Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this advanced reader's copy and the opportunity to read this early. Review has been posted on Waterstones and Amazon.

This was a wonderfully challenging (in a really good way) read. Very different to anything I've read before. Told from the perspective of Ted, his cat Olivia [that was weird, but it worked) and Dee. It's about murder, revenge, the taking of a child and 'an ordinary house at the end of an ordinary street' . Lots of twists and turns all the way through.
If it's your first Catriona Ward, please persevere. I highly recommend.

This book is chilling and weird
It’s very interesting as one of the POVs is from a cat
It starts off slow but then the pace builds up
A strange book

A great novel with a twist I didn’t see coming. Left me wondering what was real and what was fake. Thanks for the opportunity to read.

This was a very intricately plotted and well told tale that it is almost impossible to talk about without giving anything away! I thought the atmosphere was great and the story itself kept my interest throughout, although I did guess what was going on about half way through. This didn't impede my enjoyment, however and I thought the ending was very satisfying. Overall, an original and compelling book that I would definitely recommend.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Ive tried with this book and i have been advised to carry on and push through, but its just so confusing!!

i don't think i can push through a book thats confusing and im just not enjoying.

a DNF for me

This is a book that caused a bit of a buzz amongst the book blogger community when it first came out. Then a little while later I was at a virtual book event and Catriona was there talking about her book, cats, and I found myself ordering a copy from the lovely Forum Books (which turned out to be signed, to my delight).

I have to confess that I promptly got distracted and the book sat on the shelf for a while.

Until yesterday, when I found myself browsing the shelves, looking for my next read.

I’m now kicking myself for waiting so long. The Last House On Needless Street absolutely blew me away. It’s astonishingly good. From the blurb you think you know what you’re going to get, and to a certain extent, you do. But there’s so much more to this book. It’s beautifully written, desperately tense at times, and goes to some very dark places indeed.

It’s hard to say more without giving away too much. I can tell you that you’ll meet Ted, a recluse who lives in the last house. Lauren, his daughter. And Olivia, his cat. I *loved* Olivia and her narrative voice is something that made this book extra special.

Whatever you do, don’t read any reviews (other than this one, of course), or go further than the blurb.

You trust me, don’t you? But brace yourself. Needless Street is a strange place, and the last house is stranger still.

Easily one of my books of the year.

Dark thriller that had you hooked from the off. The book was very well written. Great plot. Very exciting. Fast paced to get your heart racing. Loved this book

Ted Bannerman lives in the house at the end of Needless Street with his cat, Olivia. Sometimes his daughter, Lauren, comes to stay; sometimes the visits are fun, and often they’re stressful.

Delilah Walters has one mission in life: to find and punish the man who took her little sister eleven years earlier. After much searching, Delilah – Dee – has come to the conclusion that, despite being cleared by the police at the time, Ted is the prime suspect. Moving in to the empty house next door to his, she notices many strange things, like the fact that she’s never seen Lauren arrive at or leave Ted’s house. And what of Ted’s frequent trips into the woods next door to his house? Could this be where he has hidden the body of Dee’s little sister?


Where do you start with a book like The Last House on Needless Street? You’re going to come at it with pre-conceptions; that’s unavoidable. It’s difficult to avoid the hype. A gothic masterpiece, it has been called. Well, one of those two words describes it to a tee; the other is debatable. And Catriona Ward is an award-winning horror novelist, which is going to influence you, going in. But The Last House on Needless Street defies categorisation. It’s not your average horror novel, though there are moments of pure horror between its covers. Nor is it, strictly, a psychological thriller, though it shares many traits with some of the best books in that genre. What it is, though – and much to my delight – is very dark. And, yes, “masterpiece” is a very apt descriptor.


The first person we encounter – and the first voice we hear in a novel told through a rotating series of first-person viewpoints – is Ted Bannerman. Ted seems to have problems, a big man ill-at-ease in his skin and still unsure of a world where he has no-one to look after him. Think of Bing Partridge from Joe Hill’s N0S4A2 or Lennie from John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, and you’ll have some idea of the type of character we’re dealing with here.


Today is the anniversary of Little Girl With Popsicle.

This is Ted’s opening sentence, which doesn’t help to allay our fears that Ted might well be a very bad man. Delilah Walker certainly thinks so: she has spent the last eleven years trying to find out what happened to her younger sister. After eliminating every other lead – embarrassing herself and getting into trouble with the police in the process – Ted is the only remaining suspect. There’s something about Dee, or maybe it’s something about Ted, that puts us on her side, preparing to discover the worst; asking ourselves if Ted’s daughter, Lauren, might not actually be Dee’s little sister, Laura. Ted’s not quite right, that’s for sure, and some of Lauren’s comments certainly don’t help to assuage our suspicions.


Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this unique novel is that one of the narrators turns out to be Olivia, Ted Bannerman’s beloved cat. Anywhere else this might seem comical, but here it just serves to unsettle us further than we already are. And it’s the first inkling that things might not be as they seem. Because regardless of what you think you’re reading, or what theories you form as you read The Last House on Needless Street, I can guarantee that you are completely wrong. This is not horror in the traditional sense, but it’s one of the most horrific novels you’re likely to have come across in the past handful of years. You’ll come away drained and in awe, speechless and sad. Most of all, though, you’ll come away satisfied – because while it’s not what you expect, it’s still an incredibly powerful story with a very satisfying conclusion – and changed. Prepare for Ted and Olivia, Dee and Lauren to take up residence in your head for some time to come.


I’m sad to admit that I was unaware of Catriona Ward before The Last House on Needless Street. I have added her back catalogue to my to-be-read stack and hope to make a start before 2021 is out. This, though, is destined to be her breakout novel, a novel that defies genre but which is already doing wonders through word of mouth. Thankfully, the hype is real, and The Last House on Needless Street is nothing less than a masterpiece. The distinct voices bring these characters to life, while the secrets that they hide from each other and themselves are enough to keep us glued to the page and to keep us guessing until the cracks begin to show, and the house of cards that they have built around themselves comes tumbling down. It’s still early to be proclaiming best books of the year, but I’m trying to work out what I can drop from my Top Five of All Time to make room for this. It is, quite simply, not to be missed, so what are you waiting for?

I found this quite hard to follow, the "twist" nothing special, and unfortunately talking animals is on my list of pet peeves, but there is no denying that it's written in an original way and I can definitely see this on the screen.

Catriona Ward has beautifully written this gothic thriller that has so many twist and turns that keeps you guessing.
I found the book enticing and the further I delved into the book, the more I learnt about the complex characters and I just couldn't put it down.

Loved loved loved this book, so clever, binge read it in a day! Thanks so much to Viper for approving me for an arc, will definitely be reading more from Ward!

This is the second book by Catriona Ward that I've tried and didn't get on with. I just don't think her writing style is for me. The beginning was very slow and weird and I just couldn't get into it at all so I DNF'd it.

Creep, chilling, suspense fuelled thriller that will become your new obsession!
A great read from a very talented author.
A massive contender for book of the year!

The older I get, the more rare it is that I'll stay up until 4am reading a good book. So when I say that The Last House on Needless Street not only kept me up until 4am, I also sat in the bath long after the water went old to finish it, that really means something.

I don't even know where to begin when it comes to talking about this book. It's weird and twisted and totally compelling -- I've never really read anything like it. I can see this one being hit or miss for readers (it is, after all, very strange -- one of the POV characters is a cat), however I just absolutely loved it. I couldn't put it down!

I don't want to say too much about this one because you should know as little as possible going in, but pick up The Last House on Needless Street if you're looking for a messed up, twisted, and totally unique thriller. Not for the faint of heart.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

CW: Child abuse, lots and lots of trauma

This book is mind-bending, constantly surprising and just plain old phenomenal, really 🤷🏼‍♀️ Just when I thought that I knew what was going on, something happened to completely throw me off.

It’s also a book with just enough oddness to keep me reading. Usually, a book about missing children would be a big “no” from me, but I have to admit to being drawn in by the talking, God fearing cat. I mean, how can that not appeal to the reader?

Ted is the main character though. He lives in a rundown house on Needless Street with his talking cat, Olivia, and his daughter Lauren, who visits at the weekends. He’s a reclusive man, who boards up his windows, has spy holes to look into the garden and uses a chest freezer to keep his cat in when he’s out. He doesn’t do himself any favours - he’s odd.

And so Dee decides that he is the man responsible for the disappearance of her sister. The Police have already discounted him, but she is sure that he fits the profile of a child abductor. She finds a house for sale on Needless Street, moves in and bides her time.

This is hands down, one of the strangest, delightfully off-kilter, most uncomfortable books I’ve read in recent times. I thought I had the ending all sorted out, but there are a fair few twists and turns that will wrong-foot you throughout this frankly brilliant book.

If you enjoy an eccentric, strange, slightly horrifying book, you’ll undoubtedly enjoy this. I loved it.

Mystery, thriller or chiller??? I knew as soon as I’d read a few lines that I wouldn’t like this book and I didn’t. If I don’t like the style of writing then it doesn’t matter how good the story is or novel the idea, then it just won’t work for me and I struggle. Obviously judging by the many 4 and 5 star reviews that I’m in the minority! Sorry just not my cup of tea on this occasion.

what an excellent read!

I read it shortly after my daughter had recommended it. I really liked the way that the plot line and characters had me second guessing myself.

I very accomplished novel

I have seen so many people loving this book, praising the writing and the story which caught them all unawares. I was really excited to read it and even decided to pick up the audiobook so I could get the best reading experience, by having a narrator tell me the story and ensuring I didn’t miss anything (which as a skim reader does happen quite frequently).

Sadly this just wasn’t one I enjoyed. It’s fascinating, often shocking, undoubtably cleverly written and must have been a nightmare to keep track of for the author as the timeline shifts around but you’re never clear when. Unfortunately it just didn’t click for me. Maybe it was the bible reading cat? I really don’t like cats (phobia) so to have cats play such a prominent role in the story didn’t help me get engaged with the characters.

I am delighted to have seen this title do so well for Catriona Ward and for Viper and I read enough to know that we are not going to all love the same books (life would be so dull). So I take from this the learning of something I never really understood (spoiler free review) and more than a few elements of the story which were chilling and tension packed as they helped keep me listening right ot the end.

Ultimately it wasn’t a book which worked for me but I am very much in the minority so I would still not hesitate to recommend it to readers seeking a dark, emotional story – particularly if you get a kick from an unreliable narrator.

I do want to make special mention to the brilliant narrator on the audiobook, Christopher Ragland, who brought many complex characters to life and in doing so made my understanding of events much clearer and kept me correct on which character was dominating events at any one time.

Clever, disturbing, highly recommended as an audiobook experience but sadly not a favourite with me.

If you're looking for a super engaging thriller then look no further! I devoured it in a single sitting and I was completely hooked.

This is the story of a serial killer. A stolen child. Revenge. Death. And an ordinary house at the end of an ordinary street.

I like my thrillers to be fast-paced and packed with twists, and this certainly ticked those boxes. We experience the story from multiple POV which really ramps up the suspense and pacing. As much as I enjoyed the first 50, I have to admit that I was disappointed with how the story unfolded. At times I got hints of what the author was planning but I had sadly hoped that it wouldn't end how it did.

A fantastic start that grabs you straight away - just a shame that it had a predictable end.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.