This book is JAW DROPPING. ASTOUNDING. It is so freaking well written. I honestly cannot believe how amazing this book is. It is freaky and psychological and so twisted with twists throughout. The writing quality is not the typical thriller horror writing that I'm used to. It's perfect. I am so happy I ordered a special edition of this book because I will be rereading it and I will be buying copies for everyone I know. Thank you SO much Catriona Ward for writing this phenomenal book.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ability to read this book in return for an honest review.

A complicated story of revenge, child abduction, a serial killer, and psychological control. The journey starts with The Little Girl with Popsicle and her mysterious disappearance.

There was so much going on in this book...too much really. There are multiple characters whose lives intertwine in various ways. I found this story to be too convoluted to really enjoy. The most significant theme throughout the story is that of mental illness and how abused children handle their trauma in order to survive. I was not a fan of this story, the prose, and the flow of the story. I found finishing the story a chore and had to force myself to do so. If you like a psychological thriller that will have you wondering where the story is going, then this is a read for you.

I have NEVER been so confused but not able to stop because I needed to know where this story was taking me.


I thought this was pretty straight forward and had it all figured out. Until everything took I twist which lead me to reading over half the book today just to finish.

I have to say that at first I found it hard to follow but was quickly able to figure out, or so I thought, the differences in characters.

Another book I’m excited to see published. I actually want to give 4.5 starts but that's not an option.

This is a heck of a read -- I could barely put it down. Twisty and terrifying, yes, but also compassionate and hopeful, and occasionally very very funny. I can't wait to read more from Ward and will be enthusiastically recommending this book to all!

Many thanks for the opportunity to read and review!

This is one of those books that starts out as one thing…and ends as quite another.

When I started this, I thought it was kind of a standard thriller. I was also very confused about one character. Extremely confused. The kind of confused and unhappy where my mind was screaming DO NOT LIKE and I honestly questioned if this was the book for me. Luckily, I kept reading.

I ended up loving this. This was one of those books where I started out thinking it was definitively not a five star book and I ended completely floored.

It is a thriller, but it’s also a completely heartbreaking tale. The author has a particularly devious way of telling the story. It’s sinuous, but you start to get glimmers of the truth until you finally, truly understand.

I’m so glad I read this one. And yeah…it ended up being an absolute five star read for me!

*ARC Provided via Net Galley

Rating: 9.5/10

Thanks to the publisher and author for an advance reading copy of The Last House on Needless Street for review consideration. This did not influence my thoughts or opinions.

The Last House on Needless Street is as good, if not better, than advertised. Believe all of the hype surrounding this novel from names like Stephen King, Joe Hill, Paul Tremblay, Alex North, Sarah Pinborough and a litany of others. It is an absolutely mesmerizing novel; a bone-chilling masterwork of dark fiction that is as disquieting as it is heart-wrenching. A true standout in the genre.

I’ve been watching the hype surrounding this book for a while now and have been waiting on pins and needles for an advance reading copy so I could absolutely devour it. Not many novels have the ability to instantaneously sink its claws into you, shred every nerve in your body, and leave you a messy puddle on the floor… but this one did. The only others that come to mind are Gone Girl, The Only Good Indians, You, and maybe a handful of others.

I’m sure most of you have already seen the Deadline article where Andy Serkis (yes, THAT Andy Serkis) alongside Jonathan Cavendish will be making a film adaptation (if not, here is the link.) I’m not going to say that is unheard of before a book has even been published world-wide, but it is still a super noteworthy thing. You know, on top of the dozens of other massive praiseworthy articles, lists, etc. it is already making its rounds on.

What I am saying is… READ THIS FREAKING BOOK AS SOON AS YOU CAN.

I found Ward’s writing very intriguing, especially in the onset. It is a completely different style than what I am used to which is probably part of the reason I found it impossible to put down. The way in which she wrote the beginning couple of chapters asked way more questions that it answered and had me searching page after page well into the darkest part of the evening. Much like the synopsis on 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…

every time you think you have it figured out, you are completely wrong. Like, WAY wrong. Even after finishing, (which in order to read this section, you HAVE TO FINISH. Otherwise, you will ruin the book for yourself) I had to read Ward’s Afterward where she explains how she came up with the story idea and all of the research she put into it. Utterly fascinating.

You’ll fall in love with the characters, hate them, feel sorry for them, and will end up in a pool of your own tears by the final turn of the page.

Ward is a very new author to me, and probably most of you. I keep asking myself “WHY?” Why am I just now finding out about her? TLHoNS isn’t a debut; it is actually her 3rd full-length novel. Why did Rawblood and Little Eve fly so far under my radar? Who knows, but I will definitely be purchasing both by the time I am done writing this review.

Time to end the review. I simply have nothing else to give. Buy the book and thank me later.

Wow... Now that was not at all what I expected. Seriously, this is one of those books that you go into thinking that you have a vague idea of where it's going to go and then you get through it and realize that you were just played. The author used your expectations against you in the most beautiful way. Bravo! This is a Gothic masterpiece with different viewpoints that take place in a small town where... Let's just say some crazy stuff is happening. It's hard to get into without ruining some of the most amazing twists that I've encountered in a long time, but let's just say that it's important to pay attention to the narrator and their motives. Think House Of Leaves... Not all narrators are reliable. I'll leave it at that. Again, Bravo. Also, if you're a fan of cats be forewarned...you may want to skim past a part of two. I would definitely recommend!

You know how some horror doesn't really scare you because you know you're unlikely to encounter a vampire, werewolf or zombie? This isn't that type of horror. It's something that could happen to you or someone you know. It's doubly scary and it's also literary, glorious words taking on a deep subject. I wanted to immediately call a security company and have my whole house wired up. Like I can afford that.

In the first chapter, Ted is speaking quite simply. I thought, "Oh, this will be tedious." But don't let that first chapter fool you. He, and the other characters, are multi-dimensional and in more ways than you can imagine.

Other readers kept mentioning a surprising twist, so I thought I'd be prepared. But no, it still caught me off guard. This is the kind of book you keep reading and reading because you're eager to find out what happens. Throughout the book there are three or four people you want to rip out of the story and stomp on. Beware, they are not necessarily the one you are looking for.

The child abuse is extremely difficult to read. If you feel you may be triggered, you probably want to stay away.

Since I can't afford security, I'll do like one of the characters and start sleeping with a claw hammer beside the bed. (My cat disapproves of this idea and says she'll protect me...by hiding under the covers with me)

There has been a lot of buzz about this book, and so I was extremely happy to receive an ARC copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!
There is so much to love about this dark, gothic slow-burner. The prose is beautiful. The imagery is visceral. And the story unfolds from the viewpoint of 3 or 4 different characters: Ted, his daughter Lauren, Olivia (who is a cat), and Dee (a woman who believes Ted may have taken or murdered her sister many years ago).
The book is billed as a horror story, and while there are extremely graphic depictions of abuse, and some unsettling passages, this book is more of a dark, familial drama.
There isn't much that can be said about the plot without giving away too much. There are lots of secrets and mysteries in this story, and it will keep you guessing until nearly the end of the book.
I wanted this to be a five-star read, and maybe it would have been if it wasn't billed as the next horror blockbuster.
Think of this novel in the same world as THE BABADOOK. It too was marketed as a horror story--and undoubtedly there were horror elements--but ultimately it didn't satisfy my horror hunger.
I highly recommend you pick up a copy of this. It is published in September in the United States. If you think of it as a gothic, dark family drama, it might be a five-star read for you!

A perfect psychological horror book. There was nothing I didn't like about it. Will recommend to customers when it comes in

This book was a wild creepy ride, worth every weird minute spent trying to figure out what was going on (and completely getting every twist wrong, even when I was *so sure* I had it right. Like everoyne else has said in their reviews: go into this blind! Though it is one I will want to revisit one day to see everything I missed the first time around.

Thanks to MacMillan-Tor Forge, Netgalley, and of course, the author, for allowing me to read an uncorrected proof of this novel.
I first saw it in the "upcoming releases" page on Audible several months ago, and I was instantly interested. So when I saw that I could put in a request to read it in advance, I thought I'd give it a try and hope to be lucky. And I was! I was so excited to get the email saying I was approved. I started it right away.
Two warnings: First, if you're like me and automatically turn to the afterword first, if there is one, don't. You will spoil 90% of it for yourself. Which is exactly what I did.
Second: This is written in the first person, or, rather, three different first persons. And one is a cat. It is a narrative choice that I'm never a fan of, and when I realized that the entire book would be written that way, I was... dismayed. That said, it was vital to the story.
First, what I struggled with. The prose. Here are a few quotes that are, in my opinion, representative of (again) the first 90% of the book.
"So I know that at a certain time of day, a ted who smells like leather and clean skin goes along the street with his big brouhaha. He usually stops to pet it near our house. I don’t know what they look like as I haven’t actually seen them with my eyes, but judging by the smell the brouhaha is very ugly. The stink of it is like an old sock full of caca. I always hear the brouhaha writhing and whining, the jingle of its tags as it wriggles its butt. Cats’ souls live in their tails and teds keep their selves behind their big wet eyes. But brouhahas keep their deepest feelings in their butts."
As you can guess, this was spoken by the cat.
"A blunt head swooped gracefully toward her face. Dee closed her eyes and thought, This is it, the end. She waited for the needle fangs, the poison, for the carrion mouth to close on her. She thought she felt the feather kiss of a tongue on her jaw. Her life was thunder in her ears. She tried to hold herself still against the swell of the water, to be nothing alive, to be stone. Something brushed against her shoulder in a long caress." This was from a Dee chapter.
"“They’re called paper birch trees,” I say. “Or white birch. Look.” I peel a sliver of bark from a trunk and show it to her. She strokes its whispering surface. I don’t tell her their true name, which is bone trees." This was Ted speaking.
And now a few bits and pieces:
"Sometimes when I think about Lauren I feel almost see-through with fear, like a pane of glass."
"She found a scratch on my calf where I leaked out red."
"For some reason this brings the light, airy graze of terror."
"And she feels the silky-deep stirring of anger."
Yup, every line, from every narrator, is written in that "lush" style, laden with simile and metaphor. Likewise, the majority of the narrators speak/think in a very particular/affected way.
It's a bold choice, and while it was done well and was consistent, but for me it was just too much. That kind of thing works best when used sparingly. When the ENTIRE story is written that way, it's exhausting.
But I kept reading. The plot was carefully put-together. I genuinely didn't know where it was going, and when it got there I was shaken. Even though I read the afterword first! You think it's one thing, then ok, it's something else, but then... ohhh, wow, ok, that’s so much better. Everything comes together and, the best part is, you can go back and see exactly how the author set it up, picking out all the instances of foreshadowing; it didn't just come out of nowhere.
While I did find it a bit of a slog, the last 100 pages were inspired, and I finished the book feeling glad that I read it.
Four stars, despite not enjoying the writing style.

This is one of the first times I’ve ever needed Goodreads to have a ten stars option. Or eleven.

I read this book in five frantic hours - staying up much too late at night because I couldn’t stop reading, then forcing myself to try to get some sleep, tossing and turning, and then giving up at 4:30 am and picking it straight up to finish it. I read like 150+ books a year and NOTHING has compared to this book.

This story was not even close to what I was expecting. The writing is gorgeous perfection. The plot is dark and twisty and brutal and uncomfortable and scary and sad and creepy and then weirdly funny and then there’s another layer and another and another and it will make you have ALL OF THE FEELINGS AT THE SAME TIME.

Fancy author reviewers have called it “a true nerve-shredder” and “breathless” and “agonizing” and it is all of those things. I cannot stop thinking about this book and am ordering a UK edition because I need a hard copy in my hands NOW.

This is probably the hardest book review I've ever had to write. In the book we have Ted who lives with a teenage daughter and his cat Olivia. We get to see Ted as a child and how he was raised by his mother who is a nurse and his father who is more interested in drink. We meet Dee who's 6 year old sister, Lulu, was kidnapped at the lake close to Ted's house 11 years ago. And we spend a lot of time with Lauren and Olivia. I'm afraid to say much about the characters as I don't want to give anything away.

This book was everything I was not expecting. By the description, I expected more of a horror story but what I got was a story that was dark and sad. I can't recommend this book enough. I finished it last night and it is still twirling around in my mind. Very few books stick with me like this has. Do yourself a favor and pick this book up. If you do, you're in for a heck of a ride..

Holy cow, this book. I’ve been left with a lot to process and not in ways that I ever expected.

The blurb for the book simply describes it as a story of a serial killer, a stolen child, death, revenge, and an ordinary house on an ordinary street. It IS a story of all these things but none of it is what it appears.

I received an early review copy of the soon-to-be-published U. S. edition from Netgalley, and what interested me most was the general premise and it being advertised as both horror and mystery/thriller. I didn’t realize what I would get here, and while it ended up being very different than what I expected, it was an incredible read that ultimately left me processing and reflecting even more, not so much on the general plot or characters but on bigger ideas (like trauma, abuse, and survival, especially as it all relates to the brain).

And yes, you will find aspects of this novel to fit firmly within the horror genre. But then to say that this was not a fast-paced “twisty psychological mystery” would also be a lie, because it is that, too. I didn’t see all the subtle twists coming, but when I did, what a revelation.

If you tend to enjoy very twisty psychological thrillers, this will be a good one for you, but only as long as you can handle some tougher situations as well (situations that are more of what we see in horror novels ... not necessarily in the form of gore or scary beings but instead a quiet and uneasy violence all its own).

Content Warnings:
Graphic — child abuse, kidnapping, physics abuse, confinement, and mental illness
Moderate — child death, murder, violence, and medical trauma
Minor — animal death, death, death of parent, suicide, suicidal thoughts, and suicide attempt

Amazing. My type of horror! The writing was also great it provides a very atmospheric read that I enjoy all night long. Captivating and scary. I didn't know of this author, but I will look up for her in the future and look back to see if she ever did something else!! I highly recommend it!

The house is creepy, that’s all there is to it. It sits alone, abandoned at the end of a dead end street, surrounded by untamed forest. The inhabitants consist of a man who sits blankly, staring at a television, a teenage girl who is not allowed outside after dark and a cat. Ted is a shadow of himself these days and isn’t sure whether he looks forward to visits from his boisterous teenage daughter, or dreads them. Ted gets a new neighbor, Dee, who is sure that Ted is responsible for the disappearance of her little sister 11 years before. And Dee intends to make Ted confess to his crimes, no matter what it takes. A darkly told, thrilling contemporary Gothic