Name: The Last House on Needless Street
Rating: 4.016483516483516 (182 reviews)
ISBN: 9781788166164

Catriona Ward

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.

The Last House on Needless Street

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

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! 

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

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

Jillian Roberts

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

Zachary Roberts

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

The Gothic Masterpiece Of 2021

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.

The Last House on Needless Street

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