This book starts off so weird. You will literally say “WTF am I reading?” aloud. You continue reading and you think you have it figured out… nope, guess again! 🤯 In conclusion: Your mind will be blown several times and you will not be able to put this book down. Buy this book now and then message me after you read it in one sitting.

WHOA. I'm not sure I have the words to summarize this one! As others have said, in reviewing this story you have to vague as to not spoil the MAGNIFICENT twists and turns that Catriona Ward provides!!!! Let me try in as few words as possible:
Ted lives in a boarded up, broken down house on Needless Street and his daughter, Lauren, visits him sometimes. He's overweight, drinks a lot and has trouble with his memory. Then there's Olivia, the talking cat who reads the Bible. Yes. Dee moves in across the street from Ted - she has been searching for her missing sister who disappeared when she was a teenager. Their worlds collide. New neighbors arrive and secrets find their way from the dark to the light. Trust me when I say just when you think you have it all figured out - BAM - you'll get hit with a twist you won't see coming!
This was an AWESOME read for Halloween time, but really it's a great, creepy, horror-ish thriller for any time of the year!
Thanks to Catriona Ward, Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the ARC.

Catriona Ward is the newest and creepiest voice in fiction that we didn’t know we needed. This book was a roller coaster of wrong guesses and dead ends on my end ad I tried to put pieces together from start to finish. The Goodreads synopsis says it best: “This is the story of a serial killer. A stolen child. Revenge. Death. And an ordinary house at the end of the street. All these things are true. And yet they are all lies. You think you’ve read this story before. That’s where you’re wrong.”

The story is told from three perspectives:
👨Ted, a lonely and quirky man whose solitary activities and odd mental state lead you further and further into doubting how sane he is and what dark things he’s capable of.
🐈‍⬛ Olivia, Ted’s pet cat. His best friend and sole witness to the things that take place inside his house.
👩🏻 Dee, the sister of a missing girl who is on the hunt for the kidnapper and potential murderer.

The story is dark. It’s creepy. The descriptions of the house. The dialogue that leaves you guessing as to the true intent behind masked words. It will have you changing your hypothesis about the true nature of events every few chapters.

And perhaps the best part of all is the author’s note that follows the story. Her explanation of the evolution of and inspiration for the characters during her creation of this book sealed the 5 star deal for me.

In conclusion, if you’re looking for the perfect spooky read that leaves you guessing until the very end, you need to pick this one up!

This story was deeply unsettling in all the best ways. If I wouldn't have read the authors name on the cover I would have swore this was a Stephen King and son production . The success of this story lays in not just the setting development but in the million and one established quirks that are revealed in each one of the utilized characters. The writer infuses a heavy dose of paranoia and plays on the readers dependance on classic horror story roles to warp the the sense of those who begin to think they know whats going on here. I really like that the scares in this book had less to do with the paranormal and a gore factor, but instead utilize modern day examples of humans behaving badly. It was ten times more disturbing and frightening, much like The Collector by John Fowles.

Thank you to Netgalley and Nightfire for allow me to read a copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Last House on Needless Street is definitely a trip down one messed up street. It's one of those books too where the less you know, the better off you're be. This novel is described as a psychological thriller, which I guess it can be from the twists and turns the novel takes you on. It's told through multiple POVs that all comes together close to the end. I personally saw the twists coming, but that didn't bother me too much. It's a slow burn novel so you will have to wait for the results of hours of reading. Is it worth the wait? I'm honestly not entirely sure. It took me awhile to get invested in the story and I'm not sure the final twist was enough to make me recommend it to a lot of people.

The Last House on Needless Street was very strange and confusing up at till the last like 30 or 40% and then slowly you start getting the information you need to put things together but by then I was so bored I didn’t really care. I also pretty much guessed most of the twist but maybe one of them.

It’s told mostly in three different POV’s none of them which I really cared that much for. You have Ted who lives on Needless Street with his daughter and a cat. He is really strange and reflect a lot on his mommy and it really makes you think he has something a bit wrong with him, or at least I did. He was a very boring kind of guy. Then you have the pov of the cat, yes I said cat. Olivia is a cat that lives there and she is a bible reading cat. She doesn’t want to say a bad word so she uses the initials and well, if you don’t want to say it then don’t use the intials, that annoyed me. Then there is Dee, a young woman who moves in next to Ted because she has suspicions about him. Her sister went missing a while back and she is still searching for her and thinks something is up with Ted.

You follow these three throughout the book and really not a whole lot happens and your confused trying to figure out why your following these POV’s up until you get the whole picture of what happened. I wanted to like this but I just wasn’t a fan of the writing style, I am never a fan of being confused till the end. Confusion makes me want to not read it. I only kept going because I was using this for a challenge.

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward starts out disorienting. It’s hard to get a handle on what’s going on.

As it continues and more is revealed, it becomes even more disorienting. But I don’t want to tell you how!

I fear that telling you *anything* about the plot points of the book would be to spoil it. So I’ll just give you the bare basics.

It involves three main characters who live in a big, somewhat ramshackle house on Needless Street:

>>Ted Bannerman, a man with mental delays, or issues, or both

>>Lauren, Ted’s tween daughter

>>Olivia, Ted’s sentient, foul-mouthed, Bible-reading cat

Ok, that’s all you get. Just read it. Go in blind. Trust me on this. All of the reviews praising this book are correct.

Everyone loves this book. Everyone except me.

This book was touted as "revolutionary" and a "new horror classic", but I found it very difficult to wade thru and not at all satisfying. I would probably have not even finished it if not for all the glowing reviews that loved the twists in the end. I, however, saw them coming a mile away. The real thing that put me off this book, however, was the writing style. Most of the book is from the perspective of a man, a cat (yes, really), and a little girl. It really reminded me of Room by Emma Donahue (another one that everyone loved but me). I just don't connect with that writing style. So, this was not the perfect October book I'd been hoping for. I'm glad it's found it's audience; that just doesn't include me.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

This is an interesting book but I could see why some readers did not like it. Took me a while to get into this book. I mostly stuck with it because it had gotten so many good reviews. I was probably about half way through before I started figuring out what was really going on. To fully understand what is happening, it needs to be read through the ending. As the author points out, in her afterword, this book is more about survival and hope than anything else. This book is worth the read.

Okay so the hype is real! The Last House on Needless Street is a mind bender and a heart breaker.

I really think this is a book that’s best approached blind. There is such a complex story at play within these pages and you don’t want anything spoiled. Just read this one. I’m grabbing a physical copy soon I loved it that much.

Is The Last House on Needless Street on your TBR this fall?

The sense of unease began in the very first sentence. This was such a great spooky read because there was a phenomenal balance between not being entirely clear what was going on, and giving just enough that I wanted to keep going to find that out. That's such a difficult task to create that intrigue and unease without annoying the reader and causing them to lose interest. What a great October book!

I went into this book completely blind, because that is what I heard you should do when you read it. Well, I wouldn't recommend doing that completely, because things are pretty confusing at first. There are several perspectives, including a cat.

The main perspectives are a girl whose sister has been kidnapped. A kidnapper. The kidnapped and the kidnapper's cat. At least know that much. Can we talk about the cat though? I absolutely loved this POV and while it was a bit strange at first. It was definitely my favorite and made me giggle with delight. More cat characters, please.

This book doesn't go any of the ways you expect it will and I really appreciated the methodical plotting of the book. While you will most likely be quite lost for the first half, the ending is so worth the payoff. This book is definitely a layered artichoke with a lot of heart. I appreciate the care that is taken with the writing and the purpose of the book.

It's definitely like nothing you have ever read and it keeps you thinking for days afterwards about other movies that have had similar tropes. It's a high recommend from me for those who are into twists and thought provoking horror.

To be honest, I thought I knew exactly what I was getting into when I started this book. Creepy Ted, abductor of children. Calls his parents (who are no longer with us) Mommy and Daddy.

Then you have Dee whose sister Lulu goes missing when they are at the beach. She believes that Ted is the one that abducts her, and even though he has an alibi she is out to prove the police are wrong.

There are quite a few twists in this novel, and just when I thought I had them all figured out, there was still one more.

Excellent writing, plot and character development, this one I really enjoyed.

3.5 stars rounded up

When I started this book I was really confused. I had no clue what was going on because there were a lot of different points of view and the timeline was all over the place. Also, was a cat really telling part of the story?

I did find myself confused throughout until one of the big twists was revealed which helped to explain a lot. I can’t say much more about the story without giving anything away so you’ll have to read it to find out more!

Although this wasn’t my favorite, I did think it was a unique story that I hadn’t read before. There were some great twists, and the author did a great job at making me want to know what was going on.

I listened to the audiobook, and I was really impressed that one narrator covered all of the different perspectives. Christopher Ragland did an amazing job bringing this story to life.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced listeners copy and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for an advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

Easily one of the best horror novels I've ever read.

Everytime I thought I knew what was coming the ground shifted underfoot, delivering amazing pacing and a cast of characters that were absolutely fascinating.

I read most of the book in a single sitting because it was impossible to put down. All the stars.

This book is nearly impossible for me to rate. On the one hand, I predicted a huge reveal about the plot around page 15. I feel like I should like the book less due to this. On the other hand, it was quite entertaining and I wanted to know what was really going on. It was very readable. I think shelving this as “horror” is a choice, but then again I don’t know where else to shelve it either. I think if the book had surprised me then I would have been blown away and it would be a 5-star read.

I do think the way Catriona Ward weaves together little details and changes little things in scenes is masterful. It’s the type of book that would be fun to re-read after you’ve had all of the reveals.

I was not originally thrilled to pick this book up. Honestly I was only reading it because it's Spooky Month (October) and I got approved for the ARC through Netgalley. However, I was quickly hooked! I finished the book within three sittings actually.

I don't want to give anything away but I'll say this book was a roller coaster. There were times I thought I knew exactly what the plot was, and boy was I wrong.

Also, I love a good unreliable narration.

Well shit. I can't say much about this book other than who. The beginning is pretty slow, confusing and disjointing. However, once you get about a quarter in, craziness ensues. I really liked how this book handled a certain plot device. Usually, it is done very poorly, but I feel like this did it justice. I loved how no matter how much the book was revealing, it also managed to keep you just a little unsure of what was true. I really enjoyed the different narrators and thought that worked perfectly here. I will 100% be reading more like this from Catriona Ward in the future!

The Last House on Needless Street was a slow-burn of a novel. I did enjoy it, but I didn't feel compelled to rush back to it when I had to put it down. The book is told from multiple points of view: Dee-a woman who's little sister has been missing for 17 years, Ted-a man who lives in the house on Needless St,, Lauren-Ted's daughter, who appears to be disabled and rageful, and Olivia-Ted's cat.

The cat narration might be offputting to some readers, but I would recommend they not let that dissuade them from reading this book. Olivia's voice is a very enlightening one and also at times the most uplifting one in the book.

It is difficult to fully review The Last House On Needless Street without giving away spoilers, so this is a poor attempt at trying. It is a dark book, perfect for a spooky October read. It will stick with me as one of the more unique books I have read recently. I would encourage people who see the marketing of a "huge twist" not allow that idea to hype them up too much as it MAY thrill them or as I have seen in many other reviews, it might disappoint them. Because so many books since Gone Girl have hyped up big twists, I try not to even think about that so as to not let it dictate my reading experience because I often tend to then spend the entire book trying to figure out the twist. And IF I figure it out, I am disappointed. If I don't figure it out, often what it turns out to be is disappointing. So in this novel, I just went with the flow. I was not disappointed in the twist, nor was it a jaw-dropping moment .

So I recommend this book to those who like dark stories and those who don't mind slow-burn stories. I do like both those types of stories usually, but this one, because it was so heavy without much levity to break it up at all, I found myself not as excited to return to it between sittings.

I went into reading this book expecting horror, and it was so much more than that. Will be recommending this to library patrons this fall for sure.