Lots and lots of twists and turns with this one! I was still unsure where it was going clear up to the end. You can read the blurb. Really hard to say much about it without giving anything away so I guess you just need to go and grab the book! Stephen King said he was "blown away" which is why I dove into it. Pretty dark book but a perfect read for a spooky October.

Ted lives on Needless Street. Ted is odd. He's quiet and keeps to himself. He likes things just the way he likes them.

Lauren is Ted's daughter. She only lives with Ted part time. Sometimes, Lauren gets in trouble.

Olivia is Ted's cat. She takes care of him, though he thinks it's the other way around. Olivia knows that she's been tasked by God to take care of Ted.

This story is not the one you think it is...

The Last House on Needless Street really reads like a gift, with layers of paper and wrapping being pulled away to reveal new secrets as the story progresses.

It's a hard book to describe without giving things away. And, like I said, it's not the story you think it is.

It's a story about Ted, and Lauren, and Olivia. It's also about Ted's mom. And a missing girl. And the sister determined to find out what happened to her so many years ago.

This is actually the first book I've read by Catriona Ward. She'd been recommended to me a while back, when I was looking for my annual Christmas Eve ghost story (The Girl From Rawblood). So when people started talking about The Last House on Needless Street well before it was ever released, I knew I had to read it! And then Stephen King blurbed it :)

This is a subversive thriller. It begins with Ted on the anniversary of the day a girl went missing. He calls her Little Girl With Popsicle. And what Ted doesn't know is that the girl's own sister, Dee, has been searching for clues about what happened that day.

Ted, Dee, Lauren, and Olivia all get their own say in this book. The chapters are short and clipped, the kind that keep bedtime readers up much later than is healthy :) begging to be read!

And what a read it is! It released in March from Viper in the UK. Amazingly, I haven't actually seen anyone spoil the book even with such ample opportunity! And I'm glad because it means so many people will get the chance to read this with fresh eyes and absolutely no idea what is coming!

Which is why this is such a vague review!

Catriona Ward is clearly a massive writing talent. I've got The Girl From Rawblood and Little Eve both in my TBR as we speak. I'm frothing at the mouth for a chance to read her upcoming Sundial, too. (Both the UK and US editions of that one will release in March.) And until then, I can't wait to see what everyone thinks about The Last House on Needless Street!

The last house on needless street is the perfect psychological thriller coming out just in time for the halloween season. There is nothing I love more in a thriller than an unreliable narrator and Ted fits the bill. Plus, you get to read from his cat Olivia’s perspective so there’s a lot to unpack there as well. Overall, I would recommend reading to anyone who enjoys a disturbing thriller or wants to explore the genre!

This book was creepy ! It was scary but good .
The writing was vivid and well done .
The characters were crafted really well .
This story was incredible and stayed with me for a long time .

Many thanks to Netgalley and publishers for providing my review copy. The Last House on Needless Street is hard to describe. You might think you have it all figured out but just keep reading.

Thank you NetGalley for an early digital copy of the US release of The Last House on Needless Street in exchange for an honest review.

At the end of Needless Street, before you get to the forest, there is a house. The man who lives in that house is lonely. Sure, he has a cat, and his daughter comes to visit sometimes, but Ted wants to find that special someone. Then, a woman moves in next door. She’s looking for the person who kidnapped her little sister ten years earlier, right after all those boys went missing, just on the other side of this very forest. Oh, and there’s something buried out there.



That would be a pretty solid set-up for a tense and heart-stopping serial killer thriller, wouldn’t it? Look elsewhere for a cheap thrill, my friends.

The Last House on Needless Street is a difficult book to review because I have to step carefully in order to avoid spoilers. In fact, it’s probably best to go into this one knowing as little about the plot as you’ll allow yourself to know.

Here’s what I can tell you:
- I can only remember a few other books that so utterly devastated me the way this one did and yet, I think I’m going for an immediate re-read.
- Ward’s writing is tight. So tight and so deliberate that she’s telling you everything the whole time, but you just can’t see it. It feels like a magic trick.
- Take care for content, this book isn’t for everyone.

There is one aspect of this book that I find troublesome in a different way. Something that I’m not qualified to speak to really and again, spoiler city.

This book hurt but I love this book.

I hate Ted but I love Ted.

I’ve gone and pre-ordered a copy.

“I judge people two ways – on how they treat animals, and on what they like to eat. If their favorite food is some kind of salad, they are definitely a bad person. Anything with cheese, they are probably OK.”

Thank you to Netgalley for sending me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Last House On Needless Street follows multiple characters. First we have Ted who lives in a house with his cat, Olivia and his daughter Lauren. We hear from all three of their points of view as well as from Dee, a girl on the hunt for her missing sister who is convinced that Ted is the man who kidnapped her 11 years prior. I can't say much more than that without giving away key plot points.

I went into this book seeing rave reviews and with high expectations. I am in the minority as I did not overly enjoy it. The twists made me keep reading because I wanted to didn't out what happened to Dee's sister but I did not enjoy the writing style and there was one point of view I did not enjoy reading. As it got to the big twist, I found myself annoyed at so much build up for the reveal about her sister to fall so flat for me. And the big reveal about Ted also fell flat for me. We learned about his past but not enough for me to believe the twist at the end.

I still recommend that you pick this up, as it does have very good reviews and I can see why so many people liked it. I am just not one of them and I wish I was.

Once again, I am not the biggest fan of horror as a genre, but maybe it's that we're creeping close to fall, still surviving a pandemic, I don't know but I'm reading more horror books than I ever have in my life. I'll qualify this further, by saying I'm not actually sure this is a Horror book, it seemed very much maybe more of thriller/mystery in places - but woof the content is horror so who knows.

This novel was absolutely not what I expected - don't get me wrong, it's got a ton of the tropes, is absolutely harrowing, and is downright creepy in places, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It was a bit chaotic, but honestly to me that added to the story because it's kind of jarring in the way good horror is.

It's tough to give a informational review, because the best part of this book can't be given away, but it's a weird, worthwhile read for the fall - keep going, because the beginning is a bit of a slog but the end makes it worth it.

This novel was not at all what I expected, but has ended up being one of my top reads of the year so far. I loved every character, even when it wasn’t clear who was being truthful. I absolutely loved the way the pieces fell together slowly and kept me guessing right up to the very end. I also very much appreciated the authors notes at the end, and the amount of time and care she clearly took in researching and telling this story.

I excitedly picked up a copy of this book because I was excited to dive into a truly spooky read. I had heard a lot of hype about the book and wanted to experience it for myself. I frankly could not have expected the story Catriona Ward weaved for us readers.

To say this is a horror book would be an understatement. Though it has the horror tropes we've come to know and love - a mysterious boarded-up house at the end of the street, a missing child, a search for answers, and even, a talking cat - nothing in this book is that two-dimensional. An exploration of childhood trauma, abuse, mental health, and survival is just the beginning of this complex and haunting story. The more you read it, the more everything starts to make sense (though you really have to hold out for the last quarter of the book, as I certainly couldn't have guessed how it was going to end until then). I would certainly recommend the book to anyone who can stomach some truly harrowing themes, enjoys quirky characters (looking at you Olivia) and multiple POVs, and believes that humans can be the true monsters in a horror story.

Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC!

The Last House on Needless Street is an extremely dark book about a crime from long ago that has never been resolved. The characters are realistic and damaged, it took me a bit to connect everyone, but in the second half things came together a bit more. Hard to tell much more about book w/o giving away spoilers, but overall a good book if you like psychological thrillers with a little horror thrown in.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for a honest review.

It was a little pretentious for my taste. It seemed like it was trying too hard in places. The story didn’t grab me as I had hoped it would. However, overall it was an ok experience.

It’s hard to review this book without spoiling it, so I’ll keep it short.

It is creepy, but not in the way I was expecting. There is a sense of claustrophobia and uneasiness throughout, and I was confused more than anything through the first half.

The narratives are distinct and added a layer of confusion- each POV may be recalling or describing the same thing, but it would be different. The only point of view I did not like was Dee, I empathize with her, but she added almost nothing to the overall plot. At the same time, her POV was important to the narrative since it added more perspective and wariness.

The ending was surprisingly wholesome, and reading the author’s note on why she wrote this book added a lot to the story.

I have to admit that when I first started this one I thought to myself, I feel like I need to be on something to enjoy this. It is a bit of a trip until you get used to the narrative. The cat's narrative was my favorite by the way (yes, you read that right, we get a POV of a cat and it is great). This is a book that requires work and a bit of patience. I have to say that I do think the payoff is genius. So while I cannot say that I enjoyed reading this book, I definitely respect it.

This is a book that is hard to pigeonhole into a genre. It is many things all working at once: gothic horror, mystery, thriller, and even I would argue a bit literary. Like, I said, I really do think it is a genius piece of work, but if I am rating by my enjoyment I did not particular enjoy it as much as I could not stop reading it.

I think the biggest thing for me with this one is that I have a really terrible time when children are involved with stories of killings and abuse. Nothing is explicit or graphic, but just the subject matter is enough to be triggering for me. That is something to watch for with this one if you are like me. That said, if you can handle it, this one really does have a lot of say and it may surprise you in more ways than one. Like I said, I definitely have a lot of respect for this one.

Thank you to the author and publisher as well as Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. I will say that I've been looking forward to it for a looooooong time. Trigger warning: the book opens with animal death. If this is a trigger for you, as it is for me, you may find it difficult to push on. I stuck it out, though, and it was rewarded. I don't want to give away too much, but the creepiness and suspense kept me going, and even though there are various horrors described throughout, it somehow manages to be . . . fun? That sounds weird. Satisfying? That might be better. As you peel back the onion layers of the narrative and meet additional narrators, you are rewarded with the pieces of a puzzle. An ugly, horrifying puzzle, but with an unforgettable twist.

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
.
This a story about a man named Ted who lives in a house at the end of Needless Street. He lives with his cat Olivia and regularly has his daughter Lauren come stay with him.
Then we have Dee, whose 6 year old little sister went missing from a lake vacation years ago. She is determined to find her.
What happened to that little girl? And what’s really going on inside the house on Needless Street?
.
What I liked:
-I liked that this book wound up not being what it seemed. I thought I had a handle on what was going on and then in the last third of the book made some very interesting discoveries that changed the story!
-I’ve never read a story from the POV of a cat before. That was different and I enjoyed it.

4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I feel like I can’t say a lot about the story because I don’t want to give anything away! But I really enjoyed this one. Even though it could be considered in the horror genre, it wasn’t scary at all. There was some suspense and creepy vibes were there, but it didn’t scare me.

This was such an interesting read. From the start it was weird, intriguing, and I had to know what was happening. The story itself is dark, complicated, and heavy, with nice twists and a good payoff this was a solid read. I'm glad I took my time with it, flying through the first half and reading the second half more slowly. A great mix of horror and mystery thriller, very creepy.

This book hooked me from the first page and didn’t let go even after I finished reading. Needless Street may have been the setting but need motivated every character, relentless need hollowing the humanity out of each one. I would advise you not to start reading unless you have ample time set aside to follow the twists and turns of the intricate plot that weaves together multiple unreliable perspectives.

This one took me for a wild ride. The first half, I felt no way I would end up liking this one as much as I did and I was so pleasantly shocked. The story telling and way the end was spun, was perfectly done. I ended up being a huge fan of this dark, twisted and deep read. I understand all the hype now and will be highly recommending this one.

With this book blurbed by heavy hitters Stephen King, Joe Hill, and Sarah Pinborough, I doubt many readers passed on requesting it from NetGalley. And what an eerie cover!

It’s difficult to review this without giving away spoilers, but let’s give it a shot. A layered story, a gradual reveal, a slow unraveling of the truth – all are apt descriptions of this novel. You’ll form and discard plenty of theories. Some of them may actually be half correct – or not. Told primarily from the viewpoints of Ted, his daughter Lauren, and Olivia the cat (as a servant to many feline overlords over the years, I can say the author totally nailed a cat’s internal thoughts), it’s clear early on something isn’t right in this house. Sometimes their viewpoints contradicted each other, and I questioned if they were even reliable narrators.

This is a dark, dark novel that may make you uncomfortable at times with its subject matter. You may not even like the story and characters, but it grabs you in a way that makes it nearly impossible to stop turning the pages so you can discover exactly what’s going on in this boarded up house.

Intriguing, disorienting, heart-breaking, and horrific at times, this isn’t a story for the faint of heart, but it’s one I’d highly recommend to fans of dark psychological suspense/thrillers bordering on horror. Make sure to read the author’s note at the end of the story.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.