Rest Stop

by Nat Cassidy

From the author of MARY and NESTLINGS . . . A young musician finds himself locked inside a gas station bathroom in the middle of the night by an unseen assailant, caught between the horrors on the other side of the door and the horrors rapidly skittering down the walls inside.

Genres: Horror, Novella, Fiction, Thriller, Adult, Short Stories, Contemporary

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 15, 2024

About the author

NAT CASSIDY is a national bestselling and Bram Stoker Award-nominated author whose acclaimed works include Mary ("One of the Best Horror Novels of All Time" - Audible), Nestlings, and Rest Stop. Esquire described him as one "of the best horror writers of this generation" and among the writers "shaping horror's next golden age." His award-winning plays have been produced across the country, including Off-Broadway and the Kennedy Center. You've also maybe seen Nat guest-starring on shows such as Law & Order: SVU, Blue Bloods, Bull, Quantico, FBI, and many others ... but that's a topic for a different bio. His newest novel, When the Wolf Comes Home, hit shelves in April 2025 and was called "a classic" by Stephen King. He lives in New York City with his wife.

Reviews

[Nat Cassidy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like to describe this novella as "GREEN ROOM meets GERALD'S GAME." It's the closest thing I've yet written to "extreme" horror--though, I wouldn't say it goes nearly as hard or gets nearly as bleak as the most extreme "extreme" horror stories I've read. Regardless, I'm hoping it makes your next visit to a gas station bathroom even scarier than it would otherwise be.

If you're a fan of MARY and/or NESTLINGS, too, the first draft of this was mostly written in between those two books and there are little images and ideas from both that pop up in ways I always find fascinating as someone who likes to think about *how* things are made. Plus, if you appreciated (or were at least intrigued by) the Jewish angle of NESTLINGS, this story definitely continues that representation. This is very much a story about what it means to be the grandchild of immigrants, someone who was raised on cultural horror stories and never quite knows what lessons are to be learned about fitting into the world around you.

Also, bugs. And snakes. And blood. And and and . . .

[Brandon Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was INTENSE!!!

It’s about a guy that gets stuck in a gas station bathroom during a road trip and endures one terrible thing after the other. I knew the basic premise before going in, and was wondering what would happen, and yeah!!! It’s bad!!! 😅

It's sooooo anxiety inducing as things very quickly go from bad to worse and then even worse. It's funny and gross and gory, but more than anything i was STRESSED 😂

Highly recommend, this was so fun and a really quick read!!

[Lala BooksandLala · Rating 4 out of 5]

very suspenseful but also wacky.

[Jan Agaton · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was my type of horror until it wasn't

[Char · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hahaha! This was so much fun!

Well, I mean, not for Abe, the main character, but for this horror reader it had everything! A little creature feature, a little psychological horror, (and abuse 😢), a little body horror and a whole lot of WTF, I had a great time reading REST STOP.

[Meghin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Seriously guys? This was so cringy
I take it back. This was one star. This might even be…..Less Than Zero.
The (Googly) Eyes Are the Best Part.

[Court Zierk · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Epigrammatic pandemonium. This novella is formidable in its mastery of encapsulating cogent horror in short form. Nat Cassidy puts all of his morbid talent on display in Rest Stop. You’ll rip through this quicker than flesh off a lifeless body.

And don’t forget your googly eyes.

[Adrienne L · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't want to spoil any part of this tense little novella. Suffice it to say, within the first few chapters, my skin was crawling and at about 50% in, I found myself muttering "oh my god," into the back of my hand. This was really, really good.

[nineinchnovels · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never leave your phone in the car.

[JaymeO · Rating 4 out of 5]

Snakes, spiders, blood, oh my!

Written in between Mary: An Awakening of Terror and The Nestlings, Natalie Cassidy’s Rest Stop contains echoes of both stories and explores the emotional scars inflicted by historical trauma.

After much procrastination, Abe drives in the middle of the night to visit his grandmother after she has a sudden stroke. He has always had a fraught relationship with Bobbe, who is a Jewish immigrant. Being raised on her cultural horror stories has created a rift in their ability to connect with each other. But, he has decided to do the right thing, as she might not make it.

When Abe enters an empty rest stop along the way, he finds himself locked in the bathroom. On the other side of the door, horrors await him that might be worse than the terrors he must deal with inside.

Having read and had mixed feelings about Cassidy’s first two novels, I wondered how I would fare with this short novella. It is a fast-paced read that gripped me from the very beginning. If you are squeamish, beware that this plot borders the extreme horror genre. It also contains a strong political agenda from the author and the characters.

Cassidy had me until the last few chapters. I was confused by the ending and am not sure that it has the intended effect on the reader. Readers of locked room thrillers and Taylor Adams (especially No Exit) will enjoy this novella.

3.5/5 stars rounded up

[⊹ Amy ⊹ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this but, unfortunately, it was just not for me. The premise sounded interesting and the story had a lot of potential in the beginning but it soon switched from a claustrophobic and tense setting into a weird horror comedy. The main reason being the unlikable protagonist who was written to sound really juvenile and quirky with no survival instinct. He kept making one bad decision after another which became really repetitive and annoying. I also didn't like the ending nor did I like the heavy religious themes throughout the story.

1.5 stars rounded up to 2 just because of a couple of creepy scenes in the beginning.

[Kate Victoria RescueandReading · Rating 4 out of 5]

For such a short book, it sure packs in alot of nastiness and scares. There were a few moments I was actually hyperventilating (already had a healthy distrust of vents in public washrooms which is now probably a full blown phobia).

“Splat!
A bug the size of an adult human thumb collides with his windshield, presenting its insides in a wet bouquet across the glass.”

You HAVE to check this story out!! It centres around a young guy who thinks he’s just stopping at a gas station to grab some snacks, fuel up, and use the facilities. This turns into a bloody nightmare full of creepy crawlies and viscera.

Will he survive? And if he does, will he even be the same person after what he’s seen?

“We're all just biding our time before we break, aren't we?
This is just the rest stop.”

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Rest Stop' is a gloriously tight piece of suspense/horror fiction that manages to cram more into it's 160 pages than many far longer books do. After a brief lead in, it grabs hold and absolutely refuses to let you go. The claustrophic "guy trapped in a small space and weird stuff starts happening" style story is almost unbearably tense, with a wonderfully mysterious and memorable villain.
What's most impressive is that, as with his excellent novel 'Mary', Nat Cassidy manages to include so much interesting and reflective character detail. The main character is complex and there's as much interest to be had in learning more about him as there is learning what happens to him.
The cherry on top is a really great epilogue. Oh, and the fact that the formatting of the book is amazing. Multiple cherries.
I now count myself as someone who will read anything Nat Cassidy puts out from this point on.

[Pisces51 · Rating 3 out of 5]

REST STOP [2024] By Nat Cassidy
My Review 3.0 Stars

I somehow missed writing a review on this lavishly lauded novella by Nat Cassidy. The most frightening thing I encountered surrounding this short work of horror was the seemingly endless list of effusive praise, and “over the top” Editorial Reviews on Amazon. I literally stopped reading them about halfway through. It made me wonder if I actually read it, but I had to reluctantly admit to myself that I had, in fact, read “Rest Stop”.

Readers on Amazon rated it 3.9 Stars with 329 overall ratings. It was widely read on Goodreads with nearly 3,000 ratings. It scored 3.77. I comforted myself a little with the novella not averaging a high 4.0 or 5.0.

I finished reading "Rest Stop" January 13th, a novella Cassidy wrote between "Mary" and "The Nestlings".

I like Cassidy's works, including short works I have purchased prior to this particular novella. It is a well written story, and initially it is not clear where the narrative is going. This one is too existential for me. The first-person narrator is a young Jewish guy named Abe who is making an obligatory drive in the heart of darkness to visit his grandmother. He despises her and has procrastinated making the trip. He pulls over eventually to get gas, freshen up, and pick up something to drink and snacks. His mind is preoccupied with real and imagined slights. This " rest stop" is the name of the horror story and also an in and out of body experience which defines the fear and terror which afflicts him there. It simply did not resonate with me. Frankly, I did not like it all that well as evidenced by my review and rating. I now am consoling myself that no two people read the same book. All of us are looking at the pages through the lens of our own experiences and perceptions. Still a fan of Nat Cassidy.

POPULAR NOVELLA BY NAT CASSIDY BETWEEN THE BOOKS MARY AND “THE NESTLINGS”

[ReadingWryly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is for the horror fans who need a solid, flawed character to root for. Who want a fast-paced, fever dream of a cursed slasher. And who can admit they can get down with yacht rock.

[Mohadese · Rating 4 out of 5]

☆۴ ستاره‌ی خونین! ☆
خیلی وقت بود یه داستان سورئال و اسلَشرطور دارک نخونده بودم و اون‌قدر دارک و عجیب بود که جیگرم حااال اومد!
و البته این کتاب اولین کتابیه که از نت کسیدی در ایران ترجمه شده و خیلی خیلی دلم می‌خواست بخونمش!

▪︎ داستان درباره‌ی چیه؟
ابی یه نوازنده‌س که شب��نه تو استراحتگاه یه پمپ‌بنزین توقف می‌کنه تا کمی استراحت کنه، پمپ‌بنزین خلوت و آروم به‌نظر می‌رسید ولی خیلی زود تبدیل به یه کابوس تمام عیار می‌شه...
از دیوارها خون می‌چکه...
و ابی رو تا مرز فروپاشی روانی می‌بره...

▪︎ وقتی کتاب رو شروع کردم قصد داشتم توی یه نشست بخونمش چون ۱۲۰ صفحه بیشتر نداره اما به قدری دارک بود که واقعا نتونستم! مجبور شدم طی چند روز بخونمش و واقعا خوشحالم.
بخش اول کتاب داستان ابی رو داریم که توی دستشویی پمپ بنزین گیر کرده، یه محیط تنگ که مدام اتفاقات عجیب توش میوفته. برای منی که تنگناهراسی دارم واقعا خوندن این بخش اذیت‌کننده و لذت‌بخش بود! 😂😭
ولی بخش دوم حتی بهتر بود! ابی بالاخره از دستشویی بیرون می‌آد و اینجاست که داستان تم اسلشر می‌گیره و خون و جنون به اوج خودش می‌رسه.
و بعد وقتی می‌گی خب همه چی تموم شد، یه پلات توئیست کوچیک داریم و توی یکی دو صفحه آخر نویسنده فروپاشی روانی ابی رو با ظرافت انقدر قشنگ نشونمون میده که دوباره آدم کیف می‌کنه.👀

- اگر دنبال یه داستان کوتاه دارک و غیرقابل پیش‌بینی هستید بهتون این کتاب رو پیشنهاد می‌کنم.
اگر زیر ۱۶ سال دارید و روحیه‌تون حساسه این کتاب رو بهتون پیشنهاد نمی‌کنم.

[Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abe is a young musician and he finds himself trapped in a gas station bathroom at night, caught between the horrors outside the door and the terrifying creatures crawling inside. This horror novella, perfect for Halloween season. It stressed me out and made me vow never to stop at a rest stop again without my phone. Abe’s desperate fight for survival while battling his own mind was fascinating, though the mind-bending ending left me feeling confused—in the best way possible. The story is funny, gross, gory, and intensely anxiety-inducing as things spiral from bad to worse. It was a quick, and fun read for sure.

[kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

oh! hahah! *uneasy smile* this is my worst fucking nightmare!!
(but it would make a great movie)

[Krysta ꕤ · Rating 2 out of 5]

i was enjoying this until it started doing too much towards the end

[Emma Clow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deranged as fuck!

[A.M. (ᴍʏ.sᴘᴏᴏᴋʏ.ᴡᴀʏs) · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who’s already uneasy about rest stops, thanks to a childhood experience that’s burned into my memory, Nat Cassidy’s Rest Stop felt like a personal challenge I couldn’t resist.

When I was ten, my parents and I were driving to Disney World, and we pulled off at a rest stop along I-4. While I reluctantly walked toward the bathroom, I heard this terrifying noise, something between a scream and a growl, coming from inside. I froze, turned right back around, and marched straight to the car. When my parents asked why I didn’t go, I lied and said I could hold it until we got to the hotel. Spoiler: I almost didn’t. But even my ten-year-old self instinctively knew that stepping into that bathroom might mean I’d never make it to Disney World.

Reading Rest Stop brought all that childhood anxiety rushing back, but in the best way possible. Cassidy’s story is like staring into the dark abyss of all your worst fears about those isolated, sometimes eerily quiet roadside stops, and then finding out it’s somehow even worse than you imagined.

This novella is absolutely unhinged in the best way. It’s nasty, depraved, and unapologetically twisted, a gut-punch of horror that left me sitting there wondering, “What did I just read?” (And why did I love it so much? *googly eyes 👀 googly eyes*) It’s short but relentless, the kind of story that doesn’t give you room to breathe, and by the time it’s over, you’re both horrified and exhilarated.

Rest Stop isn’t for the faint of heart, but if you’re willing to embrace the psychotic chaos, it’s a ride you’ll never forget. What a disturbing, deliciously deranged little book!

(Shortwave, thank you so much for entrusting me with an ARC of this awesome novella!)

[Gyalten Lekden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rounded down from 4.5

This was frantic and brutal in ways I didn’t expect, having read Mary, and yet very human and thoughtful in ways I did expect for the same reason. The writing was dark and vicious in a style that was quite different than I expected, and it was the perfect style for this story. Cassidy does a genius job of character development, and introduces and explores a really complicated and engaging character in very few pages. The story is simple and doesn’t try for more plot or explanation than needed, instead it uses a simple and direct premise as a way to explore a character’s experience of himself and how he sees himself existing in the world. A rest stop is the perfect location for this story’s interiority—it is neither here nor there, a space between origin and destination, custom-built to fulfill your basic needs but also ephemeral and forgettable, not existing outside of its simple function. In this way it has a backroom quality, it is an endless blank slate that is defined but its liminal nature. The story exploits this location as a site of introspection, and a place without roots that demands decisions. The story is mean and bloody and forces the reader to ask themselves, what parts of me have I sacrificed at the altar of convenience, and for what things am I willing to fight to get back? External violence is a funhouse mirror of internal violence and self-deprecation, and how long do we have to stare into that distortion before we can smash it and slice ourselves into a more present, realized version of ourselves?

[Moon_child31 · Rating 2 out of 5]

1,5⭐️

Meh. Was interesting in the beginning and made me wonder what will happen but the writing style and MC really made it hard to get through 🙁

[Ghoul Von Horror · Rating 5 out of 5]

TW/CW: Language, stroke, racism, arachnophobia, gory scenes, blood, violence, Ophidiophobia, trauma, anxiety

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:
A young musician finds himself locked inside a gas station bathroom in the middle of the night by an unseen assailant, caught between the horrors on the other side of the door and the horrors rapidly skittering down the walls inside.
Release Date: October 15th, 2024
Genre: Horror
Pages: 160
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

What I Liked:
1. So many horrific bloody scenes
2. Great witting
3. Fast paced
4. Creepy scenes

What I Didn't Like:
1. Not long enough

Overall Thoughts:
{{Disclaimer: I write my review as I read}}

I don't know about you but omg the dude coming out of the door with googly eyes and then running at Abe is terrifying.

I kind of figured that the casher was apart of something not good when he was acting pretty calm after "surviving" the horrors in the gas station.

All the bloody scenes are so intense and out there.

The stranger attacking Abe and trying to rip off his nose with the bottle opener made me cringe in pain - it all sounded so terrible and painful.

So Abe finally manages to take down the killer and kill him. But then he has this obsession to buy the van of the killers and drive around. I honestly thought we were going to get a moment where he took over where the killer left off, but it just peters off no where.

Final Thoughts:
I was so graced to have been given an early copy of this book and it was a fun ride. Seriously I read it so fast and was INVESTED. There were so many creepy things that happened in this book. It's a novella and pretty short (130 pages) but it was packed full of a lot of stuff happening that you are left wanting more. I was sad when it ended. There was a lot of gore and blood that I didn't think was going to even happen that some parts left me shocked.

The only thing I would say that kind of drag the story down was Abe's obsession with Jenna. It really goes nowhere and in the end Jenna and Ty are still together, which Abe says they make a great couple. So I wish that would have amounted in something or had a purpose.

IG | Blog

Thanks to Shortwave publishing for sending me a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[thevampireslibrary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of Nat Cassidy his full length novels are some of my favourites, theres no doubt in anyone's mind he's a powerhouse in the horror genre, with the recent release of his chapbooks, Generation and The Art of What You Want he's proved he's a formidable force in the short fiction category also, anything the man can't do? His yet to be published novella Rest Stop is a trip through the spiraling stream of consciousness of our protagonist as he faces threats both real and imaginary, embodying Cassidy's fatalistic style, the narrative is steeped in palpable anxiety and dread, offering a balance of slasher thrills and profound introspection, the claustrophobic setting lends itself to the idea of being trapped by your own mind and others perception, this was ferociously gross, this was like a musical comedic Saw movie, but it's actually not that funny..its terrifying. Cassidy thrusts the reader into a tense and unrelenting locked room of blood, guts and most horrifying of all, self awareness, and all without any remorse.

[Kurryreads (Kerry) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nat Cassidy is the GOAT


Thoughts: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTFcKMSWC/

[Angyl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This got way more bloody than I initially expected but it was great. I think I need to pick up more short things from Nat Cassidy because this worked for me better than either of his novels.

[erica ࣪ ִֶָ☾. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5★
”We’re all just biding our time before we break, aren’t we? This is just the rest stop.”

Creepy rest stop, spiders, snakes, your brother in a relationship with the woman you like, and more,
talk about a worst nightmare come true…

[destiny ♡ howling libraries · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is this the feeling of being broken? He wonders. Or is it the process of breaking?

I've heard a lot of hype surrounding this novella, and I can certainly see why. It's a gruesome, suspenseful little thing with lots of fangs and pincers (literally and metaphorically), and I really enjoyed it. There's a dark humor to the whole thing, but moments of long-standing generational pain and cynicism are woven throughout it in a way that tugs at your heartstrings. The ending left me reeling a little bit, and I'm probably never going to look at gas station restrooms the same way.

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.

✨ Representation: Jewish MC and author

✨ Content warnings for: violence, gore, murder, death, insects, snakes, brief mentions of antisemitism, emotional abuse of a child (flashbacks), religious doubts, brief mentions of cancer and terminal illness

[Brendon Lowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun quick gory ride. Abe stops at the wrong gas station where he finds himself locked inside the toilet unable to escape. Creatures and dropped from the ceiling and something is going on outside? When he makes it out, his life will change forever.

It's not quite extreme horror but nearly there. It's descriptive, great character background, and superb writing. It was missing something, tho like the horror could have been pushed a bit further and a bit less on the characters inner thoughts. I also didn't really understand that final chapter on why Abe turned out like he did.

It's still an enjoyable short novella. I would definitely read again one day.