Catriona Ward

The Gothic Masterpiece Of 2021

The Last House on Needless Street

Catriona Ward's The Last House on Needless Street is a shocking and immersive read perfect for fans of Gone Girl and The Haunting of Hill House. The buzz...is real. I've read it and was blown away. It's a true nerve-shredder that keeps its mind-blowing secrets to the very end.--Stephen King An Indie Next Pick! A LibraryReads Top 10 Pick! A Library Journal Editors' Pick! STARRED reviews from Library Journal and Publishers Weekly! Brilliant....[a] deeply frightening deconstruction of the illusion of the self.--The New York Times In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three. A teenage girl who isn't allowed outside, not after last time. A man who drinks alone in front of his TV, trying to ignore the gaps in his memory. And a house cat who loves napping and reading the Bible. An unspeakable secret binds them together, but when a new neighbor moves in next door, what is buried out among the birch trees may come back to haunt them all. "The new face of literary dark fiction."--Sarah Pinborough

Jillian Roberts

I don't recall names but I have my ways of judging and remembering people. The first one is: would they be kind to my cat? I would not let this woman near Olivia.

Told through the eyes of old drunkard Ted, his reclusive daughter and their pious cat, and a newly arrived neighbor driven by suspicion, Catriona Ward's gothic thriller traces the gradual unfolding of the truth behind an unsolved crime.

Lisette

The gods are closer than you would think. They live among the trees, behind a skin so thin you could scratch it open with a fingernail. 

Plot twist after plot twist after plot twist until the very last minute. And I liked it!

Ani Velasquez

I rarely read "realistic" horror, but I really enjoyed this. Recommend going in as unknowingly as possible. 

Emiley Jones

Never in a MILLION years would I have guessed how this book would go. 

Jennifer Palmer

Without saying/spoiling too much, this novel is both touching and deeply unsettling once you understand the full context ---

• Catriona Ward took the DNA of various genres and created something entirely new. . meshing together elements of psychological thriller/gothic horror, + moments of dark humor throughout; creating a deeply affecting story about trauma/identity.

• The way Ward gradually reveals how all the seemingly separate threads connect in the end, is mind-bending in the best possible way. .

This novel is worth the hype, and I will definitely be looking into more of this author's work in the near future! 

Erica England 

Many layers to unpack here. .

Without saying/spoiling too much, this novel is both touching and deeply unsettling once you understand the full context ---

• Catriona Ward took the DNA of various genres and created something entirely new. . meshing together elements of psychological thriller/gothic horror, + moments of dark humor throughout; creating a deeply affecting story about trauma/identity.

• The way Ward gradually reveals how all the seemingly separate threads connect in the end, is mind-bending in the best possible way. .

This novel is worth the hype, and I will definitely be looking into more of this author's work in the near future! 

I fear this book will be on my mind for awhile.

Three plot twists that almost made me put down the book and go outside 

Zachary Roberts

*** THE TIMES NO.4 BESTSELLER *** *** A BBC TWO BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK *** THE TIMES THRILLER OF THE MONTH AN OBSERVER THRILLER OF THE MONTH GUARDIAN 2021 IN BOOKS PICK WATERSTONES MARCH 2021 PICK RED MAGAZINE MARCH 2021 PICK REFINERY 29 MARCH 2021 PICK 'The buzz is real.. I haven't read anything this exciting since Gone Girl' - STEPHEN KING 'This spectacular gothic fantasy is one of the most extraordinary thrillers of the year' - DAILY MAIL 'This is the most gloriously complex, shifting story, deeply disturbing yet also, somehow, heartwarming' - OBSERVER 'A dark, audacious highwire act of a novel' - GUARDIAN ________________________________________ This is the story of a murderer. A stolen child. Revenge. This is the story of Ted, who lives with his daughter Lauren and his cat Olivia in an ordinary house at the end of an ordinary street. All these things are true. And yet some of them are lies. You think you know what's inside the last house on Needless Street. You think you've read this story before. But you're wrong. In the dark forest at the end of Needless Street, something lies buried. But it's not what you think... From the multiple award-winning author of Little Eve and Rawblood, this extraordinary tale will thrill and move readers. A work of incredible imagination and heartbreaking beauty. *** FILM RIGHTS OPTIONED BY IMAGINARIUM PRODUCTIONS *** ________________________________________ 'Catriona Ward is the new face of literary dark fiction' - SARAH PINBOROUGH 'Books like this don't come around too often' - JOANNE HARRIS 'Believe the hype... a masterclass' - KIRAN MILLWOOD HARGRAVE 'A chilling and beautiful masterpiece of suspense. I was completely enthralled' - JOE HILL 'A masterpiece. Beautiful, heartbreaking and quietly uplifting' - ALEX NORTH 'Full of twists and turns, this high-concept gothic horror is going to be huge' - GUARDIAN

A BBC Two Between the Covers Book Club Pick; the Gothic Masterpiece of 2021

Lola

Not sure how i feel about this book, while i feel as though i spent majority of this read scratching my head, wondering what the f**k was going on, the ending really made me eat my words. I don't think I'll be able to get the book out of my head for a while, but i'm giving 4 stars as it's not the kind of book I'd reach for again, but i suppose i'd recommend reading it atleast once, the ending really did make it all worth while...

Ryan Mateyk

alexandria slocum

This was a rough read for me. I had such high hopes and found myself dragging through to finish this book. I kept expecting a good twist to capture me, yet was constantly left confused and disappointed. I know many others enjoyed it. but I truly didn’t like the story line or the end of this book. Maybe I just wasn’t interested to begin with, which didn’t help overall but regardless, there were parts that didn’t make sense or seem to relate to the story and left me hanging.

Rica Lelina

I have mixed feelings on this book. I listened to the audiobook and personally did not feel like the recording was easy to follow. Also, trying to narrate a character that is a cat is just really weird so can’t say I enjoyed that. I found it difficult to keep track of who was speaking, especially with time jumps and the introduction of dissociate identity disorder near the end. The concept was somewhat intriguing, but as someone with a psychology degree, I have grown to dislike depictions of multiple personalities in books/media as it’s typically glorified and inaccurate. I mostly found this one confusing, and still can’t say I really get how it tied together in the end.

Erin Goss

Grace M

I have a lot of complicated feelings about this one. I think I may have been a victim of bookstagram hype and walked into this novel with expectations set way too high. The writing style was absolutely beautiful, and kept me going through a twist I can’t say I loved. This one was just a bit off kilter for me. That being said, I’m very excited to read more from Ward.

Bethany

I LOVED this book. I thought about it for at least a week afterwards and explained it to so many people. I thought it was such a great way to view this mental illness in a way that made it more real.

Catriona Ward's The Last House on Needless Street is a shocking and immersive read perfect for fans of Gone Girl and The Haunting of Hill House. “The new face of literary dark fiction.” —Sarah Pinborough, New York Times bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes "The buzz...is real. I've read it and was blown away. It's a true nerve-shredder that keeps its mind-blowing secrets to the very end." —Stephen King In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three. A teenage girl who isn’t allowed outside, not after last time. A man who drinks alone in front of his TV, trying to ignore the gaps in his memory. And a house cat who loves napping and reading the Bible. An unspeakable secret binds them together, but when a new neighbor moves in next door, what is buried out among the birch trees may come back to haunt them all.

One of my favorite books ever. So surprising, so dark, so beautifully written. Read it all in like 3 days

John Vetter

shellybn

Technically, the writing in this book was excellent, but either the descriptions of the book were misleading or I misunderstood. I thought this book was going to be about a haunted house, but it was really about a horrific murder mystery.

Jessica De Hoyos

Alexa M

practically started and finished this in one go. super unique and enthralling. the constant POV change kept the pace quick and cat’s POV was too good. this really went in an unexpected direction but not in a bad way at all. super creepy vibes.

Leisha Chadwick

i will forever adore this book!🖤 one of my absolute faves - such a clever execution of the story line and i LOVED olivia, the cat!

James Winduss

Phenomenal! I am absolutely blown away by this story and this author. I have nothing more to say, other than I will recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

Kristen Claiborn

Because I keep myself on a pretty strict regimen of which books I need to read, it’s hard to fit in books that I might want to read (that aren’t already on my lists) or books my friends have strongly recommended to me. I recently decided I needed to change things up a bit and add those recommendations to my lists. Now each month I have reserved spots for “recommended by a friend” books, and have found, for the most part, my friends are pretty damn good at book suggestions (although, I didn’t love the ones that came from my dad…sorry Pops). 
	I’ve been a Stephen King fan as long as I’ve loved reading. I will always credit King for awakening my inner reader, hell I read him before I even read young adult “horror” writers (Lois Duncan became a favorite, but that was even after I read The Shining). I’m constantly on the hunt for a horror writer that I love as much, but they all fall short. Last year I ran across a really good one by Chuck Wendig, but for the most part, horror just seems to fall short of my hopes and dreams (lofty expectations, I suppose). When I started reading this one…and for a large portion of the book, I was just as disappointed. For most of my life, I’ve been adamant that I had to finish every book I started, and this book is a prime example of why I’ve always felt that way (I have since DNF quite a few books…Jennifer Egan’s books definitely gave me the go-ahead to give up). 
	Slooooooooooooooooooow burn. That is the best way to describe this one, but once Ward gets the flame going, she burned the whole damn house down. Hell, she took neighboring houses with it. She sets the story up with the antagonist and the protagonist…then she threw it all in the trash about 75% of the way through it and completely changed the trajectory. I was reading this one on my phone during a recent hearing on the January 6 insurrection, and despite the compelling testimony on the screen, I was completely entrenched in this story. I looked up at my husband and said “What the F*%#???” over and over…he had no idea I was talking about the book. This book did not play out the way that Ward set it up, and I feel like I need to go through some counseling after the emotional trauma I was left with. It was phenomenal. I cannot gush about it enough, this was an amazing book.

Sofia Arcângelo 

Well, after spending 4 days saying to myself "maybe it gets better", it really didn't. It's clear from the beginning that the main character is highly disturbed and things keep getting so confusing.

I loved the idea behind the book, but somehow I didn't connect to the story. It was all so disorienting and so hard to follow, although there's a lot of twists and turns in the end. It just isn't the right book for me.

Janice Hopper

I got sucked in by the hype for this book. Others have summarized it well, so I won't. 

It only kinda worked FOR ME. I was pretty uncomfortable in the first part. I knew we were dealing with unreliable narrator(s) here. I don't really enjoy unreliable narrator stories. But I was pretty right about what was going on though, even though I changed my mind about what was happening a couple of times. 

But then: (view spoiler)[A happy ending??? And a GAY happy ending??? Seriously? Not that I'm against happy endings, but... how was this earned??? That's where I lost interest, and where the book failed FOR ME. I felt like the fairly large infodump at the end of the book was a hasty attempt to "make things right." It just didn't work for me.  (hide spoiler)] 

I listened to the audiobook version. Unlike some, I didn't feel like the narration trivialized the story. It worked for me as expressions of the characters. 

I'm happy lots of people really liked it. I thought it was ok, but was disappointed toward the end.
2.5 stars rounded up to 3. Memo to self: you KNOW you don't usually react well to stuff that has been enormously hyped like this book was. Future self: LEARN FROM PAST SELF.

leonie

This book completely blew me away, a serious journey of the horror/thriller genre. Constant twists and turns with multiple narrative paths to slowly unravel this mind-bending story. I feel like saying much more will verge into spoilers now I know how this book ends, so I'll just say this, if you're thinking about picking this book up... do it!

The Last House on Needless Street The Gothic Masterpiece Of 2021

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