Ted Bannerman is not the most social man. He lives alone with his cat and at times, his daughter in his childhood home. After a little girl disappears (little girl with popsicle), Ted’s house is searched by the police where nothing is found to suggest his guilt. Life soon goes on for most but not for Ted and the little girl’s older sister.

After being distracted, Dee loses sight of her sister only for tragedy to strike and her sister Lulu to go missing. She is now on a mission to find out what happened to her. After Ted’s home was searched years ago, she has decided that he is the one that took Lulu and she is going to get her back. Convinced that he is raising Lulu as his daughter, she sets her plan in motion.

Olivia is the cat that Ted always wanted. She provides the comfort that he needs after being rescued by him. Lauren is Ted’s daughter and is quite the handful. She goes from loving to vicious quickly leaving Ted even more desperate to heal and love her. Throughout it all, it becomes evident that things may not be what they seem.

Wow! This book turned out to be so far from what I expected but in the best way. Every time I thought I had figured out some part of the mystery, I was hit with another twist. The reader is taken on a roller coaster throughout the entire book unable to take a breath. The characters are written in such a way that it made them relatable at their core.

When I started, I thought I was reading your average horror/thriller story. This book was anything but ordinary. This is my first book by this author. I am glad I found it and want to read more.

Voluntarily reviewed after receiving a free copy courtesy of NetGalley, the Publisher, and the author, Catriona Ward.

I love when a “new to me” author writes a book that both horrifies me and intrigues me so much that I forego sleep just to finish. The Last House on Needless Street is exactly this.

Ted , Olivia, Lauren, and Dee are EXQUISITE examples of excellent characterization. Readers will be invested from the beginning as they meet, or rather experience, Ted for the first time. He is … unusual. The best way to experience this book is to go in knowing very little,

As one of the first books for TOR Nightfire, The Last House on Needless Street certainly shows their dedication to seeking out truly unique horror. Fans will not be disappointed as the psychological and physical horrors ratchet up almost from the very beginning.

Personally, my mind would not let me rest until I “figured out” what was happening; I needn’t have bothered. I found myself messaging friends who I knew had read it, demanding to know but also threatening them NOT to tell me at the same time. It was delightful to feel this way.

This book is uncomfortable and full of cringe-worthy moments, chock full of horrors waiting to be discovered, yet it is a beautiful story of life and experience. Definitely not one to miss.

Thank you Netgalley for this book!

Oh. Wow. This book was amazing. I really had no idea what was going on for so long, which tells you how well-written it was. I absolutely loved this book. Based on the title, I had expected it to be a haunted house story, but that’s not it at all. In this house lives Ted, who isn’t a regular guy. He seems to be out of touch with reality. A parallel story is one of DeeDee whose little sister, LuLu, went missing at the lake over a decade ago. No one is sure if Lulu is still alive, but DeeDee is on a mission to find her missing sister, dead or alive.

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

All these things are true. And yet they are all lies…

You think you know what’s inside the last house on Needless Street. You think you’ve read this story before. That’s where you’re wrong.

In the dark forest at the end of Needless Street, lies something buried. But it’s not what you think…

Ted’s story is at the focus, but parts of the book are also told from his cat’s perspective and his daughter’s. Seeing the story from several viewpoints was really interesting, and definitely make me wonder just what was happening in this book. From page one, I was intrigued and wanted to understand. And Ward does an excellent job leading you down the path of understanding. I loved this book. It was the perfect creepy fall read, and I’ll be recommending it to everyone.

Thank you to Nightfire for providing me with an e-ARC of The Last House on Needless Street in exchange for an honest review!

I strongly encourage you to pick The Last House on Needless Street knowing as little as possible; avoid the spoiler-y reviews as much as you possibly can. With that being said, I'm not going to go too deep into this review, because ~spoilers~.

The Last House on Needless Street is told from multiple perspectives -- we have Ted, Olivia (a cat! & my favorite perspective because duh), Lauren & Dee. If you love unreliable narrators, then this one is definitely for you.

I have seen a few people say that the twists were obvious. At a certain point it did start to come together for me before the big reveal(s), but that in no way ruined my time with this story. I still found Catriona Ward to be incredibly clever with how she put it all together.

The Last House on Needless Street definitely deserves a reread; knowing what I know now after finishing this book, I'd love to go back & see how everything pieces together. This book is so much more than I expected & I definitely recommend it.

I heard lots about this in advance of reading it, but found it wasn't really my cup of tea. I found I could not follow the wonky plot line, and still found it unsatisfying when the conclusion was revealed.

At times very unsettling and at times very frustrating, "The Last House on Needless Street" accomplishes its goal of keeping the reader guessing, but I found the payoff slightly underwhelming.

Ted, his cat Olivia, and his daughter Lauren live in a boarded-up house on the edge of the woods, but something isn't quite right with this little family. When Dee, a woman searching for her sister who was kidnapped years ago, moves in next door, it sets in motion a series of events that will shock and surprise.

While I admire the balancing act that the author was trying to pull off, I didn't feel entirely satisfied with the book's conclusion. Still, readers in search of a twisty and twisted thriller will find some fun in this one.

first time I've read anything by this author and I'm so glad that I picked it and give it a try and it was a buddy read with some friends. It was a bit strange but it worked and made the read of it so much more enjoyable. Mixed with murder and a touch of darkness as well that I liked .

“This is a story of a serial killer. A stolen child. Revenge. Death.”

In full transparency, I almost DNF’d this book, but didn’t because if I get an ARC, I’m going to try my damndest to get through it.

It started out very weird, I didn’t enjoy the writing style, the timeline kept jumping confusing me further, and I could not for the life of me give a shit about what was going on for over 50% of the book.

With that said, around the 60(ish)% mark, things did pick up as the mystery FINALLY started unwinding. Once you were clued into what the hell was happening, it was a lot easier to finish, but I still just did not love this.

This was definitely a unique book with a clever concept, but I unfortunately wasn’t a huge fan of the execution.

If you love a SEVERELY unreliable narrator and being incredibly confused majority of a story to see a wrap up at the end, this is the book for you. However, if you are interested in this - don’t do too much research because everything is NOT what it seems in this new release! 3 stars for me!

So often I read reviews where the reviewer says they don’t want to give too much of the plot away. That it would be a detriment to the reading experience if you know too much going in. And usually I just sort of nod along while thinking, ‘Well, probably not, but sure.’

And then I read The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward.

The thing is—there are so many things I could tell you about this book. Like the way Ward manages to interconnect different voices for a story that seems so straightforward and yet nothing is what it seems.

How Dee searches for her sister who’s been missing for years. And Ted, the mysterious guy who lives in the boarded-up house, generally keeps to himself. Or Olivia, the cat who gets to sit back and observe everything.

I could tell you how Ward twists and weaves the plot, constantly dropping surprises while creating tension so tight it threatens to snap the book’s spine. There’s a lingering horror lurking around every page, surely just waiting to jump out.

All of that, and I could still tell you about the pulse-pounding ending I was so sure I had figured out only for it to implode in the last pages.

Yeah, I could tell you about all of that. But it’s better not to give away too much before you read it.

This is a wonderfully crafted tale that is hard to describe as the plot relies on you knowing very little. The tone starts off unsettling and every page instills a feeling of dread, however at the same time it's not a straightforward horror story. It's part horror, part psychological thriller, part gothic, and part dark literary fiction.

It's a slower story yet completely engaging and once I got used to the different POVs I couldn't put it down. Some of the blurbs for this book place an emphasis on this book having a "big twist" which I guess is true but instead of one big reveal there are multiple twists that slowly unravel and build on each other through the perceptions of the unreliable narrators.

My friend and I chose this as our October book club pick and I couldn’t be more pleased. Although it started off rather slow, it picked up very quickly halfway and towards the end. I cannot give anything away about this one because that’s part of what makes it so amazing. This is one that I am so excited to discuss with our book club friends!

A child is missing and it is not the first time a child has been missing from the lake area. Dee, older sister of the latest missing child, has made it a mission to find her sister and goes to great lengths to do so.

Ted lives alone (?) in the lake area and has always been considered a bit different. His photo in the newspaper is something he doesn't consider stopping, but he knows he did nothing wrong. He spends his time with his cat Olivia, who talks to us throughout the book. Also, sometimes his daughter is there and we hear from her.

At times it feels like almost a Stephen King type novel and othertimes, not so much, but it definitely can play with your head trying to figure things out.

Worth reading, 3 stars. Thanks NetGalley, for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

4.5/5!

At the end of Needless Street, on the edge of the wild Washington woods, sits a boarded up house where a family of three resides. A teenage girl who isn’t allowed outside after what she did last time. A man who drinks alone in front of his TV ignoring the growing gaps in his memory. A house cat who loves napping and reading the Bible. A dark and unspeakable secret binds them together. When a new neighbor moves in next door, they threaten to reveal what has been carefully buried among the birch trees.

WOW! Okay, let me start this review off by saying, please don’t be thrown off by the start of this book. It’s a bit weird and convoluted and leaves you wondering what the hell is happening, but I swear it will all make sense in time. THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREET was one of those reads that kept me continuously guessing. I had so many theories for what was happening and I kept adjusting them as more hints were given. I did manage to guess the big reveal, but in no way did that take away from the story, instead it left me feeling really excited for where the ending took things.

THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREET is one of the most unique books I have read this year. It’s almost impossible for me to talk about the plot without giving something away. What I’ll say is that if you’re looking for something out-of-the-box with a lot of mystery and some creepy, then this is a book to add to your reading list! I’m going to be thinking about this book for a long while and I greatly encourage you to give it a try.

A huge thank you to Tor Nightfire for my gifted copy!

The Last House on Needless Street is a truly captivating book; equal parts weird, dark, and mysterious but with a heaping pile of what the fuck for good measure. Catriona Ward has created a story of a deeply disturbed individual and populated his world with folks who have more than their share of troubles too.

Needless Street is the story of Ted, a man living on his own in a boarded up house at the end of the street, just before the forest. Ted doesn’t have many friends, in fact the locals think he may have had something to do with the disappearance of a little girl at the lake. But there’s no proof and Ted has an alibi so he just lives his life, shunned by the townspeople and relying on his cat and the visits from his daughter to keep him company.

It’s also the story of Dee, a young woman obsessed with finding out what happened to her sister more than a decade ago. Was she abducted? Killed? Did she simply run away? She doesn't know but she’s sure Ted has something to do with it.

At the heart of Needless street is not just one mystery but several. Ward keeps us in the dark about a variety of things and reveals them piecemeal as we go deeper and deeper into Ted's world and mythology. Some of these answers are satisfying while others give the feeling of the rug being pulled out from under you but the journey towards these answers is never anything less than transfixing.

Thank you Tor Nightfire for my gifted copy in exchange for my honest review. I've been holding off on this book until October came around. This one is very different. Part of the book is told from the perspective of the house cat. Odd? Completely. Unique and interesting? Totally! If you are looking for a different twist on a horror novel, this is the book for you. There isn't much else I want to share bout this book because the less you know, the crazier of a ride reading it will be. Just make sure you read the afterward when you do finish the book because that will make everythin

Catriona Ward’s Last House on Needless street was a total surprise to me. If you are a fan of a dark (and I mean dark) and twisty story, than this one is for you. This book for me started out as one thing and became another entirely.

From the very beginning of this book I got this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Something just felt wrong, the characters were so out there and the premise had me questioning everything. The one word anyone needs to describe this book is unsettling…..UNSETTLING AF!

Don't go into this book expecting anything cuz it is anything but expecting!? We follow three characters who all live on Needless Street. Many years ago a young girl disappeared and all the characters had a role in what happened to her, and now we have to figure out what happened on Needless Street.

I think this book is the definition of a psychological horror. It has you very confused from the beginning and I don't want those initial chapters to dissuade you. Trust me I almost gave up on it too, but there was something going on that I just needed to know what would happen.

I was surprised so many times. Shockkkkkeedddd, audible gasps were made while reading just ONE chapter of this book. If you've read this book then you know what one chapter I am talking about. I didn't expect to learn from this book but I did and I absolutely loved the authors note at the end. Highly recommend for spooky season!

Thanks to Netgalley and TOR Nightfire for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really didn't know what to expect, but I was blown away by the writing and the story itself. I have already been recommending it to my patrons and have to order another copy to meet demand. Thank you!

Happy to include this chiller in the seasonal October instalment of Thrills & Chills, my regular column highlighting the latest crime and mystery thrillers for Zed, Zoomer magazine’s reading and books section.
Full review feature at link.

Catriona Ward’s latest novel, The Last House on Needless Street, is the sort of book that defies easy description and categorization. Part horror story, part mystery thriller, and part tragedy, the book subverts a lot of expectations about what a genre story should be and do, unpacking a complex emotional narrative in the midst of a menacing tale of fear, uncertainty, and constantly escalating dread.