Mary

by Nat Cassidy

I do not know how to write the review for this 15+ hour audiobook. And seriously, I am never a person without something to say. My fear is if I give away details it will ruin the journey for you, and I want you to experience this as I did – completely cold. 

I request books based on title, cover pic and genre. So, romance is out. Feely feels is out. Memoirs, nope, not interested. On the Netgalley site it’s listed as general fiction, but Goodreads lists supernatural, horror, mystery with a nod to Midsommar, which was all I needed to hear.

From the moment Susan Bennett begins her skillful narration as main character Mary, I was hooked. Mary is a character different than most, and similar (minus a few things) to me – she’s older, she’s enduring perimenopause and not afraid to talk about it, she’s got less years left than behind and a ton of baggage being carried solely on her back. I loved Mary. And her Aunt Nadine was given some of the best lines I’ve read in a book. In fact, this book was filled with things I wanted to write down to share – author Nat Cassidy is a master of dialogue. Not spoiling things but when you read this pay attention to the quote about belly rubs and dogs versus cats. I happened to listen to this on a dark weekend in my country’s history and this quote resonated through every fiber of my being.

So, I won’t tell you more about the plot but I will tell you that I found myself researching the author. I’ve never heard of this man yet he was writing exactly for me. In his prologue he mentions Stephen King, Carrie, being a reader and writer as a kid – that was me too. I LOVE books with depth and Cassidy writes with depth. A 15+ hour audiobook as his first time up at bat???? Wow. Having grown up as a reader of King, Saul, Koontz, Jackson and having escaped deep into stories my whole life, I hope I live long enough to see where Cassidy’s extraordinary ability to tell a story goes. 

That’s it. Great book. Took me longer to process my feelings than it did to listen to the audio book and that is a credit to an author who understands how to tell a story.