Dark and Disconcerting

4.5 stars

“The world is full of stuff that doesn’t make sense. But maybe they are connected.”

The Last House on Needless Street is a dark and disturbing story about a man, his teenage daughter, and his bible-reading cat, Olivia. This is all I can say without giving too much away.

There are many layers to the plot and the characters. In the beginning, it is hard to grasp what is going on. The timeline is confusing, and the narration is disorienting: The characters’ version of reality often shifts, throwing another wrench into what the reader thinks they know. The narration of events is unreliable and, at times, frustrating. Slowly, things come together, revealing a dark and disturbing secret about one character and their past.

The characters are eccentric--they made me feel unsettled and uncomfortable. My favorite character was Olivia, the cat. Her voice was perhaps the most consistent and comforting.

Thankfully, there are bits of humor woven in to lighten the dark and heavy tone.

When I reached the halfway point, I figured out what was going on with the main character. I was a little disappointed as I thought it was a cover-up of their actions, but as more of the “why” was revealed, my feelings shifted, and I realized that there was a horrific aspect of this story that I completely missed.

This is a heartbreaking story of survival and perseverance told through the eyes of the suffering and wounded. The characters got under my skin; I won’t forget them anytime soon. Many props to Ward for taking an original slant on a popular trope--the missing child.

I received an ARC of this book from Macmillam-Tor/Forge and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

It will be very hard to review this book without any spoilers, but what an interesting way to tell a story of a mental illness. At times the storytelling is affected by stereotypes and clichés, but overall it created enough mystery to keep the reader engaged.

A girl was gone missing, and there was one suspect who had an alibi. People thought about this guy only because he was little "weird"; however, do we really know if he was weird or circumstances forced him to be this person? Older sister, Dee, of the missing girl decided to move right next to this guy where her sister had disappeared. She was so sure that this guy, Ted, was the culprit. On the other had, Ted was trying to live his life with his little kitten, Olivia, and daughter, Lauren.

Story had been told from perspective of Ted, Dee, Olivia, and Lauren. You should pay attention to details as they give away personalities of the each character, holes in the storyline, and all the discrepancies. If you are interested in mystery/thriller and the mental illness, go for it.

This one has been really hard for me to get into. It’s super bizarre and confusing. I see it getting solid reviews elsewhere but for now it’s a DNF for me. Maybe I’ll try again another time.

Thank you to Netgalley for a preview copy of this book. How does one even begin? I'm a speechless Julia Child after eating a french meal with tons of butter! I went into to book not knowing hardly anything about it, except that it was supposed to be a fabulous, well-written story. And indeed it is both of those things. But it is much more, so much more than that! There were times when I wanted to stop reading this book. It was just too much to take in at once. But like every amazing story, you have to keep on. You have to know what is going to happen next. I HIGHLY recommend that every reader goes into this book knowing next to nothing about it---it will blow you away. You will have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable...and not understanding why things are happening during the first 1/3 of the book. Once the cards are laid on the table, they can never be picked up. You can never go back to not knowing. I cannot wait to read more from this author. Ward has an amazing imagination and will undoubtedly become a bestselling writer.

This twisted tale is so unbelievably well put together. I spent most of the time thinking WTF is going on here. As soon as I thought I had it all figured out, I'd be hit with another surprise. It all comes together masterfully in the end. The character development here is amazing. Loved it!

I could not finish this book. I wasn't interested in it at all. I really gave it my all. I appreciate the opportunity to read it ahead of time, and I'm sorry that I could not complete the task.

I’m honestly at a bit of a loss here. The book started with a bang for me, and at first I couldn’t put it down. About 1/3 of the way through, I did lose a bit of patience because the plot just wasn’t progressing for me. It was very disorienting and just lacked clarity for me I’m sorry to say.

I was expecting a horror or gothic read, but this is really more of a mystery thriller in my opinion. I generally love a bizarre narrative, but this one fell flat for me unfortunately.

With that said, I will definitely try this author again.

There's genuinely nothing I can really say about this book's plot without spoiling the experience you'll have reading it and there is so much I would love to discuss about it all the same. Let's try going about it this way. Ted lives on Needless Street, an old and broken down street on the edge of town and near the woods. He doesn't like for things to be uncertain and he likes people knowing him even less. The only trouble is that the more we try to be everything safe and certain the more that everything begins to unravel, and then where are we?

This is a genuinely good book with a unique premise and so many things to consider by the end. I highly recommend it to fans of horror and mysteries with an interest in narratives that have more to say than many surface centered novels do.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

On the surface, the reader thinks this book is just a typical gothic, horror thriller. But wait...there's more! If you think you know what's happening, you would probably be wrong. Keep reading!!

The Last House on Needless Street is CREEPY! I am finding it hard to review with out spoiling anything but its a wild ride. I was shocked, sad at times, and didn't want to put it down!

Ted, his daughter Lauren, and his cat Olivia live together in the last house on Needless Street. Is Lauren actually Ted's daughter? Or is she Lulu, a young girl who went missing from a nearby lake a few years back? Dee, Lulu's sister is intent on finding her missing sister, and she knows that Ted was a suspect back when Lulu went missing. But no one has ever found Lulu so Dee is ready to take matters into her own hands.

So much of this book read like a fever dream to me - I could never tell what was actually happening, when it was happening, etc. Despite this, I figured out the big reveal early on, but it was interesting to see how Ward played it out in the end. This wasn't my favorite read, but I wouldn't necessarily not recommend it... if that makes sense?

This book was absolutely fantastic but the kind of fantastic that grows on you as the story goes. Not your average horror in the way that it isn't quite horror but more a psychological head twist.

Told in three view points, one of which being a very religious cat which I didn't quite get until I got it and even then only partially understood, this is the type of book that you don't really see coming but once you do it stays with you for a long time after.

The Last House on Needless Street is a unique sort of read that grows on you and should be on everyone's reading list.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan - Tor for allowing me the chance to read this book and provide my own honest opinion.

Ted Bannerman, is a sad overweight character who lives with his rescued cat Olivia and sometimes his disabled daughter Lauren.
Eleven years ago, six year old Lulu, called “Little Girl with Popsicle” goes missing and her sister Dee believes Ted is responsible. In fact, Dee moves next door to Ted so that she can keep an eye on him.

Story starts when Ted looks out his window and sees many birds that are either dead or dying. Someone has put glue in their feeding dish. Ted tries to save and dissolve the glue but only makes it worst.
There are three main narrators. . . Ted, Olivia ~ yes the cat, and Dee,. Lauren also narrates a few chapters.

At first I was having a very difficult time trying to figure out what is going on. This was a bit different read for me..
I am a big psychological thriller fan …love twists and turns so was sure I just needed to hang in there.
Glad I did! Turned out better than I expected!


I always like reading the ‘Author’s Note’ and ‘Acknowledgements’.
In this case [author: Catriona Ward] goes into a spoiler in the section she calls ‘Afterword’.
There is no doubt she did a lot of research in developing this story. Her Bibliography section is pages long!

I believe many book clubs are going to have a VERY interesting time discussing this story!

Want to thank NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for my honest professional opinion.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for September 28, 2021

This is a hard book to review, as you don’t want to give anything away, but I definitely want people to read it! So I’ll just say; I highly recommend, it’s phenomenally written, and absolutely mind blowing! Will completely shock you and likely shake you to your core! Grab today!!

Will buzz around platforms and use top Amazon reviewer number on releases!

I will admit that I put this down about halfway through because I thought I knew how it would end and I wasn't a fan of that -- even though I thought the writing was well done. Then I forced myself to pick it up again and finish it and I was shocked by how it turned out. I'm very glad that I finished this, I couldn't put it down once I started again.

Without giving away any of the twists, this is almost a deconstruction of the serial killer genre. It will break your heart before you turn the final page and stick with you for a long time. Definitely will be recommending this one!

#TheLastHouseonNeedlessStreet #NetGalley

Got this from @netgalley - finished it 7/26 but sat with it before reviewing - if I’m honest it is very confusing and if I hadn’t already known it figured out what it was eluding to I likely would have put it down and not kept going but I wanted to see where it went - SPOILER—- the book is about dissociative identity disorder and I think it does a good job of presenting the utter confusion this disorder can cause for someone but again it is very confusing for the reader especially if in the beginning you think you are reading a horror or murder mystery but all of a sudden you have a taking cat and all kinds of odd events - I think the best part of the story was the Afterword because it clearly explains the motivation and story line. If you want to see what a potential experience of DID could be then give this a go but if nonlinear timelines, multiple narrators, unreliable narrators and the like frustrate you then this would not be for you.
The conclusion was not what I thought it would be and it had a good little twist at the end but it still had me confused about what they were eluding to with the orange haired guy and some other parts just weren’t that clear.
Was not horrible by any means but also was not my favorite or something I would say is a must read - mostly just because it is confusing but again confusing fir a reason / with purpose 🤷🏻‍♀️

One of the best thriller's I have read this year! This is a psychological thriller with twists that have twists!
I didn't know what was going to happen next, but I was enthralled.

This book will mess with your head! It's a genre-bending suspense/thriller/horror mystery mashup that will keep you guessing to the end and long after you close the book. Very creative, completely unpredictable, I can say with confidence that I've never read anything quite like this before. There were probably 3 times that I thought I had things figured out only to realize I had it all wrong. There are multiple POVs including Ted, a strange man who does strange things, his daughter Lauren, who is not allowed to leave the house, not after what happened last time, Ted's cat, Olivia, who enjoys reading the Bible, and Dee, a young woman obsessed with finding her little sister, who has been missing for years. The story jumps between different timelines. I don't want to say much more and give anything away. This story is creepy at times, horrifying at others, while at the same time hauntingly sad. I recommend the book and I suggest going into it fairly blind, not knowing what to expect, so that you can best enjoy the different twists and reveals.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Nightfire for an advance copy of the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This book is not what it seems! And I love it! It is a thriller and horror story with several unreliable narrators. I will admit I did get a bit confused towards the ending but it was quite a twist!
If you enjoy reading stories about the mentality of serial killers then you would enjoy this book! But don't expect to have the mystery figured out until the end!
This book was spine chilling and will make me look over my shoulder to make sure I'm not being watched.
It is a story about mental illness as well, how losing someone in your life can make you lose your mind. I won't say more than that... but I speak of each character in this book, each suffering in their own way.
This is more than a horror story, it is a book that will keep you thinking for days after. Definitely a standout in this genre!

How does one describe the indescribable? If ever there was a book worthy of the hackneyed description of being 'a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma,' The Last House on Needless Street is it.

I thought I'd cracked the riddle several times but I had not, not even close. I'd done little more than uncover some of the more obvious hints and clues.

If I was forced to writer the bit in the publisher's blurb where a novel or novelist is compared to other books or authors I might say Black Mad Wheel or maybe Victor LaValle's The Devil in Silver but that's really just in the sense of how the book makes you feel, not the subject matter.

Although I'd seen some buzz about the book online, I didn't have a clue what the story was about and I think I was lucky in that respect and it's probably the best way in which to approach this one. Just let the magic of Catriona Ward's words, structure, and pacing reveal the story in real time.

One piece of constructive criticism is related to the book jacket - maybe this one's only for the proof copies but this books deserves a better cover. This makes it look a bit like a self-designed children's fairy tale.

I'm very grateful to have received this ARC and a little smug to have been able to read it ahead of the masses. Congratulations to the author and publisher.