Fascinating, beautifully written, and definitely had at least two twists I wasn't expecting! Honestly you cannot expect anything more from a book ever. 10 out of 10 no notes!

3.5/5

I had high expectations for this novel because I've heard so many people sing its praises. I didn't know anything about the premise of this book, and the only aspect of the story I did hear was that it was told from the perspective of a cat. I was, nonetheless, intrigued; therefore, when my brother's girlfriend bought me a copy for Christmas, I read it as soon as I could.

Though I have heard several people discussing the unforeseeable twists in this novel; I had an idea of what the biggest twist was from the first few chapters. This idea was completely cemented for me with a few different elements included within the story; therefore, the major, driving point of the story was removed for me. It made the book a bit of a hassle to get through because I was awaiting the formal reveal.

This book felt fully centered around its twists, and, without that driving the book forward, it felt a little stale for me. Now, there were two additional twists that I did NOT see coming; however, they seemed minuscule in the grand scheme of the story, and almost felt like an afterthought to the story itself.

The varying perspectives were interesting to read from, and I did enjoy making my way through the novel because of these characters; however, I wasn't reading through it as quickly as I would've had the plot elements would've been a bit better developed.

This is also a slow-burn, horror novel which I tend to enjoy. A lot of the action occurred in the last 50 pages, or so, of the book. I think it was perfectly timed, and I was glad that there was something else to help propel me through the story because it was running a little stale up to that point.

Overall, I think that the hype and my expectations of this novel negatively impacted my enjoyment of it. It was an enjoyable enough read, but it wasn't a new favorite of mine like I hoped it would be.

At no point during reading this book did I know what was going on, and man, what a ride this was. Even when I thought I'd figured it out, I was wrong. This was a unique take on the traditional thriller/horror book, and I really enjoyed it.

I am a huge fan of Catriona Ward and love her writing style. I struggled a bit with this book because of the cat narration. I do feel like it was well worth getting to the end and I thought that the author treated a subject that has been done many times (don't want to give a spoiler) with imagination and skill. Despite my hang up with the cat, I would absolutely read this book again just to reread the reveals. Would recommend.

The Last House on Needlass Street by Catriona Ward
Release Date September 28, 2021

Characters: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Pace: 4/4
Suspense: 5/5
Overall Enjoyment: 5/5

Murder, check…. Revenge… check! This book has it all. A missing girl and a sister who will stop at nothing to find her. This book is well written and has all of the makings for an amazing psychological thriller. It was a tad bit slow to start with and I wondered where the author was going, but soon found out and was in for a twisted ride.
I want to read more by this author and hope to,do so soon.

Thank you to NetGalley as well as the author and publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my unbiased and honest review.

Over the last couple years, I've picked this up a few times and each time, I end up setting it aside, so I think it's safe to say at this point that it's a DNF for me. I just couldn't figure out what was going on and didn't have the patience to find out, I guess. It's super weird and definitely eerie, but not my kind of thriller.

A psychological rollercoaster, both poignant and sharp. I love any book with a cat for a main character. Recommended for its beautiful depiction of mental illness and trauma.

Excellent book, but nothing at all like I expected. Well crafted and interesting plot and characters

I adore anything and everything that Catriona Ward writes. Her writing is quiet, until it's not and the way that she is able to weave in all of the details, and complete them all / tie everything at the end, is always masterful and it was especially so for this novel. I will recommend it to anyone that loves twisty horror.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor publishing for this free arc.

What a wild ride this book was. Catriona does a great job keeping the many characters separate. I never once had to ask myself "who is this now?". I also liked her authors note at the end that described where she got the idea to do a story like this.

Absolutely one of my favorite books. There wasn't a single moment I anticipated and I loved the ending. This book made me a Catriona Ward fan.

Wow! This book had me befuddled from the beginning. Just when I would think I had something figure out...nope, still no clue what's going on. Then I got to the last 30% or so, and all I could think was "Well of course!".
I would recommend this to anyone who likes their horror on the psychological side.

What a creepy story! I absolutely loved this book and it's perfect for anyone who loves creepy houses!

I received a copy of this book for review on NetGalley. I just finished it and am speechless. It was good. There were parts when I good not believe what I was reading and went back to re-read just to confirm that I was correctly understanding the plot. The twists were great. Creepy and fun.

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward seemed to be very well received by critics and readers. It is definitely an interesting horror story. I am a rather sensitive scaredy-cat, who was intrigued, but eventually had to DNF because my scaredy-catness got the better of me.

Wowza, this book was something. I genuinely can’t tell whether I enjoyed it or not, I’m not even sure I fully understood the book. My mind is very confused and I feel like I know nothing.

This book is hands down, completely unlike anything I’ve ever read before, that is one thing I can say definitively. I’m a huge fan of horror/thriller books and I’m pretty sure no other book will ever compare to this one. I never thought I would say that I’ve read a book that had chapters from a cat’s perspective but alas, here we are.

I can’t even really explain the plot of this book without giving away spoilers to this book, which is another thing I never thought I would say. But after I finished this twisty and twisted novel, I’ve realized there’s nothing I can say without giving away too much.

The ending is what truly blew me away though, I went through this entire book believing one thing and thing BAM everything gets explained to me and my mind exploded. This book was a bit slow at times for me but I’m glad I pushed through it till the end just to have that ending.

Thanks to Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the copy for my review.

Nope. You lost me at religious cat. DNF @ 10%. I am only writing more to this because Netgalley requires more than 100 characters in their review, but I don't do religious animal perspectives - that's a little too out there for me.

I wanted to sit and think about this before writing a little review for it, 'cause I've been hearing about how great this one is for years now & kept beating myself up for not having gotten to it. After binging it tonight in a single sitting, I think I'm solid with my 2 star rating.

1) I do not like "horror" books that use mental illness or disorders as a plot device, "twist", etc -- specifically, when the person writing it has no lived experience with said disorder. It feels gimmicky and icky and I do not like it. I have said this many times about many books, and I'm saying it again - it's not personal to the author, but just how I feel about this in general, and very much how I feel about how it was done here (even after reading the author's note, which did nothing to change my mind - in fact, I was even more put off after that.)

2) I mostly don't tend to enjoy books that are very confusing for a majority of the story until a big ~end reveal~. This is a personal thing; I'm Autistic and part of my specific brand of that is being logical to a fault, and it's really difficult for me to find "footing" in a story when I don't know what's going on. For about 80% of this, I felt pretty confused and that didn't make for a pleasant reading experience overall. Most of my questions were answered by the end, but if I spent 80% of a book anxious & confused, I wouldn't say I had a "good time" reading it, you know?

3) This really feels like one book was being written, there was a snag in the story that the author needed to overcome, and then I'm Thinking of Ending Things gained popularity & the author felt doing something very similar would work with whatever was going on here. I read the note that the author saw a video by chance of someone's interview who has DID, and idk like floodgates of inspiration opened or something...? (Again see my first point. I just... have a general ick about stuff like this.)

Overall, the writing & the quick way I was pulled along while reading (despite my issues) mean I will definitely be reading Sundial & Little Eve, as I'd love to give the author another chance & feel like some personal issues I have just made this a miss for me. I can't recommend it but basically everyone else I know has LOVED it & I love that for them, so definitely give it a shot if you're curious.

I understand some books are super popular and hyped but this one did nothing for me. As someone who listens to a ton of true crime cases I found this to be super weak. I felt that this book relied on a mystery of what was really going on was weak and wtf. I found it already ridiculous when sections were narrated by a cat....a religious cat at that. Not for me but will try her other books out.

I was completely absorbed in this twisted, thrilling story! In terms of the narration, it was perfect. I loved the narrator and how they gave voice to the characters of his story, something I feel is not particularly easy by any means.

Catriona Ward’s brain amazes me. I could not have predicted this story, period. It truly surprised me. It kind of reminded me of how I felt while reading Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough where you’re just sitting there after reading and feeling like “what did I just read?” And I mean that in a good way! It all came together in a delightfully twisted way.

If you want to read a creepy and thought-provoking thriller/mystery, try this one. I definitely recommend it and especially the audiobook.