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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