Book Review - When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy

Title: When the Wolf Comes Home
Author: Nat Cassidy
Genre: Horror
Published: 2025

Description: 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, horrifying incidents of butchery follow them. At first, Jess thinks she understands what they’re up against, but she’s about to learn there’s more to these surreal and grisly events than she could’ve ever imagined. And that when the wolf finally comes home, none will be spared.
 
Review: “When the Wolf Comes Home” is a genre-bending nightmare that is far more than a standard creature feature.
 
The story starts with Jess, a struggling L.A. actress, discovering a terrified five-year-old boy hiding in the bushes outside her apartment. What starts as a tense rescue mission quickly spirals into a gory, surreal road trip when the boy’s father arrives, leaving a trail of butchery in his wake.
 
The book has a lot of gore and violence, but beneath all that is a heartbreaking exploration of generational trauma and fear. Author Nat Cassidy uses a bizarro fiction approach where the boy’s fears can literally manifest in reality.
 
Jess is a wonderfully flawed character. Her complicated feelings about her own estranged father and a layer of depth that makes her bond with the mysterious boy feel earned rather than forced.
 
The story is action-packed and adrenaline-fueled. Cassidy balances gruesome body horror with unexpected moments of dark humor.
 
While the concept is brilliant, the pacing is slightly uneven in the middle. The transition from a grounded thriller to full-blown surrealist horror involves several WTF moments – including references to “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” – that felt a bit jarring and weird.
 
“When the Wolf Comes Home” is a bloody, deeply moving entry in contemporary horror. Very reminiscent of Stephen King’s “Firestarter”. If you’re expecting a regular werewolf story, think again. You’re in for one hell of a ride.
 
Rating: 4/ 5

Book Review - The Darkest Night by Various Authors

Title: The Darkest Night
Author: Various authors
Genre: Horror/ Short stories
Published: 2024
 
Description: From some of the biggest names in horror comes an Advent calendat of short stories perfect for the darkest nights of the year.
 
Review: The anthology “The Darkest Night” is a collection fo 22 horror stories with a Christmas or Winter theme, each story written by a different author. I really loved this idea and decided to pick it up for the holiday season. With short story collections, you have so many stories to choose from. Most of these stories weren’t really scary and were just okay. Just a few of them stood out and I will spotlight them in this review.
 
The story “Cold as Ice” by Tim Waggoner follows a divorced man who is trying to date, but has no real desire. While driving home ins a storm he sees a strange creature running beside him. This story felt like a true wintery horror story, what I was expecting from this anthology. One of the stories that was actually scary.
 
Caly McLeos Chapman wrote the story “Mr. Butler”, which was a bit strange, but I loved this. A card board box shows up at a man’s house. The same card board box has once been his only friend, called Mr. Butler. It’s very different from the rest of the stories, but I absolutely loved it.
 
Nice by “Nat Cassidy” was probably my favorite, where we meet 6-year-old Mitchell, who has been very good this year and is sure Santa knows it. But when the Elf on the shelf comes alive and tells Mitchell he should be naughty, because otherwise the elves have to work too hard, the young boy takes it a bit too seriously. Surprising story, which takes a very dark turn.
 
The story “Eggnog” by Kristi deMeester didn’t really feel very Christmassy or wintery, other then the fact that part of the story was set at an office Christmas party, but this story somehow really grabbed me. And I felt very fulfilled at the end.
 
Probably the most ridiculous story, but also ridiculously good, was “Being Nice” by Jeff Strand. An eighteen year old receives nothing but a lump of cole for Christmas and he tries to make it right. But everything only gets worse. The story is pretty brutal, but I really laughed at it too.
 
Of these 22 stories, these were the only ones that really stayed with me, the rest was just okay and most of them were very forgettable. I probably would not recommend this book, but if you’re willing to pick it up, these are the stories you should be excited for.  
 
Rating: 3/ 5