Oh my goodness! What a captivating story! The title is so apt as although Looking Glass Sound is the name of a location in the book, I feel that as a reader, we step through the looking glass and in to a strange and topsy turvy world where anything is possible.

Water plays a poignant role in the story and I feel that as well as mirrors, water has also played a heavy role in mythology/folklore as a portal to another world.

I like that the characters almost seem self aware Catriona uses the idea that the words are trapped in the book. I feel that all the characters are both bond to each other and trapped either literally or metaphorically (sometimes both).

The author goes in to what it means to be an anti-hero and that readers often like and relate to make anti-heros more. This really highlights that perhaps without realising it, we may all have a little internalised mysongyny to work on.

I thought it was genius to have Wilder slowly loose his vision over time and get grafually more confused about the story of those fateful summers as *spoiler* ........


we find out He had died as a young man and Pearl/Skye tries to write Him a new ending so of course this version of events would be more unclear and impossible to see.

I haven't come across this author before and what an introduction! Looking Glass Sound is a psychological thriller in the true sense of the word, its dark, creepy and it messed with my mind.

When Wilder Harlow's Uncle Vernon dies his father inherits a cottage on the Maine coast and his parents decide they should spend the summer there before it gets sold.

For Wilder its an escape from the prestigious school where as a scholarship student he's struggled to fit in. Everything changes for him that summer at Whistler Cottage, he becomes friends Harper and Nathanial and the three of them become bound forever by events that follow.

The writing was beautifully descriptive and in a lot of ways reminded me of Donna Tartt. The characters were complicated, flawed and individual and the twists messed with my mind, making me go back and read previous chapters more than once thinking I'd missed something.

I didn't find it a particularly easy read but was it worth it? Undoubtedly! This book had me under a spell, when I wasn't reading it I was thinking about it and now I've finished I miss it.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy for review purposes. I was under no obligation and all opinions expressed are my own.

I loved Ward's 'Sundial' - but this one feels too clever for its own good as it fools us into investing in characters who are not 'real'. That play of fictionality in a novel could have worked but the meta level collapsed in on itself for me. The original story of Nat, Wilder and Harper was also undermined from the start by their ridiculously literary names: they're random strangers yet are conveniently named for Nat(haniel) Hawthorne, Thornton Wilder and Harper Lee - would you credit it! Throw in Pearl (the strange child from Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter) and it all became a bit silly.

The core origin story of the 'barrel women' is dark and disturbing and I wanted more of that - sadly, the layers of vengeful fictionalising left me cold as did the witchy ending. With nods to The Silence of the Lambs in the prison visit, and shades of the death of Socrates from hemlock, this feels messily executed from fragments of other stories. Disappointing.

4-5 stars

In the summer of 1989 Wilder Harlow and his parents go to stay at their late Uncle Vernon's cottage of Whistler Bay prior to selling it. The place is spooky, holes in the stones on the beach make a whistling sound that evokes sensations of the supernatural. Next morning Wilder goes for a swim and meets Nathanial (Nat) Pelletier and beautiful red head Harper who enchants him. This is the story of the ill fated summer in which they meet, a story of horrifying discoveries and ruined lives. It’s also the story of Sky, who becomes Wilder’s best friend at college but who betrays him by writing a best seller about THAT summer. That’s the simple version but of course, as this is Catriona Ward she takes you on a complex, twisty journey and at times, like Wilder, you have no idea what’s true and what’s hallucinatory.

This is an incredibly hard book to review as the deeper you get into it what starts as a mystery becomes something way more horror based and complicated. It’s a fascinating, enigmatic puzzle and just as you think you’ve got it sorted in your head you realise you haven’t! It’s as intricate as the maze at Hampton Court with just as many blind alleys! It’s extremely clever and beautifully written with a ghostly, gothic feel which becomes a stronger and stronger element the deeper you go in.

The portrayal of the central characters is excellent, they become broken people and just like us as readers, are searching for truth and resolution. The storytelling is intricately woven around them and encompasses the whole gamut of human emotions from obsessive love to grief, of friendship and betrayal with a nightmarish horror vibe swirling around and heightening the complexity of the tale. These sections are outstanding, they’re so vivid that you feel as if you are there and as unmoored as Wilder.

I’m not going to pretend that this is an easy book to read but it so worth the effort. You definitely have to concentrate (no bad thing!) and even then it can be puzzling. It’s certainly a mind bender but the quality of the writing is so good and the plot is creative and original that I recommend to fans of the genre.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Serpents Tail/Viper/Profile for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

I think this is Catriona’s best one yet!
Incredibly unique, hauntingly beautiful and full of characters you won’t forget in a hurry. The way it is written is classic - I loved it!

I don't mind admitting, that for a lot of this book, I wasn't sure what was happening.
It seems to be a skill of Wards, to keep you feeling unsettled, but just wanting more.
There were moments where I thought it all fell into place perfectly, only words later to find that wasn't so.
I still think I missed bits, but what I did get was clever.
Sometimes creepy.
Always very good.
I read little Eve a few years ago on publication, and it's been exciting watching Wards story telling and reputation just getting stronger and stronger.

It’s difficult to go into too much detail about this book for fear of spoilers, and this is a book you need to go in blind. So instead, this review is just going to be a plethora of adjectives explaining just how fabulous Catriona Ward really is.

I might like a good thriller, but very rarely do I do horror. I am a self-confessed wuss. I don’t like horror books, horror films, horror TV shows, horror-themed theme park rides – you name it, I don’t like it. But for some reason, even though I know Ward’s books are generally classified as horror, I can read them, and I enjoy them. I think it’s because her writing talent makes for such literary masterpieces, that it’s impossible to tear yourself away, regardless of how scary they may be.

The story is so creepily woven together that you’re not always convinced you know what’s happening when and to whom and how it all links. It’s confusing but not in a bad way, it keeps you on your toes. It’s all brilliantly written and brilliantly concocted, but there’s a haziness around the edges that adds to the madness of it all just makes it even better.

I have only read 3 of Ward’s books – The Last House on Needless Street, Sundial and this. Sundial was even better than The Last House... and this is even better than Sundial. Her books just keep getting better and better, more refined, more skillful, more thrilling. It leaves you knowing how good the future of her work will be.

There’s a range of characters but it focusses mainly on Wilder, Nat and Harper. Each of those three is brilliantly written. Every single one. It’s masterful character development and you end up in awe of their creation.

It is a proper story of obsession, love, loss, grief, trauma, delusion, nightmares, horror, trust, dishonesty. Somehow this story is fantastical, hard to believe, over the top, but also close to home, warming, and almost every day, in a weird way, and I just don’t know how she manages to marry that all together. Its unnerving and uncomfortable, but completely and utterly addictive.

I was expecting to be on edge, to be frightened, but I didn’t expect to find it as emotional as I did. It’s heart-breaking and I found myself almost in tears at several points. It is so powerful. Even the harsh, raw, scary parts have a kind of love and sentiment and feeling about it and it takes your heart on a ride.

It’s obvious why she keeps winning the Best Horror Novel accolade at the British Fantasy Awards. There are plenty of horror writers out there (although due to my being a wuss, I can’t say I know many), but this book is proof that she is a one-of-a-kind writer whose stories will live on amongst the greats.

You will never be a step ahead of this book. You will get to a stage where you think you know what’s going on, but you’re wrong. Then you’ll get to grips with it again, and then it’ll prove you wrong again. It’s a rollercoaster that you cannot get off, even when you think it might be slowing down.

I feel that every day a new Catriona Ward book is released should be a bank holiday with that book on prescription, so everyone can spend the day losing themselves in it.

I can’t begin to describe this book it led me down many paths and I did get lost at times but I just couldn’t put it down it was completely addictive.
Wilder Harlow is writing a novel it will be the last one he will write… well this is how the book begins and from then on I could never decide if what I was reading was real or not! This is a novel that is in no way a simple or easy read but I was expecting that as the authors previous novels have had the same effect on me and always I have just gone with the flow of words desperately trying to figure out what was going on. The writing was beautiful, the descriptions sublime and although I admit I did find it hard to figure out it was a story that kept me gripped.
Catriona Ward is like no other author I know and just seems to have the power to take you to a completely different reality and although a challenge it was a great read.
My thanks to NetGalley and Serpent’s Tail / Viper / Profile Books for giving me the opportunity to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Wilder Harlow is a loner. Being educated on a full scholarship at a prestigious school is not without its drawbacks. Bullied and belittled for not being affluent and for looking different, Wilder’s life in school is a trial and a torment for him.

Each year Wilder’s dad spends time with Uncle Vernon at Whistler Cottage near the sea in Maine. On uncle’s death the cottage is bequeathed to the family. Before the cottage is sold, the adults decide to have one last holiday there. On this vacation Wilder meets up with Nat and Harper and friendship is formed. Their lives are interwoven forever.

Again Ward has drawn us into her world. With exquisite prose and descriptive dialogue the reader becomes part of the story, looking on as this sometimes strange friendship develops.

A beautifully emotive story, with the usual intricacies and intrigues we come to expect from this author. As always, sublime, totally captivating, a masterpiece.

Thank you NetGalley.