase and it’s pulled his attention. He knows what it is, even before it emerges from the bottom of the pillowcase: an ant, curious and probing. This house appears to be full of them, and why not? Good eats aplenty around here. Ants were a common enough sight at scenes like this (more common outside, but there’s something appropriate about this mansion, for all its façade of respectability, being so infested). They were drawn to the blood, and they could interfere with your forensics, but what could you do? If your murder scene had an ant problem, you might as well try to shoo sand away from the beach. Or maybe the sheriff is simply as past caring about such things as the dead woman is. One of the best horror novels of the year, and destined to become a cult classic, Mary, like its heroine, is not to be sidelined.”— CrimeReads

Nat Cassidy’s highly commercial, debut horror novel Mary: An Awakening of Terror , blends Midsommar with elements of American Psycho and a pinch of I'll Be Gone in the Dark . This book has been on my TBR for a long time. So when the audiobook became available on Libby, I jumped at the chance to listen to it. Susan Bennett and Nat Cassidy’s narrations are 5 star academy award worthy performances! I highly recommend listening to this book! Women’s health, at best, has always been a compromise. Take this medicine to stop bleeding, but the tradeoff is fierce fits of sweating and heaving, mood changes (or “hysteria” in the old days), and the list goes on and on. The audiobook, narrated by Susan Bennett, was fantastic! Without giving spoilers, this novel has some elements that would be challenging to pull off for many narrators, and Susan Bennett reads it beautifully. She really personifies Mary's character in an endearing, vulnerable, and powerful way. This is one audiobook that enhances the storytelling in a beautiful way. Brava!

About this book

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 Hartmann, aka "Mother Horror," author of 101 Horror Books to Read Before You're Murdered Creepy throughout and freaky as all hell. Every time I thought I knew what was going to happen, Nat threw another crazy thing in our way. Great read, loved it. The sheriff and his deputy tear out of the bathroom and throw themselves down the stairs. They pass paintings and lamps. Huge framed mirrors. They pass the giant master bedroom on the second floor, where the headless body of Mayor Cross lies next to a shotgun and a piece of paper doused in blood and gray matter. The sheriff doesn’t see more than the man’s legs through the doorway, but that note is emblazoned onto his mind, indelibly, as if written by flashbulb: