When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy

Nat Cassidy, author of the acclaimed horror Mary, returns with When the Wolf Comes Home, an unabashed, adrenaline-fueled pop horror thriller where the darkest fears can become reality.

“A crazy-good, balls-to-the-wall horror novel ... it’s full throttle from the first pages..”—Joe Hill

“This is the kind of great, big, epic horror novel we got back in the '80s that came out swinging for the fences and left everything on the field. Welcome back, you shaggy, bloody monster of a book!”—Grady Hendrix

The 25 Best and Most Anticipated Horror Books of 2025—Men's Health

Most Anticipated Horror of 2025—Paste Magazine, LitHub

One night, Jess, a struggling actress, finds a five-year-old runaway hiding in the bushes outside her apartment. After a violent, bloody encounter with the boy's father, she and the boy find themselves running for their lives.

As they attempt to evade the boy's increasingly desperate father, Jess slowly comes to a horrifying understanding of the butchery that follows them—the boy can turn his every fear into reality.

And when the wolf finally comes home, no one will be spared.

Other Books by Nat Cassidy

Mary, an Awakening of Terror

Nestlings

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Praise for this book

Praise for When the Wolf Comes Home

"A crazy-good, balls-to-the-wall horror novel... it’s full throttle from the first pages."—Joe Hill, bestselling author of Heart-Shaped Box and The Fireman

"The feeling you get, maybe, when one enters the Twilight Zone, and you just know things will be different now. ... Nat Cassidy has tapped into something with this one: it's the mood all us readers are always digging for: the Truth, a truth, his truth... the sort of truth you add to your own.”—Josh Malerman, New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box

“This is the kind of great, big, epic horror novel we got back in the '80s that came out swinging for the fences and left everything on the field. Welcome back, you shaggy, bloody monster of a book!”—Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author of The Final Girl Support Group

"When The Wolf Comes Home is a sharp-edged metaphor for trauma and rage, for how they seep into us, how we carry them in us and how sometimes, we pass them on like a curse."—Cassandra Khaw, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Nothing But Blackened Teeth

“When the Wolf Comes Home is an imaginative, adrenaline-fueled wild ride through the babysitting job from Hell. Brims with both horror and heart.”—Tananarive Due, award-winning author of The Reformatory

“[T]he feel of a modern-day Twilight Zone episode. Conceptually daring, riveting on the page, shockingly intense in spots. Equal parts scary and soulful.”—Nick Cutter, bestselling author of The Troop

“When the Wolf Comes Home kicks so much ass! … Full of heart and harrowing suspense, it belongs on the shelf next to Firestarter.”—Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of The House of Last Resort and Road of Bones

“[A]nother new horror classic. Inventive yet satisfyingly nostalgic, brutal and terrifying yet poignant and heartfelt, an exhilarating thrill-ride with breakneck pacing that’s as entertaining as it is profound. [It] cements Cassidy’s status as one of horror’s all-time greats.”—Rachel Harrison, USA Today bestselling author of So Thirsty and Black Sheep

“A big, brawling horror novel that moves with relentless velocity and pitiless fury. Cassidy has raised the bar with this one. It deserves to be a bestseller.”—Nathan Ballingrud, author of North American Lake Monsters and The Strange

“Terrifying, utterly moving, and funny all at once. A rip-roaring (and sometimes simply roaring) journey through fear itself.”—Clémence Michallon, internationally bestselling author of The Quiet Tenant

“Nat Cassidy's mind is insane. Only he could come up with a story as unique and universally true as this.…It's scary, it's wild, it's heartfelt, and there's nothing else like it.”—CJ Leede, author of Maeve Fly and American Rapture

“A wolf-headed chimera of a novel about … the terrors we ignite into being. This full-tilt, wildly imaginative creature feature moves like a four-legged beast hungry for revenge.”—Luke Dumas, bestselling author of The Paleontologist and A History of Fear

“A werewolf novel that transcends horror, in which fear is not as simple as a hulking monster lurking in the shadows.”—Cynthia Pelayo, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Vanishing Daughters

“It’s not just his best book but a genuine horror classic. Hurricane Cassidy has landed, and the devastation it wreaks will leave you breathless.”—Grimdark Magazine

“An adrenalized, page-turning fairy tale of terror that hunts you down and reminds you that there's nothing more terrifying than fear itself. … When the Wolf Comes Home takes you in its jaws and shakes until you scream.”—Ellie Marney, New York Times bestselling author of None Shall Sleep

“Straight out of the Twilight Zone, a page-a-minute horror thriller that delivers ALL THE FEELS. Heart-pounding and hearts-wrenching at the same time with a twist at the end that might cold-cock you. Nat Cassidy is proving to be a singular voice in horror—crazily imaginative and deeply human.”—Alma Katsu, author of The Fervor

“Utterly relentless, this kinetic hot rod of a horror novel is pure adrenalized dread that starts and never stops and nothing will save you from its breakneck tension, bone-breaking horror, and heartbroken prose.”— Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes

“When the Wolf Comes Home is a wildly inventive horror novel, and a ripping, bloody page-turner. But that's not all it is—in its beating heart there's a fierce, moving treatise about love, parenthood, and notions of familial indebtedness. I loved it.”—Keith Rosson, author of Fever House and The Devil By Name

”Nat Cassidy's When the Wolf Comes Home reads like a movie-in-the-mind, with relentless action ratcheting up the fear and terror, and characters portrayed with real depth and nuance. This is horror at its best.”—Thomas Tessier, author of The Nightwalker

“A teeth-snapping, heart-racing, stomach-churning thrill ride. Fans of Nick Harkaway's The Gone-Away World will eat this one up, because that's what I did - devoured it in a single bite. Deliciously painful.”—Ally Wilkes, Bram Stoker award-nominated author of All the White Spaces

“Nat Cassidy solidifies himself as one of the most innovative minds in this genre today (and probably ever). When the Wolf Comes Home delivers one breathless, relentless rug-pull after another. After the last page, I was still sitting there picking my jaw up off the floor.”—Liz Kerin, author of First Light and Night's Edge

“At a point it becomes clear Nat Cassidy has lost his mind. No sitting around—you're on the run with this book, driving off the ledge of full weird and into a wonderful shapeshifting fusion of terror and awe.”—Hailey Piper, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of A Light Most Hateful

“A savage howl into the night, When the Wolf Comes Home achieves a rare depth that is Cassidy's signature style.”—Gemma Amor, Bram Stoker Award nominated author of Dear Laura and Full Immersion

“Nat Cassidy's When the Wolf Comes Home isn't just about the monsters that live under your bed, it's about the monsters that live in your heart. It's a killer.”—Erika T. Wurth, author of White Horse

“Pulse-pounding and heart-wrenching, Nat Cassidy has given us a new breed of terror. This is not your granny’s big bad wolf.”—Lindy Ryan, author of Bless Your Heart

“Cassidy has brought life to an unspeakably effective stitchwork of relentless pace, twists and horrifical tableaus fused with some of the most satisfying thematic closure and poignant character work you’ll read for a while. It’s a nightmarish but meaningful existential creation you won’t see coming—this wolf will blow your house down.”—Grimdark Magazine

"Cassidy (Nestlings) balances gut-wrenching horror and jaw-dropping twists in this stellar outing... There’s a wonderful Twilight Zone feel to this clever conceit, but even as the threat level rises, Cassidy keeps Jess’s choices plausible and grounded, making the nightmare she’s found herself in all the scarier. This is a hair-raiser."—Publisher's Weekly (starred review)

"Cassidy plays with and subverts readers’ expectations in delightful and surprising ways in this twisty, gory horror thriller that’s also a moving, insightful examination of grief and obligation and the nature of fear."—Booklist (starred review)

“Readers beware, as the text warns, “no one will be spared,” but not in the way anyone will anticipate. The horrors encountered here will burrow deep, forcing a confrontation with the power fear holds over everyone.”—Library Journal (starred review)

“Ultimately, this was about the importance of stories, more importantly, the ones we tell ourselves, our internal becomes our external and shapes our reality, so make sure the story you tell yourself is a good one. It’s about acknowledging your fears, giving them a little nod, and carrying on. It’s clear from his third book that no one is spared when Cassidy puts pen to paper.”—Scream Magazine UK

“Raw, violent, and unrelenting ... An all-encompassing confrontation of fear itself, ... [Cassidy] crafts stories that last. ... [R]esonant, soul-changing, and a true masterpiece.”—Anna Dupre, FanFiAddict

"When the Wolf Comes Home will be Cassidy’s breakout novel, cementing his place amongst a roster of Horror superstars, and I can’t wait to see what comes next."—Josh Hanson, FanFiAddict

"The conclusion feels shattering, inevitable, and completely of our time—by which I mean, very bleak indeed."– Molly Odintz, Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2025

"Werewolves are on the rise again, and Cassidy’s take on them is sure to be essential."–Paste Magazine's Most Anticipated Horror Books of 2025

About the Author

NAT CASSIDY has been an off-off-Broadway playwright of speculative works that have been well-received by drama critics. He has won the New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Solo Performance for a one-man show about H. P. Lovecraft. An established actor on stage and television usually playing monsters and villains on shows such as Blue Bloods, Bull, Quantico, and Law & Order: SVU. He is also the author of the horror novel Mary.

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Title: When the Wolf Comes Home
Author(s): Nat Cassidy
ISBN: 9781250354358
Copyright 2025
Release Date: April 22, 2025
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group
Countries: United States, Canada | Learn more about available countries
Language: English
Format: ePub,mobi | Learn More about our supported formats

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