Seven terrifying tales that examine the nature of fear itself

Nat Cassidy writes horror for the page, stage, and screen. His acclaimed novels, including Mary: An Awakening of Terror and Nestlings, have been featured in best-of lists from Esquire, Harper's Bazaar, NPR, the Chicago Review of Books, the NY Public Library, and more, and he was named one of the "writers shaping horror’s next golden age" by Esquire. His award-winning horror plays have been produced throughout New York City and across the United States. He won the NY Innovative Theatre Award for his one-man show about H. P. Lovecraft, another for his play about Caligula, and was commissioned by the Kennedy Center to write the libretto for a short opera (about the end of the world, of course). You've also likely seen Nat on your TV, playing various Bad Guys of the Week on shows such as Law & Order: SVU, Blue Bloods, Bull, Quantico, FBI, and many others ... but that's a topic for a different bio. He lives in New York City with his wife.

Cassidy's new novel is When the Wolf Comes Home.

At CrimeReads the author tagged seven "books with similar preoccupations as Wolf—not just books that induce fear, but books that specifically examine the phenomenon of Fear itself." One title on the list:

This Appearing House, by Ally Malinenko

Sometimes fear isn’t the feeling you feel right before the bad thing happens . . . it’s the feeling you carry with you for the rest of your life after you survive it. And that bad thing doesn’t have to be some near-miss with a guy with a chainsaw; it can be the very real, very quiet understanding that your body can betray you. Call it PTSD, call it growing up. Either way, it’s a form of fear that can be both inescapable and all-consuming. That’s the premise of Ally Malinenko’s brilliant middle grade haunted house novel, in which a brave young girl named Jac is nearing the fifth anniversary of her cancer diagnosis, after a long but hopefully successful treatment regimen. She’s starting to exhibit strange symptoms, which may be related to disease recurrence . . . or may be related to the mysterious house that’s just appeared in her neighborhood, which she’s determined to explore. This book might sound heavy—and it can be at times—but Malinenko keeps the narrative grounded in Jac’s sense of determination to feel fear, but not be consumed by it. An important lesson for readers of any age.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Page 69 Test: This Appearing House.

--Marshal Zeringue