I'm so happy I decided to listen to this audiobook so soon after finishing "Mary" as there are a number of parallels between the two stories. It also made me realize just how much I adore Cassidy's writing style. He's exceptionally skilled when it comes to writing characters I love to hate (and I thoroughly enjoyed how one character in particular got what was coming to them). I also love that his stories tend to focus on the marginalized and the outcast. This particular book has strong "Rosemary's Baby" vibes in addition to taking a completely unique approach to vampire fiction. There are so many elements at play that at times I worried that they'd all crash into one another in some sort of tangled mess, or something would be forgotten and unresolved. But Cassidy is a master at weaving those many, many threads together to form a satisfying conclusion. 

This book started off feeling like it'd be a 5 star read then slowly went downhill until it reached an unsatisfying ending.

Something fantastic about this book was the authors ability to create an intense feeling of isolation in New York City. The setting is fantastic - so ominous. Our FMC is in a wheelchair which I thought was quite clever as it added to her isolation. The pacing was also quite good. The author didn't reveal too much too quickly. There were quite a few genuinely scary and unsettling moments!

There are a few issues with this book and Id say the one that struck me the most is that I didn't feel like the author didn't really capture parental love well in his writing. The FMC had basically no maternal instincts. This isn't entirely a spoiler but

the FMC is resentful towards her baby because a very difficult birth left her disabled in a wheelchair. I thought this added an interesting dynamic but my problem is that I think that was a character flaw that she should have overcome by the end of the story. It kind of seems like she will but she doesn't

.
The reveal of what's happening felt a little too much like an info dump after a nice slow build. I didn't like that in the end

the dad, who has been a mostly great dad for the whole book decides that he should just let the vampire gargoyle leech people have his baby. Why have him searching so desperately for a way out just to make him change his mind about it in a whim then kill him off. Also the wife didn't seem traumatized enough by basically killing her husband. Her whole world fell apart and she just seems fine at the end. So dumb.

I hated Frank. More specifically, I hated that frank existed as a character. He feels like he was inserted for political reasons because the author wanted to write about a stereotypical far right extremist but he genuinely added nothing to the story. I think it actually would have been more effective if

instead of being a horrible ex landlord who wants revenge of the couple for moving out and damaging his apartment, he instead was an excellent nice landlord who was seeking the couple out to return some belongings they left behind. What happens is he goes to their apartment to kill them because the dad swore at him, the couple is Jewish, and Frank is a bad person. Then he immediately gets killed by the monsters at the same time the FMC is trying to escape elthe building. What's the point? If he was a nice neighbor, he could have helped the FMC escape and then his death would have had a huge emotional impact.

Anyways, I get annoyed when it feels like authors are trying to hard to insert a political message that didn't fit naturally into the story. One more thing that bothers me is that

after the physical therapy woman gets killed/ goes missing (which was a great scene, by the way. Truly spooky), why the fuck did no one reach out to the FMC? Her coworkers would have known that was the last place she was working. Does no one notice this lady missing?

Can we also talk about how the history of the building is shrouded in mystery, but for some reason every delivery or Uber eats employee refuses to enter the building? Why do door dash employees seem to know it's a bad place but no one else seems to know?!

This book was good enough to (begrudgingly) finish but not to recommend. It tries to be too much and doesn’t fully succeed at any of it. The biggest travesty is that the worst character got the happy ending, it would have been more satisfying had there been no happy ending at all.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8uF6eQb/

Nestlings is my first read from the author Nat Cassidy and it’s definitely a decent into fear and creepiness. 

Here’s the setup the Mason characters are a married couple, Ana and Reid. They live in a crappy New York apartment, and Ana suffered from an accident during the birth of their young child and lost the use of her legs, potentially forever, while also dealing with some intense postpartum depression . 

Basically things aren’t going great for them when they get a call about winning an affordable housing lottery to move into a fancy loft apartment for cheap. They go to check it out and Reid is instantly in love with the views and historic architecture of the building. Ava is more skeptical or using her wheelchair there but decides their family needs a fresh start. 

It seems alright at first, but little things start seeming off, like the creepy doormen, they rarely see other people in a New York high rise, or the food delivery men refusing to come into the building. Things start getting creepier from there. 

I don’t want to get into spoilers but overall I really enjoyed the story it blends together horror elements with social commentary.  I actually recommend reading the afterword in this book where he talks about his personal story and inspiration for this book. 

The characters in this story are believable if a little caricature-esque at times. What I really like is that Cassidy really made the building feel like a character itself.  The pacing did meander at times but I never really felt out of the story. 

Like all horror books check your triggers, I may have inadvertently sent this rec to someone who can’t stand bugs and they play a role here. 
But other than the triggers this book tackles themes such as: the darker side of become a new parent, what it means to lose mobility, and how loss and grief can affect our identity and sense of belonging. 

I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by Cassandra Campbell and I think she did a great job really hitting the right tone for this story.  

Big thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with a chance to get in on this book early. I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review