Mary: An Awakening of Terror

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FYI, this book has a very long trigger warning, and I suggest that you read it and decide if you want to read this book or skip it. The quotes from Kate Chopin’s The Awakening before each section of the book are very clever. It is one of my favorite novels to read and teach, and their meanings connect to this plot as well. 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.

Mary, Mary, quite extraordinary… How does your novel grow? With pillow cases hiding sliced off faces, and porcelain dolls all in a row. With an acidic sense of humor more barbed than any cactus, Nat Cassidy’s fast-paced Mary is a perfect blend of Stephen King’s Dolores Claiborne and Frank De Felitta’s Audrey Rose. This book goes out to all those bad seeds who have gone beyond their bloom and entered the twilight of their murderous lives.”— Clay McLeod Chapman, author of The RemakingFor me, the character of Eleanor became an object lesson in how sometimes you only learn what a thing *is* by spending a copious amount of time writing what it *isn’t.* This release certainly takes some intense twists in the story, and while I would love to explore how the elements of horror transform to even switch from the early genre of supernatural horror into something deeply sinister, the narrative is best left to be discovered by the reader. Regardless, the book will certainly draw in readers of both horror and mystery with how it develops–that experience is definitely best left as unspoiled as possible. Sheriff Brannigan stares at the woman, leans toward her. He’s gripped by a sudden, strong urge to reach out, yank that pillowcase off her head, get that awful unveiling over with and confront her face-to-almost-face. He doesn’t. He knows the horrors waiting underneath that fabric all too well. He’s seen it dozens of times on dozens of morgue slabs and in dozens of crimes scenes already. Plus, his arms are beginning to feel strangely heavy and useless. So he settles for just … staring. I-I don’t know, Sheriff. But, but we found him! The guy, the, the—well, we think the guy. Come on!” The deputy makes a futile gesture toward the doorway. It's hard to believe a man wrote this. Not because its about a woman going through peri-menopause, but because of its insight in to the female condition. The writing is witty, thoughtful, and atmospheric, reminiscent of T. Kingfisher. The rich desert setting with an odd community of inhabitants reminded me of Sundial by Catriona Ward. I would also compare his writing to Sara Gran based solely on a vibe that I can't for the life of me put into earthly words.

Nat Cassidy is such an interesting new voice within horror literature. This quote from the Author’s Notes section at the beginning was highly relatable to me; 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 . Genius... Intense... No two readers will experience [ MARY] quite the same. The reading discoveries are exciting and thrilling. Cassidy has a skilled storytelling voice capable of intense, graphic imagery and scary scenes as well as laugh-out-loud humor.”—Sadie “Mother Horror” Hartmann, author of 101 Horror Books to Read Before You're Murdered Cassidy’s character-building is so incredibly complex that I can’t help but . . . make a comparison to Stephen King. . . . An extraordinary metaphor for women’s struggles, Mary is edgy as hell. A chilling compilation of horror with masterful storytelling.”— Cemetery DanceThis was weird. Like Twilight Zone weird. I kept waiting for Rod Serling to pop out and tell me that I'm traveling through another dimension. Another shriek peals through the building. The red-haired deputy snaps to attention, but instead of running to the direction of the noise, he bolts up the stairs, pushing past the sheriff, like a man who just realized he’d left the gas on. One of the best horror novels of the year, and destined to become a cult classic, Mary, like its heroine, is not to be sidelined.”— CrimeReads

For all of it's highlights, the one gripe that hinders this from being a 4.5 or 5 star is that this book is too long and certain issues were drawn out to the point of feeling tedious. I'm a woman. I relate to or at least respect everything Cassidy brought to the table about how hard and unfair it is to be a woman and an aging woman at that. The beauty standards, the financial instability, the being too-much but not-enough, the having to have a man or you're broken and worthless. There are so many fantastic problems brought up in this book and that's something I adore about horror.I’ve seen Mary: An Awakening Of Terror being raved about within the online horror community and can see why now! 💀🖤 The world has gone unnaturally quiet. Moments ago, it was chaos, but now … only the sounds of his pulse, his breath, coming in, going out, in unconscious, tidal sway. It was as if when he opened the door to this room— So imagine my surprise and horror when I got the contract to finally write Mary, and, for the first time in my professional life, the work … came out … excruciatingly … slow. Right.” The sheriff clears his throat. He sees an ant on the floor and stomps on it. “Thank Christ. Where is he?” This tale of horror is a good read-alike for Stephen King’s Carrie and Paul Tremblay’s A Head Full of Ghosts.”— Booklist