Nat Cassidy does it again! I will read anything that he puts out at this point, truly an auto-buy author. It took me a little to get into the story but once I was, I was hooked.

As a someone’s child, as someone’s mother, as a human, this book messed me UP. The use of horror to explore grief and the difficulties of each perspective was incredible.

After a long night working at the diner, Jess returns home to find a frightened five-year old boy hiding in the bushes. When his angry father comes looking for him, Jess makes a split-second decision to flee with him—setting off on a cross-country journey that will transform both their lives forever.

This was such a wild ride so be prepared for your adrenaline to be going the entire book! It was an emotional roller coaster with witty dialogue and fantastic character development. This story also had some pretty mind-bending horror and was packed with fantastical elements like shapeshifting, a mysterious boy with a dark secret, and strange, deadly occurrences that seem to follow them wherever they go.

I appreciated that along with the supernatural elements, this story felt so real at times and touches on grief, trauma, and healing in the midst of all the chaos. It doesn’t hold back on the violence and gore, so be prepared for some intense and graphic scenes!

Ultimately, this is a book about fear and the impact and control it has over our lives. It also thoughtfully examines the relationships we have with our fathers. I highly recommend reading the afterword because it provides a deeper insight into the author’s emotional connection to the story.

In a way, this book was its own shapeshifter, starting out as one thing and transforming into something entirely different. I highly recommend it if you're looking for an entertaining, but thought-provoking horror novel!

This creative masterpiece had me in a chokehold from the jump and I loved every second. The story starts strong and held my attention completely until the conclusion of the author’s note (which is lovely).

Wolfie is the perfect blend of heart and horror; I laughed, I cried and I was genuinely frightened. Cassidy’s writing is phenomenal and these characters are top tier.

I highly recommend Wolfie, it will take you on a journey through all of your emotions and you will wish it to never end. This is one of the best horror stories I have consumed and will be a top read of 2025 for me, don’t sleep on this one!

“No one will be spared.”

This is the first time I've ever read anything by Nat Cassidy, but he came highly recommended by Clay McLeod Chapman. this book was an amazing read. it kept me on the edge of my seat, and had me not wanting to put it down. there were some aspects of the story that were rather predictable, that I figured out before the reveal was made in the story, but overall I throughly enjoyed reading this.

Thank you to both NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me the ability to read this novel.

Okay, I finally did the thing and finished this amazing book. I ABSOLUTELY loved every bit of it. There were so many facets to it. I have enjoyed every book by Natalie Cassidy but this book was on another level and really sticks with you. 😅 It was so creative. Check your trigger warnings because it includes quite a few things! I don’t know if it was me, but it kinda gave me Stranger Things vibes in some ways. There were many relatable things with Jess. Get ready for the rollercoasters of emotions though. As always, the afterword is one of the best parts of it!

This was my first Nat Cassidy read, and upon finishing it, I immediately started reading everything in his backlist.

This book was scary. Really effing scary. This book caused the kind of existential dread that kept me up at night. This book messed with my head, and I devoured it. My favorite kinds of horror books are those that truly tap into psychological horror--the fears that eat us up from the inside out. And this book dealt that in spades. And yes, there was also significant violence and gore, and while those elements were definitely scary, it was the ANXIETY of it all that kept me up at night.

This is a book about fear and family and control (or lack thereof). I highly recommend it to anyone looking for emotionally-driven psychological horror.

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for my advanced copy.

Thanks to Tor and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.
Hoo, what a wild ride! Based on the title and the description, I was expecting a werewolf book. While it is not NOT a werewolf book, there's so much more to this story. I will not say more because I assume the further details are left out of the description on purpose, and I want to preserve the surprises to come for the other readers.
My first Nat Cassidy book was "Nestlings," which I also thoroughly enjoyed. "When the Wolf Comes Home" also has themes of uncanny, otherworldly horror, plenty of gore, and holds at its core the idea of everyday people being confronted with WTF, violent and undies-ruining horror. A fun ride!

Wow! This was not what I expected . . . it was SO MUCH better!

Twisty-turny - not just the plot, but your emotions, as well. What a thrill ride! I can't say more without giving too much away.

I will be pushing this on EVERYONE at the library.

This was wild! My first Nat Cassidy read and i'm very excited to read more by them. It's always a father at the scene of the crime.

I AM BLOWN AWAY. Classic Nat. Twisted weird and creepy but will have you turning the page from the second you open the book till your are finished. 5 stars!

Holy “what the” did I just read!?!?

When the Wolf Comes Home is a fever dream wrapped in a Grimm Brothers fairy tale, drenched in blood, grief, daddy issues, and just the right amount of humor to make you laugh while nervously biting your nails.

Nat Cassidy explores the slippery nature of fear—fear of the what-ifs, fear of the unknown, fear of what’s next, and, worse, fear that the fever dream might just be reality. Cassidy doesn’t just walk you through it—he straps you into a roller coaster, cranks up the tension, and plunges into the depths of Jess’s fears.

I paired the audio with the eBook, and Helen Laser ROCKED this narration. Her voice mirrors the steady stream of adrenaline in the story. She nails the heart-pounding action but also captures every ounce of the heartbreak and dread.

No one escapes this story unscathed—not the characters, and certainly not me.
I’m not 100% sure I fully understood the ending, but I am pretty sure my guess is correct. Whether right or wrong, I loved every unhinged minute of it. Congrats, Nat Cassidy! You are officially on my auto-buy author list!

-When the Wolf Comes Home-
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Nat Cassidy has done it again. Coming into this I thought it was going to be a bloody werewolf extravaganza, and while it is full of visceral scenes of werewolf horror, this book was also heartbreaking, hilarious and at times made me wish it would never end.
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It is so much more than a werewolf novel. It is a deep exploration of family trauma, anxiety, growing up and learning how to grieve. But when the carnage happens, it is turned up to 11! The content warning at the beginning of the book should be read before starting this one!
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I love this one so much and thanks to @netgalley and @tornightfire for letting me read it early

This was an exhilarating and chilling story, packed with emotion, trauma, and a raw confrontation with fear.

Jess, a struggling actress working in a diner, faces a series of unfortunate events within a short span of time. First, she’s accidentally stabbed by a junkie’s needle while cleaning the restroom. Then, she finds herself unexpectedly stuck with a young boy who seems to be fleeing from his father.

As the narrative unfolds, Jess—and we as readers—discover that the boy harbors a terrifying power: he can turn his fears into reality.

This book was absolutely captivating. It had so many layers, and I really enjoyed each one. The chase element, in particular, was a standout for me and executed incredibly well. The twists and turns kept me up late, and the ending hit harder than I expected.

However, while I thoroughly enjoyed the ride, the action and gore did feel a bit repetitive at times, which slightly pulled me out of the experience.

Overall, I loved the unique concept, the well-developed characters, and Nat Cassidy’s gripping writing style. I’m definitely looking forward to exploring more of this author’s work in the future.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an earc of this book. All thoughts are my own.

When The Wolf Comes Home starts out a wild, campy, over the top, almost comic book style horror novel. It’s bloody, wacky, creature feature fun. Then it transforms (😏) into something intensely heartfelt. There are some truly beautiful scenes of friendship and family in this book, and Cassidy does an incredible job of fully investing the reader in the main character’s journey. I loved these characters, but from the beginning, there’s this shadow of dread clinging to every corner. The anxiety I felt for these characters was overwhelming. Not only did I want them to be safe, I wanted them to find peace.

A big part of this book is inner turmoil. The book touches on daddy issues, anxiety, childhood trauma, abandonment, and even dives into broader questions like how one person’s actions can affect so many others and is there such a thing as good and bad or is it more complicated than that? Yeah, this book has a lot to unpack. Somehow, Cassidy has written all of this into one book in a way that works like a well-oiled machine.

This book broke my heart. It gutted me. I’m still processing parts of it and not sure how I feel. After reading the previous paragraphs, I’m sure you’ve already guessed my rating for this book. However—and this is the part where you call me a jerk and storm off—this was not a perfect book to me. For 95% of the book this was beyond a 5-star read. I enjoyed it immensely. BUT. 😅 There was one part that I found somewhat disappointing. This was just my personal taste. Your mileage may vary. Lots of people are calling When The Wolf Comes Home the book of the year, and it definitely deserves the praise.

🐺🐺🐺🐺.5 /5
✔️ Highly Recommend

Honestly, if you struggle with relationships with your parents…please read this. This healed me in a way I can’t quite describe.

This book follows Jess who finds a 5 year old boy hiding in bushes outsider her apartment. He is hiding and running from his father. A truly scary man. So many WILD and bloody things happen on their journey. And when they wolf finally comes home, none will be spared.

Minus the fact that this helped heal my inner child a bit, it was seriously such a well written book with phenomenal characters. I also listened to this and the narrator did such a great job.

Highly recommend this book. Definitely put it on your list.

Jess, a struggling actress trying to live out her dreams of stardom in California, finds a boy hiding in the bushes outside her apartment. Then Dad shows up. From then on the reader is vaulted into a non-stop, anxiety inducing, thrill ride where deciding whether to fight or flee is a moment to moment occurance.

Having read and been properly horrified by two of Nat Cassidy's previous novels, I was confident going into When the Wolf Comes Home, yet wary of whether he could truly pull it off again. He did not disappoint. Once again, I felt all of the feelings and emotions one should have with a truly great horror read. I was terrified, panicked, confused, tired, and emotionally drained. I was lulled into a sense of calm that MUST signify the end of terror and destruction, right? And then I turned the page where madness and mayhem took the reins again.

Nat Cassidy has checked all of the boxes with this story. He has made relatable, profoundly human characters, created conversation that flowed realistically, has reimagined a classic horror villain and made it something else, and has become a master at setting a scene. He also has this crazy ability to describe a scene that terrifies but just when you think it's as awful as it can be, he doubles down and layers madness on top of madness until you actually feel the level of horror the character must be experiencing. And somehow, he managed to convince a few of my favorite villains from the 80's out of retirement to reprise their roles for a hilarious, horrifying, guest star moment that was completely unhinged and unexpected.

Without spoiling the fear and fun of the plot of this book, let me just say, go get it!

Ahoy there me mateys!  I first tried the author's nestlings and didn't finish it but I wanted to give his work another chance.  This new book sounded so interesting.  A young woman named Jess finds a five-year old boy near her apartment.  He is terrified of his father finding him.  Soon the father arrives to take back the boy.  Then a wolf creature ends up slaughtering the entire apartment complex.  Jess and the boy go on the run trying to keep ahead of the father.  Jess is also trying to figure out why the FBI is involved and what is the true nature of creature is.  Why is it determined to get the boy?

This was a very evocative read.  I was sympathetic to Jess who didn't ask for her life to go insane, to be on the run, and to deal with a five-year old and his mysteries.  She wants to do the right thing but it is hard and scary and Jess continuously wants the boy to be someone else's problem.  I loved Jess's mom Cookie and their loving if irregular relationship.  I appreciated Jess's negative relationship with her own father, her conflicted opinions, and how they influenced the story.

As for the boy, everything about him was fascinating and sad.  His attachment to a book he got from a Little Free Library was heart wrenching.  He has grown up isolated and terrified of his father.  I thought how his situation was introduced was completely effective and sobering.  I was rooting for him.  He is such a sympathetic character.

This book is not for the faint of heart.  It is bloody and gory.  There are some seemingly silly moments involving Who Framed Roger Rabbit or merchandise at Target that quickly becomes horrifying.  There is a feel of Dean Koontz's themes of young scared boy, special powers of a child, and monsters early on in the book which continue throughout.  The excellent author's note expands on these influences and other themes.

The only real negative for me was the ending.  At the 85% mark, I was a little less interested in how the plot was unfolding.  I didn't mind the unhappy ending as the foreword warned.  It made perfect sense given the context of the novel.  I was, however, not impressed by Jess's ending.  Personal preference as most of the crew loved it.

I am glad I gave the author's work another chance and will read more of his work.  Arrrr!

3.5 rounded up

As much as it irritates me when people say to go into various media blind, I really do recommend it for this book. Anything by Nat Cassidy is an instant read from me and so far he's 3 for 3 on five-star novels. Many horror authors seem to fumble child characters, either making them too childlike and thus a caricature or just small adults. Cassidy finds the balance between the two extremes and really gets into the mind of an anxious, isolated child with an overactive imagination (to put it mildly). The reveals throughout were satisfying and shocking, and the ending left me laying face down on the floor feeling despair and emptiness like a good horror novel should. I am still working through the message/takeaway because there are just so many nuances and layers, another good sign. And the child was right -- cartoons and cartoon violence ARE terrifying.

Going into this one blind, I wasn't sure what to expect -- but damn, did I love every last moment of this one. I gasped, I laughed, and I even teared up a little. Besides a bit of a found family story about a different type of boy and a troubled young woman, there were so many layers to this horror and its commentary on fear that will stick with me for a very long time. I loved how creative the visuals were, making this feel like an action packed thriller film in my mind, filled with little twists and turns. The shift of POVs was also done seamlessly, making it impossible not to wonder what you would be doing if you were in the character's situations. And that ending? Ripped my heart into shreds in the best way. Bonus points for an awesome afterward by Cassidy that I found just as captivating to read.