Nat Cassidy

Nat Cassidy’s highly commercial, debut horror novel Mary: An Awakening of Terror, blends Midsommar with elements of American Psycho and a pinch of I'll Be Gone in the Dark. Mary is a quiet, middle-aged woman doing her best to blend into the background. Unremarkable. Invisible. Unknown even to herself. But lately, things have been changing inside Mary. Along with the hot flashes and body aches, she can’t look in a mirror without passing out, and the voices in her head have been urging her to do unspeakable things. Fired from her job in New York, she moves back to her hometown, hoping to reconnect with her past and inner self. Instead, visions of terrifying, mutilated specters overwhelm her with increasing regularity and she begins auto-writing strange thoughts and phrases. Mary discovers that these experiences are echoes of an infamous serial killer. Then the killings begin again. Mary’s definitely going to find herself.

An Awakening of Terror

Mary

         One of the reasons I enjoy book clubs so much is because I get exposed to books I likely wouldn’t have come across otherwise.  Quite some time ago, I realized that I was in a book rut, and to get myself out of that rut, I perused Instagram and ran across the Good Morning America Book Club.  It’s not that I didn’t have previous knowledge of this book club, I do watch GMA every morning (usually as background noise and to keep and eye on the Deals and Steals), I just hadn’t paid close enough attention.  I decided to add GMA’s book club to my reading list…and things took off from there.  I now follow five celebrity book clubs, I’m a member of three online book clubs, and I have one in-person book club.  They all bring me joy.  Sometimes, that joy is in the form of a book I was previously unaware of, like this one. 

            It’s hard to describe this book without giving away major plot lines that would spoil the story…and I hate spoilers, so forgive me for writing what could end up being the vaguest review I’ve ever written.  Mary is a woman with a dark past, and after finishing this book, I felt strongly that Mary should have stuck it out in New York and never gone back to her birthplace, sick aunt be damned.  Alas, she didn’t stay in New York, she took her creepy dolls and flew west, back to a small, desert town populated with residents who had some questionable, um, hobbies…? 

            This book includes some great examples of foreshadowing, though they’re relatively obvious.  I recall, back when I was teaching English to middle schoolers, how much I wished I could use horror novels in my classroom, because they tend to include easy to point out examples of literary elements I was required to teach.  This one has many, and it’s also funny, which would make it a great read for middle school kids (it’s a challenge to get a 13-year-old to WANT to read a book.  There just isn’t enough high interest grade-level material).  This book made me realize how much I continue, 13-years after I left the classroom, to analyze a book as though I’m planning on using it in my lesson plans.  I took notes while reading then to add to my lesson plan, and I still take notes now to use when I write a review.  I suppose, in a way, I’m still trying to teach literature. 

            I thoroughly enjoyed this one.  It has all the elements of a horror that I want with the added bonus of humor.  Funny horror, done well, makes for a great book.  I appreciated many of the themes Cassidy threw into this story, and I loved both the foreword and afterward and what they brought to the story itself.  For those horror fans:  read this one. 

Kristen Claiborn

         One of the reasons I enjoy book clubs so much is because I get exposed to books I likely wouldn’t have come across otherwise.  Quite some time ago, I realized that I was in a book rut, and to get myself out of that rut, I perused Instagram and ran across the Good Morning America Book Club.  It’s not that I didn’t have previous knowledge of this book club, I do watch GMA every morning (usually as background noise and to keep and eye on the Deals and Steals), I just hadn’t paid close enough attention.  I decided to add GMA’s book club to my reading list…and things took off from there.  I now follow five celebrity book clubs, I’m a member of three online book clubs, and I have one in-person book club.  They all bring me joy.  Sometimes, that joy is in the form of a book I was previously unaware of, like this one. 

            It’s hard to describe this book without giving away major plot lines that would spoil the story…and I hate spoilers, so forgive me for writing what could end up being the vaguest review I’ve ever written.  Mary is a woman with a dark past, and after finishing this book, I felt strongly that Mary should have stuck it out in New York and never gone back to her birthplace, sick aunt be damned.  Alas, she didn’t stay in New York, she took her creepy dolls and flew west, back to a small, desert town populated with residents who had some questionable, um, hobbies…? 

            This book includes some great examples of foreshadowing, though they’re relatively obvious.  I recall, back when I was teaching English to middle schoolers, how much I wished I could use horror novels in my classroom, because they tend to include easy to point out examples of literary elements I was required to teach.  This one has many, and it’s also funny, which would make it a great read for middle school kids (it’s a challenge to get a 13-year-old to WANT to read a book.  There just isn’t enough high interest grade-level material).  This book made me realize how much I continue, 13-years after I left the classroom, to analyze a book as though I’m planning on using it in my lesson plans.  I took notes while reading then to add to my lesson plan, and I still take notes now to use when I write a review.  I suppose, in a way, I’m still trying to teach literature. 

            I thoroughly enjoyed this one.  It has all the elements of a horror that I want with the added bonus of humor.  Funny horror, done well, makes for a great book.  I appreciated many of the themes Cassidy threw into this story, and I loved both the foreword and afterward and what they brought to the story itself.  For those horror fans:  read this one. 

Ryan Mateyk

tori 👻

4.5
The author notes are really good by the way

cloud

lost me in the second half, i won’t lie.

Megan Christensen

** spoiler alert **
           I didn't want to read this at first because what's a man doing writing a feminist thriller, and writing from a woman's perspective at that? However, he actually delivered. On the feminism aspect that is, I surprisingly don't have any criticisms on that regard. Unfortunately, this is one of the most boring "thrillers" (horror(?)) I have ever read. There is no suspense or thrill to be found anywhere except the last 60 pages or so. The one "twist" (Mary being the reincarnate of Damon Cross) was obvious from the first page, though I am not certain if this was meant to be surprising information for anyone but Mary. I am also not sure why this is marketed as horror instead of just supernatural, as nothing remotely scary occurs within its pages. There is, perhaps, some gore, but only to the extent of descriptions of rotting flesh—nothing you wouldn't find in your average murder mystery. 

On that note, this wasn't as terrible as I am making it out to be. In my opinion, this works well as a piece of existential feminist fiction, quite aptly discussing how women must navigate the world and themselves as they age and no longer become of "use" to society. The author, as he himself says, is a male who has been socialized to be misogynistic, to be the voice of Damon Cross, and he does a nice job of writing from the perspective of a woman who has been degraded by that voice her entire life. I just don't think it should have been marketed as a either thriller or horror, because it creates expectations that this book will simply never meet.

Christine Bruce

Mary is reaching middle age. Turning 50 in a few short weeks, she is dismissed as peri-menapausal when she goes to a doctor for help. So begins this very feminist, very familiar story. Mary is called home by her ailing aunt, and what she thinks is a quick trip soon turns into a life altering experience. Cults, ghosts, serial killers, This book really had a little of everything. 

I loved the themes of feminism and the inherent misogyny in society, how women are only ever valued in their usefulness to the men around them. The way it permeates from the youngest ages. To always be more pretty, and then when pretty is no longer an option to be more quiet and invisible. The healthcare scenes in particular hit such a strong chord with me, someone who suffer from chronic illness and pain. The way concerns are dismissed and ignored. When we say we know our bodies and know when something's wrong and its dismissed as hormones or in our head. It was so prominent throughout the book, and I felt honestly so seen. 

I will admit while I loved so much of the book, at the end of the day it was a bit overly long. At one point I thought I had to be coming upon the climax because there's no way anything else could happen. Only to find I was only around 20% into the book. And sure enough, the majority of new information from that point on was unnecessary. Then there was the mythology aspect that was.... I don't want to say pointless because it plays such a vital role in the end of the book. But it was not handled well and was poorly introduced/explained. A lot of this book had many points where the scenes served no purpose or could have been executed better and as a result fell flat and felt like a waste of time. Which is sad considering how great so many of the pieces were. They just fit together like a poorly made puzzle. Yea you can see the picture it was going for, and you might have even had fun putting it together, but at the end of the day it just doesn't quite work together. 

That said, I do want to read this again. There were so many amazing lines through the book, and the constant references to Kate Chopin's The Awakening (a favorite book and such a perfect book t0 be referenced here) make me really want to go through again to better appreciate the prose. I almost feel like I could write a thesis on the feminism and place of women in society just using this book. The fact that I feel so seen in a book written by a cis white man really says something to his ability. I just think it could have been better executed/edited. 

I'll end with my favorite line from the book:
"The real curse of womanhood is that we never get to forget we have a body"

Mary An Awakening of Terror

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