I wanted to like this book so much more than I did when I finished it. The story sounded amazing and the cover is beautiful. However the different storylines made it difficult for me to follow. At some points I didn't know who's POV I was reading from.

Much thanks to NetGalley and Tor/Nightfire for the ARC of "Looking Glass Sound" in exchange for an honest review.
Like countless others, I became a lifelong fan of Catriona Ward starting with "The Last House On Needless Street". And in her subsequent books, I loved the deep dives into lifetimes of horrific family histories, all unfolding amid landscapes both beautiful and threatening.
"Looking Glass Sound" does indeed contain all those familiar tropes, but in the book's second half, the author takes them to a whole new ambitious level of dazzling complexity. And there's no getting around it, the literary magic show on display here demands you give every sentence your complete attention.........or you won't even begin to comprehend what's going on.
I can understand why some readers grew impatient and exasperated, choosing to jump off. But I myself found myself so entranced by the book's hall-of-mirrors plotting and staggering risks. I hung on for dear life, taking the full ride. I'm not sorry I did.
It begins like a traditional Stephen King-like, easy-to-digest crowd pleaser. Three teens share a summer together at a Maine coastal town - Wilder, Nathanial and Harper, the wild child girl they're both obsessed with. But hanging over the teens and the town is the terrifying 'Daggerman' a serial killer who also takes Polaroids of the town's children while asleep in their beds.
The capture and reveal of the killer reverberates for decades to come, with the publication of different books that fictionalize the three teens' life changing summer. But how much did each author bend reality to make it suit their vision of what really happened? Are any of these accounts reliable in any way?
(This is the point at which readers must stay glued to the pages to fully absorb the tidal wave of twists and the darkest of reveals unleashed in the final chapters.)
Ultimately 'Looking Glass Sound' functions as a melancholic view of the power of books to offer their characters immortality in print, for better or worse......as well as a meditation on how the passage if years warp the truth of our memories, for better or worse.
This book's far from a zippy horror page turner, but I found myself willing to take on the challenges it threw down and the complete upending of its narrative. And that made it a 5 star read for me.

Oh this book was good! The end had hits of Last House - I NEED to talk about the ending to be sure I understand the book. As in the entire book.
Ward immerses you in these characters - their thoughts, weirdness, family drama, eerie coincidences and wayward feelings. They come alive - you become them; their feelings, thoughts and a hint of a cursed life.
Very creative, evocative and obsessive.

I am starting to believe that this authors writing style just is not for me. This is the third book I have read from her and just could not get into it. The sentences and structure of the story felt very choppy to me, which made it almost impossible for me to ignore and delve into the story. M There were some aspects that I did enjoy, like the setting but that was about it.

I never quite know what to make of Catriona Ward's books. I don't mean that in an uncomplimentary way, but I do think that this is one extremely talented author whose work I'm just not meant to vibe with. I loved how saltwater this book was, and there were sections and aspects of it that I really enjoyed. But that ending threw me for a loop and to be honest I'm still not sure exactly what happened/was happening. That being said, for people who enjoy their horror (or fiction in general) to be less concrete, with room for the reader to decide for themselves what's real and what's only in the character's head, Looking Glass Sound is going to be a must when it comes to summer new releases. There's a metafictional quality to it that doesn't appeal to me as a reader, but is going to gain real traction with fans of things like House of Leaves, for example, where reality is equally fractal and open to interpretaton.

3.5 - I remain convinced of Ward’s talent as a writer—both on a sentence level and in how she’s pushing the boundaries of her craft. I loved the first half of this book; I was intrigued, invested in the characters, and appropriately spooked by the deceptively sunny coastal setting. Unfortunately the second half got a bit too meta and lost me a bit—some twists delivered but a lot felt convoluted and confusing, which took away from the end sticking the final landing. I’ll continue to eagerly read Ward’s books and am grateful to NetGalley for the ARC of this one.

Catriona Ward is one of my favorite horror authors and maybe a general favorite overall. I feel like horror usually fits on a single plane that encompasses the different aspects of the genre. However, Ward seems to have created her own unique plane for her horror stories that really distinguishes her style from anyone else.

This story is not just horror. It pulled me in and touched every nerve, giving me such a full picture that I couldn't help but feel intense attachment to these characters. I really thought I understood where this story was going. I felt like I understood its route and destination, but I was not even close. By the end of this book, I was in pieces realizing just how brilliant and unpredictable this story is.

This is about three friends and what happens when they realize that their seemingly magical summer town is home to a serial killer and where this leads them throughout life.

Highly recommend this one!

Out August 8, 2023!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!!

What an odd book. (Not in a bad way!)

I feel like this is a pretty standard reaction to a Catriona Ward book, but this one especially. I flew through the first half of this without realizing how quickly I was reading, and then I got a little slowed down by the many layers of Ward's puzzle box. Once everything clicks, it's a strange, wild ride to the end that turns this grounded, serial killer story into something else entirely.

This will absolutely NOT work for everyone, and many will find it convoluted and nonsensical (honestly, it's not that confusing, but it is very meta and will go over some readers' heads); I, however, really got sucked in. I do think it could have been simplified a bit, but it's a lot of fun, regardless.

This book was SO WEIRD, and I DEVOURED IT!

It started as a serial creeper to serial killer to a love story to a theft to witchcraft to an insane ending. It was utter chaos in the best way! Once a fact was revealed towards the end, I went back throughout the book to read the clues. Just bravo. I was hooked from the start and found myself waking up early just to pick this book up again. If you love horror/and weirdly genius books, here you go.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you @netgalley and @tornightfire for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

A convoluted story involving a coastal town in Maine and the horrors and friendships that happen within. It starts off with a character called Wilder visiting the town at his uncle's beach house, and the summer he meets what he thinks will be his two best friends for life. The story gets pretty tangled from there, following Wilder into college, as well as several different characters. I got pretty confused by the end honestly, and I'm not quite sure I know how to describe my feelings about the book as a whole. Usually I love a more confusing or "brain-bending" book, but something about this one felt a bit scattered in the last 20%, which may have been the intention! Overall I liked reading it, which is good enough for me.

Thanks to Tor Nightfire for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I read this in about a week. Honestly, I've had trouble reading Catriona's work before this one. I couldn't get into Needless Street. It's one of my wife's favorite books, but I struggled, and DNF'd it because of those struggles.

I try to find a connection to books while reading them—something from my past or, with this one, something from my childhood. My parents divorced when I was in third grade. They fought constantly over everything. I understood Wilder Harlow.

We start with Wilder in his youth. Something messed up happens one summer that changes everything for him and the friends he's gained during the summers his family vacationed on the Maine coast. I don't want to spoil this book, but I'm Warning You there may be some within this review.

The incident in question haunts Wilder throughout his life, eventually leading him to write a book about it. There are other reasons this happens, but as I said, I don't want to spoil the book.

He returns to the scene many years later, but this is where it got weird for me. The book took a turn into the abstract. It made me question what I'd read up to the ending. It almost felt like I was duped. The ending felt like a dream ending in books or movies. I loved the book up until the end. I wanted it to stick the ending. It came out of left field for me.

There is so much I want to say about this book. I want to talk with others about it. The ending was off for me. Maybe I missed something and need to reread it, but the end with the book(you'll understand when you read it) came across as abstract, and the "it was all a story" type of ending.

My wife and I talked about Needless Street. She told me the ending, and maybe having known it, I should have been prepared for it to do what it did, but I didn't care for it.

I want to discuss this book with whoever wishes.

I swear this author pretty much only puts out good books so I wasn't surprised that this was another banger. This is in the same realm as her previous books, we follow a kid named Wilder and he goes to this small new England beach town with his very trouble family and it turns out there is a murderer in this town and it haunts not only Wilder and his family but the friends he makes as well. So decades later we see him writing about this story in a memoir but his memory from what happened begin to blurs and he can’t tell between facts and fabrication. It's definitly more like a psychological horror, a very eerie mystery, if you love this author then you definitely want this on your radar if it’s not already.

Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward initially held the promise of an enchanting journey akin to a youthful adventure, but unfortunately, it fell short of my expectations. As I ventured further into its pages, I found myself facing repetitiveness and an excessive length that hindered my enjoyment. Regrettably, I struggled to maintain interest, ultimately abandoning the book at the 75% mark after an arduous struggle that began around the 40% milestone.
While I am typically drawn to plot twists, in this case, they felt convoluted and poorly executed, making it difficult for me to follow the story's tangled threads. Despite its categorization as a horror novel, the intended sense of fear and dread failed to manifest within me. The book's attempts at inducing a chilling atmosphere seemed lackluster and uninspiring.
I usually appreciate the concept of a book within a book, but in the case of Looking Glass Sound, it failed to resonate with me. The execution felt flawed and ineffective, leaving me yearning for greater depth and originality. Although the narrator's performance started off on a mediocre note, I must admit that it gradually grew on me, redeeming some of the book's shortcomings in its early stages.
The story's repetitive nature, which involved retelling events from different perspectives, quickly became monotonous and lacked the distinctive flair needed to engage readers. Moreover, the inclusion of a word game throughout the narrative felt out of place, introduced at odd moments without sufficient integration, ultimately leaving me perplexed.
Despite its promising premise and initial intrigue as a coming-of-age tale, Looking Glass Sound ultimately lacked the depth and originality necessary to make it a standout read. With regret, I must conclude that it failed to deliver on its potential, leaving me disillusioned and unsatisfied as a reader.

Thank you to MacMillian Audio & NetGalley team at Tor/Forge for the ARC of the e-copy and the audio.

A coming of age horror about three young teens during a New England summer, and one, Wilder, who writes a memoir about the horrible events that occur.

I can't say much more because the novel should be read blind. Suffice it to say, in Ward's classic style; it gets weird and strange and compelling. I especially enjoyed the gothic elements.

LOOKING GLASS SOUND by Catriona Ward
LOOKING GLASS SOUND by Catriona Ward

Other Books I Enjoyed by This Author: LITTLE EVE, THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS ST

Affiliate Link: https://bookshop.org/a/7576/9781250860026

Release Date: August 8th, 2023 ( The same day as my book! )

General Genre: Horror, Thriller, Psychological, Suspense

Sub-Genre/Themes: Coming-of-age, friendships, coastal small towns, serial killers, college life, witchcraft, reads like a thriller, human monsters, mind-bender

Writing Style: intricately plotted, character-driven, skilled command of language, mood, setting

What You Need to Know: I think it’s best not to know too much going into this book. You can read my review. I always keep it very light on specific plot details and preserve reading discoveries at all costs, but be very, very careful reading other responses/reviews on Goodreads or other reviewing platforms. Holy hell, people give so much away. The review in GRIMDARK MAGAZINE is extremely revealing. The review at MEDIUM is even worse. The less you know, the better this book will be for you. I don’t even remember reading the synopsis to be honest. I read it just now, to be mindful of what details are freely given.

“Friendship and betrayal. Dark obsessions. Terrible secrets.”

That’s all you need to know. Oh, and also this: Don’t give up. Things will start to unravel and your brain will resist, you’ll be like, “Wait, what the fuck? I thought it was this way or that way, or whatever.” Just keep going. You will be rewarded. Trust me.

My Reading Experience: This book is like an A24 movie in the best possible way. A quiet, puzzle-like horror-thriller that creeps into your bones and unsettles you to the core.

My experience was extremely cinematic. As I type this, I can see images floating around in my mind of various scenes. I feel the mood that surrounded me and the overall tone of the work as a whole. Much like Little Eve, Ward expertly employs a distinct storytelling voice that wraps the readers up in a strong, character-driven narrative in order to painstakingly craft a path through a winding, twisting storyline EXACTLY how it is intended to be experienced.

I hope I explained that accurately. In other words, this story is very clever and Ward is able to manipulate her audience emotionally, almost scientifically (mindful of how our brain chemistry works) and works those things against the reader in order to reveal things precisely–landing every single punch.

I had actors picked out for the three main characters and even a few for some of the supporting roles. They just appeared in my mind based on their personality traits and physical features as they developed.

This is for sure a coming-of-age novel, the characters start as young adults and by the end, are much older. The story really unfolds in distinct acts: Childhood/Adolescence, College life, and Adulthood. The three main characters are bound together by an evolving mystery. And that’s all I will say about that.

Final Recommendation: I’m recommending this for readers that enjoy going on a journey. A multi-layered storytelling experience with characters you can invest in. Original, unexpected, and reads like a dark thriller but leans into some horror vibes too. This isn’t a thriller with thin, easy-to-digest plotting. It’s complicated. It has probably ruined me for all thrillers to come because I dove into a popular new thriller right after finishing LOOKING GLASS SOUND and was immediately put off. So that’s my big blurb/takeaway: Catriona Ward has just leveled-up to Gillian Flynn status for me. There, I said it.

Comps: Gillian Flynn Thrillers. Which is the gold standard, so.

I’ve enjoyed other work from this author, so I was excited to see she has a new book coming out. Though I confess, this one wasn’t wholly a favorite for me. The story gets retold in the middle of the story, in a bit of an inception style, and I 100% had no interest in re-reading what took me days to read because the pacing is slow.

Not relevant to my rating, but when Wilder reaches college, he’s called down to the principal, which stops being a thing in grade 12, so I found that odd.

I did have an issue with the dialog when everyone met for the first time. It’s very juvenile, and I had problems feeling like these people were just a few years from graduating. Mainly because before that, Wilder was using words that typical teens don’t use, such as “staved in by collisions.” His dialog fits a person who reads a lot, but then he meets Nat and Harper, and the dialog does a 180. Further, pretty much a hot minute after they meet, Harper and Wilder are fighting. And Wilder is declaring these people his closest friends, and he’s in love with Harper. Hello, you don’t know anything about either of them because you just met. But Wilder is starved for attention, so he’s latching on. It’s complicated.

I’m not fussed by the big mess of an ending like other people. It went a bit fantasy, which was a little odd, as most of the rest of the book was based in the real world, but it added an extra touch to an already complicated storyline. Between the pacing and the bulk of their younger years, feeling very much middle-grade threw the book off course for me. But I’ve read several reviews before writing this, and many really loved it. So take my thoughts with a grain of salt, and if it sounds like it could be up your alley, grab it because it could be your next favorite read.

My thanks to Tor Publishing for sending this over.

I feel like Catriona Ward books should come with a disclaimer at the beginning of the novel...something along the lines of the choice/warning Morpheus gives Neo before he commits to embarking on a trip to crazytown, ya know something like "This your last chance. After this there is no turning back. You close the book, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to. You flip this page, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.". And friends, the rabbit hole Ward creates is always deeper than you can possibly imagine. This story in particular maybe even more so than most! Just when you think you're on semi-steady ground and you've got things figured out, BOOM! The bottom drops out from under you and you have a whole new world to traverse. Although, the new world looks similar, like the one you were just figuring out but on slant. And there's always a surprise or two along the way.

I love the way this story unfolds! In Looking Glass Sound Ward really exemplifies how writing or storytelling is its own brand of magic. It can hurt or heal, it can right wrongs or create them, it can immortalize or eradicate. This idea is woven into the story through every twist and turn.

The characters are raw and flawed and compelling. They help draw you in but they also destabilize everything you think you know about the truth. Their grief, fear, pain, regret, wants, needs (etc.), blur the lines of what's fiction and what is fact. You not only feel for them but with them and that is more often than not overwhelming and disorienting (mostly in a good way!).

It also brings forward a haunting element to the story which I appreciated. I thoroughly enjoyed this wild trip and as always look forward to the next mindfu*k tale that Ward dreams up!

Thanks to Tor Nightfire and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book prior to publication. I have never read this author before, but the premise intrigued me. However, I have been working on this book for quite a few days and can't seem to make much progress. My e-galley has WAY more typos than I have ever seen in an e-galley, with passages sometimes repeated. The chapters are very long, so much so that my kindle is not telling me how much time is left in each chapter, only in the whole book. I did get 35% into the book, and I read fast but still have almost 4 hours left, and I am running out of desire to finish. I think this one is just not for me, but I do wish it was a bit more "finished" before it got to me.

I won't be writing much about this book. I didn't find it all that scary. I found the change in characters, what each was doing, and the timelines very confusing. I will not be passing along my arc for others to read.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This is a book within a book. Wilder and his family go to the cottage they’ve inherited and decide to fix it up and sell it. Instead, they end up loving being by the ocean and decide to summer there. Wilder is a strange teenager, and he soon becomes friends with Nat and Harper. Pretty straight forward. The book takes a weird turn when Nat’s father is accused of killing women and hiding their bodies in oil drums in an ocean cave. Nat dies, or does he. Wilder gets old, or did he die by hemlock. Who is Skye or Sky who took WIlder’s manuscript? The book just got to be too weird for me. You might like it