When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
After Jess, a struggling actress, wraps up her diner shift early, she returns home and discovers a disheveled little boy hiding in the bushes outside of her apartment.
She gently coaxes the boy out, and using her distinctive humor, gets him to trust her enough to tell her he’s in serious danger, and now, she probably is too. That’s when the stuff hits the fan and all heck breaks loose in the form of the boy’s viciously-violent father.
Jess has no choice but to run with the boy in tow, but is anywhere going to be safe from the one hunting them, who seems to have preternatural skills?
Initially, Jess believes she knows the precariousness of their situation, but it gets way more perilous and downright crazy than she could have ever predicted.
Wow, wow, wow; that was my initial reaction upon finishing When the Wolf Comes Home. I hadn’t looked at any reviews prior, so I wasn’t sure how others were receiving it, but I immediately knew it was a top contender for my favorite book of 2025.
I cried actual grown-ass lady tears for the last 1/2-hour of the audiobook, which is fabulously-narrated. There were minutes, legit continuous minutes, towards the end where I had full body chills after a big reveal, when I realized what had actually happened.
This was the first time I’ve read from Nat Cassidy, and I’ll be honest, this wasn’t what I anticipated. He incorporates much more dark humor than I expected, and I was living for it.
I thought I was getting one type of story when I picked this up, but it went in a wildly different direction and I loved the creepy-creativity behind that turn. The thought of these events actually happening IRL, like what would you do!?
In spite of the gruesome nature of this story, I still managed to connect to it in a deeply-emotional way. It took me by surprise. I felt so many different things, for example, a protective love for Jess and the kiddo.
Why did you do this to me Cassidy? I don’t like to feel things!
((j/k: I love it))
Please be sure to read the Afterward from the author if you pick this one up. It’s beautifully done, straight from the heart and I feel like it gave me an even deeper understanding and appreciation of what he achieved with this story.
Thank you to the publisher, Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. I loved this so much and am looking forward to going back and reading Cassidy’s entire backlist now.
