I Know a Place: Rest Stop and Other Dark Detours by Nat Cassidy

I love a short story collection. Especially for an author I haven’t read much of. Collections tend to give you an assortment of an author’s range which I love. I honestly feel like if I read a collection by an author and like some of it, I will definitely find more by that author I will like.

I have only read one other book by Nat Cassidy and that was Mary. I really liked it and became very interested to check out more of Cassidy’s work. I got very lucky when this book was offered as an advanced reader copy by Shortwave Publishing on NetGalley. Huge thank you to Shortwave and NetGalley for this opportunity.

This collection includes 13 stories, the main story is the popular Novella Rest Stop. Funny thing is, I already had Rest Stop on my to-read list and I didn’t even know it. Rest Stop was unhinged!!! We follow the main character who is having family issues and stops at a gas station to unload and refuel on his long drive. As he searches fur munchies he finds the place is empty. Stopping at the bathroom and planning on getting the heck out of there plans changed when he gets locked in. What happens next was impossible to look away from. I couldn’t wait to see what was going to come next. This collection is worth it just for this story.

I wasn’t able to get to reading this when it first came out for ARC but I enjoyed the fact that Nat Cassidy was on social media reading the reviews as they came in. He said he really enjoyed seeing all the different storied that connected with people. I thought this was really cool. I love that people connect with different stories instead of everyone liking the same ones.

I’m going to get full on Dad here and say all of these stories were a trip. Pun intended. One of the ones that I really liked was “Nice”. This is a good Christmas read and I might even replace The Night Before Christmas reading to the kids this year. Just kidding. Mitchell is just a kid obsessed with Santa. All he wants is for it to be Christmas so all his hard work being nice and championing Santa will be worth it. Mitchell is visited by an elf who paints a tragic picture of slave labor and poor living conditions. The elf asks Mitchell to be naughty so the elves can get a break. The elf had no idea how far Mitchell would go to help.

Tough call on what other story was a favorite because all the others were great for their own reasons. Looking at the rating for this book. I Know a Place will be released on May 5, 2026, so get your pre-orders in now. I will always champion Indie Bookstores so please find your favorite local Indie Bookstore to place your order, or my favorite ships. You can get your copy of this 🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃 collection here. My ARC didn’t have the introduction by Stephen King so I will be ordering my copy as soon as I post this.