I Know a Place - by Nat Cassidy (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

An instant USA Today Bestseller! The first collection from author Nat Cassidy, featuring his unique blend of gleefully terrifying short fiction, and including a brand-new introduction from the master of horror himself, Stephen King!.

"These stories are f*cking great. They rule. So read them." - Stephen King, from his introduction

There are locations in this world where the light doesn't seem to reach. Where, no matter how illuminated the place might be, shadows creep in too strongly to fight back.

A suspiciously empty gas station rest stop in the middle of the night, littered with googley eyes... A doctor's office, where a bottle of booze and a tear-stained folder wait on the desk... A tech millionaire's haunted kitchen... A Bible-quoting ventriloquist's dingy apartment... A yoga retreat in the middle of the desert, silent except for the screaming...

These locations and more are your destination and bestselling author Nat Cassidy will be your guide. Featuring the Bram Stoker Award-nominated, critically acclaimed novella Rest Stop (one of Esquire's Best Horror Books of 2024), along with a number of other original short stories, some which have never been published before, I Know A Place: Rest Stop and Other Dark Detours is a travelogue down twisting side streets and through alleyways where the darkness has eyes... and teeth.

Let's hope you make it home in one piece.

- Top 10 Books of May 2026 - Library Reads

"A terrifying joy... Dripping with unrelenting dread, immersive fear, and existential terror... A singular voice, Cassidy doesn't just know a place, he has planted a flag there, cementing his status with a collection that feels like a conversation about horror (both the feeling and the genre) between author and readers." -- Library Journal, starred

Review Quotes

"A terrifying joy... Dripping with unrelenting dread, immersive fear, and existential terror... A singular voice, Cassidy doesn't just know a place, he has planted a flag there, cementing his status with a collection that feels like a conversation about horror (both the feeling and the genre) between author and readers."-- "Library Journal, starred"

"These stories are f*cking great. They rule. So read them."--Stephen King

"[Cassidy has cemented] his status as one of horror's all-time greats."--Rachel Harrison, New York Times bestselling author of Play Nice and Cackle, on When the Wolf Comes Home

"Nat Cassidy is a master of creeping fear, of urban unease, of uncanny dread and outright horror."--Ramsey Campbell, horror legend, on Nestlings

"[A] platter of phobias... Luckily, for every scare, there is a sense of resilience and a laugh in the face of fear to get you there."-- "Fangoria Magazine"

"A blood-soaked freakout that does for gas stations what Jaws did for beaches."-- "Kirkus Reviews"

"Nat Cassidy is quickly becoming one of those names in horror--along with Tananarive Due, Keith Rosson, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia--that inhabit the 'go to' section of my brain with it comes to picking up new books. They always delight, intrigue and horrify. Guaranteed to deliver."--Patton Oswalt

"One part Stephen King's Desperation and one part Green Room, this is like a perfectly satisfying gas station hot dog--greasy, made of surprisingly complex components, and viscerally rewarding."-- "Publishers Weekly"

"Poignant and nasty as hell, Nat Cassidy's Rest Stop is a thoughtful and sharply written chamber drama that veers off the rails into a profoundly devastating cosmic splatter spectacle."--Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

"Somewhere between SAW and Sartre, there's a detour. Nat Cassidy's Rest Stop is that roadside attraction, a funny, beautiful, and scary novella that leavens its introspection with blood-spatter and a dusting of spider legs. It's great!"--Adam Cesare, author of Clown in a Cornfield and Influencer

About the Author

Nat Cassidy writes horror for the page, stage, and screen.

His acclaimed novels, including When the Wolf Comes Home (USA Today Bestseller; called "a classic" by Stephen King), Mary: An Awakening of Terror (one of Audible's "Top 100 Horror Novels of All Time"), Nestlings, and Rest Stop (Bram Stoker Award nominee), have been featured in best-of lists from Esquire, Harper's Bazaar, NPR, the Chicago Review of Books, the NY Public Library, Amazon, and more, and he was named one of the "writers shaping horror's next golden age" by Esquire.

Stephen King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. He made his first professional short story sale in 1967 to Startling Mystery Stories. In the fall of 1971, he began teaching high school English classes at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels. In the spring of 1973, Doubleday & Co., accepted the novel Carrie for publication, providing him the means to leave teaching and write full-time. He has since published over 50 books and has become one of the world's most successful writers. King is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to the American Letters and the 2014 National Medal of Arts.

Stephen lives in Maine and Florida with his wife, novelist Tabitha King. They are regular contributors to a number of charities including many libraries and have been honored locally for their philanthropic activities.

Photo Credit: Shane Leonard