Nat's acclaimed debut horror novel
MARY: AN AWAKENING OF TERROR
Nat Cassidy’s debut horror novel Mary, which blends Midsommar with elements of American Psycho and a pinch of I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, will be published by Nightfire in July 2022!
Mary is a quiet, middle-aged woman doing her best to blend into the background. Unremarkable. Invisible. Unknown even to herself.
But lately, things have been changing inside Mary. Along with the hot flashes and body aches, she can’t look in a mirror without passing out, and the voices in her head have been urging her to do unspeakable things.
Fired from her job in New York, she moves back to her hometown hoping to reconnect with her past and inner self. What she finds instead are visions of terrifying, mutilated specters come with increasing regularity, she begins auto-writing strange thoughts and phrases, and her investigations reveal that these experiences are echoes of an infamous serial killer.
Then the killings begin again.
Mary’s definitely going to find herself.
WHEREVER BOOKS ARE SOLD!
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Click HERE to read Nightfire's official announcement!
Praise for Mary:
ONE OF THE TOP 100 HORROR NOVELS OF ALL TIME - Audible
Esquire's Best Horror Novels of 2022
Paste Magazine's Best Horror Books of 2022
Harper's Bazaar 15 Best Books for Spooky Season
Book Riot Summer Scares (2022)
The Lineup Best Debut Horror Novels of 2022
CrimeReads Best Horror Novels of 2022
CrimeReads Most Anticipated Crime Books 2022
Book Riot's Most Shocking First Lines in Fiction
"Mary is a book unlike any other: a serial killer thriller that’s half ghost story and half possession horror, featuring a labyrinthine mansion and a desert-dwelling cult... Mary is a late-life coming-of-age horror that shines a necessary light on a neglected character type through black humor and scenes of gloriously gross carnage."
―Esquire
“Leading with one of the most unforgettable first chapters in recent horror history, Nat Cassidy’s novel about a woman who journeys back into her own past and finds something horrifying will rattle your nervous system from the very first page, and basically never stop. Full of gripping character moments and memorable, inventive imagery, Mary: An Awakening of Terror is one of those horror novels that will make your skin crawl while also seducing you into never putting it down.”
―Paste Magazine
“It’s a time in life we’re all taught to fear. That moment women become invisible, disposable. Possessed? Haunted? Wait, those aren’t the symptoms of menopause! Except for in Nat Cassidy’s Mary, where the great life transition becomes a chance to write a bloody, visceral, and oh-so-entertaining take-down of misogyny. Mary has a simple premise—what if the damaged child who was Carrie had lived to middle age? And what if, perhaps, she got a new chance at vengeance? 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
“Heads up, Nat Cassidy’s debut novel is not for the faint of heart. It’s gory and horrific, but underneath the blood-soaked pages is a commentary on society’s view of older women and their place in the world.”
―The Seattle Times
“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
"A serial killer story with a monstrous twist [by an] emerging genre star."
― Library Journal
"Perfect for summer reading"
― USA Today
“[An] outstanding debut horror novel. ... [T]he kind of debut that will surely help establish its author as one of the best new voices in horror. Mary is a fun, creepy, strange read. ... Nat Cassidy has written an impressive debut in which supernatural horror collides with real horrors, and that makes Mary the kind of novel you keep thinking about long after you’ve turned the last page.”
―Locus Magazine
“Cassidy’s character-building is so incredibly complex that I can’t help but . . . make a comparison to Stephen King. . . . An extraordinary metaphor for women’s struggles, Mary is edgy as hell. A chilling compilation of horror with masterful storytelling.”
―Cemetery Dance
“In Nat Cassidy’s debut from Tor Nightfire, middle-aged Mary begins experiencing strange and bloody visions after fleeing New York City for her rural Arizona hometown. The ghostly visions and lore regarding a long-dead serial killer are only one form of horror, the other being aging and financial insecurity, ensuring there’s something here to scare even the most jaded horror lover. Without getting into spoilers, this book also makes a fascinating bookend to Stephen King’s Carrie as a character study of a woman at a very different stage of life, which Cassidy expounds upon in his pre-and-postscripts.”
―The Lineup, The Best Debut Horror Novels of 2022
“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, Most Anticpated Crime Books 2022
“One of the scariest, freaky, and mind bending horror novels of 2022 and you should absolutely pick this one up!”
―Horror Reads
“An immersive story with vivid environments and vibrant characters. The imagery his writing evokes still has me obsessed ... All I can say is, it has haunted me since I read it, and I may have to re-read it again soon. ... I would classify this as a serial killer horror with a touch of paranormal, so if you liked The Silence of the Lambs and My Sister, The Serial Killer but also enjoyed The Changeling, you would love this one. 5/5 stars. My favorite so far this year.”
― Horrorble Books
“Aunt Nadine was given some of the best lines I’ve read in a book. In fact, this book was filled with things I wanted to write down to share – author Nat Cassidy is a master of dialogue. ... I LOVE books with depth and Cassidy writes with depth. ... Having grown up as a reader of King, Saul, Koontz, Jackson and having escaped deep into stories my whole life, I hope I live long enough to see where Cassidy’s extraordinary ability to tell a story goes.”
― Eyes and Ears Books
"Cassidy brilliantly taps into the paranoia of his character ... a fascinating persona that reflects the immense talent of Cassidy in bringing Mary to the pages ... A deeply disturbing read that works for both fans of horror and mystery, Mary is a unique exercise in terror where social interactions hold as much weight as a bloodied apparition. A must-read!"
― The Forgotten Fiction
“Searing imagery. Immediate chills. ... Destined to be a classic.”
― Rachel Harrison, author of Cackle and The Return
“[The] prose pops and the hook sinks in right from the first page.”
― Chuck Wendig, author of Wanderers and The Book of Accidents
"[T]ruly dark and creepy, and a novel that clearly and unequivocally announce[s] the arrival of a superb new voice in horror.”
― Gabino Iglesias, author of The Devil Takes You Home and Coyote Songs
“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
“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
“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, World Horror Convention Grand Master and two-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Rising and Terminal
“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, three-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Good Neighbors, and The Missing
“Every 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
“Congrats on a loud and bloody Mary. She's going to make herself heard and then some.”
― Kathe Koja, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Cipher and Velocities
"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, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
"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."
― 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 Filitta’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 and Whisper Down the Lane
“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
“Oh my god so Nat Cassidy’s Mary is one of the most engaging, most cathartic, and above all most fundamentally *satisfying* books I’ve read in a while. If you like scary stories you really really really need to read this one. [T]his is up there with Dolores Claiborne for me and that’s really saying something. Many cis men suck at writing women. Nat does not. Nat does NOT.”
― Sunny Moraine, author of Singing with All My Skin and Bone