This is my favorite Catriona Ward book so far. I thought that this was excellently structured, written, and executed. I can't wait to go back and reread it now that I know more about the narrator(s) and the formal structure. I thought that the characters were well-written, complex, and realistic. I personally think that this toes the line well between horror and literary fiction. It's a great book for anyone who enjoys atmospheric, twisty, surprising, and satisfying novels. Can't wait to read it again and can't wait to read more from Ward.

I received this ARC on netgalley. This is an honest review and I receive no payment.

This book was ambitious and it fell flat. It is a book within a book, within a book. The story became much too complicated and I struggled to keep track of what what reality and what was part of one of the “books” in the book. There were also storylines left without explanation which was a bit annoying. Sometimes authors can pull these things off but this book did not. If the author had stopped at just one book within a book, it could have been so much better but it just didn’t work with the third book in this Russian doll of books.

I sadly just couldn’t get into it. Life to short to commit to an okay book when you could find one that provides a fantastic escape! I tried to as keep going and ultimately I know other will enjoy it more for books appeal to everyone in a different way! Thank you for providing this ARC for me to try reading.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor for the ARC! Looking Glass Sound has a twisting, compelling narrative that will leave you feeling haunted. The book starts in the early 1990's where Wilder Harlow goes (along with his parents) to a Maine coastal town where his recently deceased uncle lived. His parents have a strained marriage and Wilder feels out of place. He ends up meeting handsome local boy Nat (Nathaniel) and Harper (a beautiful Brittish girl and instant crush for Wilder). The three share local horror stories and end up uncovering a brutal serial killer. Wilder attempts to escape the trauma of this past in college and his new friend and roommate, Sky. Wilder confesses the whole truth of his friendships, the murders, and the Dagger Man to Sky who then leaves him betrayed, and Wilder sets off on a quest for revenge. But this is where the story takes a wide turn and the questions of what is real and what is fiction take over. The characters are authentic, the voice is powerful and moving, and the twist is ground-shaking.

This is an astonishing book, most of which I could not understand. It starts out as a summer connection between three young people and descends into magic and witchcraft. Nevertheless, the writing is superb, the descriptions rapturous, and, in the end, the struggle between good and evil is the essence of this book.

I received this book as an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley.

Catriona Ward is an auto-read author for me, and this book did not fail to deliver. Ward really knows how to bring on the weird and unexpected twists. The plot was great. The writing superb. And the characters are my cup of tea. I highly recommend this title.

It much can be said about this book without giving too much away. While the synopsis is one thing that really drew me in, it’s a bit misleading… in a good way. I had no idea what I was getting into.

I will ALWAYS gravitate towards books set in my home state of Maine, so the setting was a huge note for me. Also, I love books within books, so this is right up my alley. Add in this speculative supernatural thriller element that Catriona Ward always does so freaking well and I knew that I was going to love this.

Set in a coastal town, with this fantastically eerie atmosphere, a teenage Wilder meets two people who will alter the fabric of his world, knitting them all together. Later, when his story of his time in Maine is stolen and published by a close confidant, Wilder begins to plot. Not only a book, but how to get back at this boy who took his story. But that is kind of just the beginning, though by the time you, as the reader, reach this point, you start to see that nothing is as it seems. As you peel back layer after layer, page after page, you’re fully immersed in this strange story within a story.

'Looking Glass Sounds' was equal parts weird and wonderful! There were times I wasn't entirely sure what was going on but my eyes stayed glued to the pages as one reveal turned the previous on its head and so forth! True to what I've come to expect from Ward, the twists kept coming until the very end! There's no way I could have predicted where this one would end up!

I’m torn- it’s a good story, well written, full of twists that I’ve come to expect from Ward- but also what just happened!? There was so much at the end and a touch confusing.

This is such a hard book to review. The plot is so multilayered that it would be difficult to write a full synopsis so here's a brief overview:

The summer Wilder Harlow turns 16, his uncle passes away and leaves his family a cottage on the coast of Maine. Wilder is an odd boy and hopes to spend the summer in the new town making new friends. Soon after arriving, Wilder meets and befriends a girl named Harper and a boy named Nate. Even though a serial killer is on the loose, stalking children while they sleep, the trio ends up having a fun and adventurous summer together. As summer ends, the trio part ways and agree to meet up again next summer.

When the trio meets up again the next year, everything changes. Horrifying discoveries are made, dark secrets come to light, and the bonds of friendships are soon broken.

In true Catriona Ward fashion, Looking Glass Sound contains an unsettling and disturbing atmosphere without being very descriptive. Her simplistic yet concise writing style creates a vivid world that's easily imaginable and exquisitely creepy.

Looking Glass Sound is not a fast and easy read. The story requires your full attention in order to fully understand what's happening. Even with your full concentration, you will still feel lost and perplexed at times but eventually, all of the pieces will come together.

This is my fourth read by the author and even though it's not my favorite by her, I still enjoyed it. Without giving anything away, I will say my only issue was with the repetition(if you've read it you will know what I mean).

There's no doubt that Looking Glass Sound will be another hit with fans of Ward’s prior books as well as horror readers. Looking Glass Sound will be available on August 8. Many thanks to Tor Nightfire and Netgalley for the gifted copy!

Catriona Ward has written a hauntingly chilling novel with Looking Glass Sound; it is a page-turner that keeps surprising you right until the end.
I thought I knew what was going to happen in the first section, and then it left me speechless. I thought I saw what was happening in the second section, and it left me stunned. I at times had no clue what was going on in the final sections, but by the end I was speechless.
This book looks at inescapable childhood trauma that chases the characters into adulthood. It examines tragedy and the effects it has on all around it. It is shocking and devastating, and sticks with you long after you've read the final page.
I am grateful to have received an ARC of #LookingGlassSound from #NetGalley .

QIUCK TAKE: I think fans of Catriona Ward's SUNDIAL and NEEDLESS STREET will be underwhelmed by her latest, a quieter, more introspective and meta psychological thriller that I ultimately enjoyed, but left me wanting more. It's part THE PLOT, part STAND BY ME, there's definitely some dark moments and I liked the story-within-a-story plot device, but I think Ward's previous books had me expecting something bigger and more brutal. Still an autobuy author for me.

Let me begin by saying that I really enjoyed The Last House on Needless Street. Turning now to Looking Glass Sound, it contains something that almost every author wants to write (a book within a book that has powers). It’s also extremely ambitious. The problem, sadly, was that some of the characters and timelines become messy and disjointed.

This book about an author writing a book about the killings in a book by the killer’s friend (confused yet?) had the makings of another truly fantastic story, but it fell kind of flat for me. The writing skill is still there like in Needless Street, but it wasn’t enough to hold all of the parts together.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

Catriona Ward's Looking Glass Sound is a creepy, twisting knot of a novel. There are so many layers and so many twists - some might think too many but I didn't find that. I was very happy to continue the ride wherever Ward was going to take me. I also loved her Little Eve and can't wait to read her other novels!

Catriona Ward has written The Last House on Needless Street and Sundial which were some of my favorite mystery/thriller books in recent years.

The first part of Looking Glass Sound captures that same feeling, the vibrant, eerie setting that the reader can almost touch. The characters of Wilder, Harper, and Nat, who are yearning for love and friendship but still have their secrets. I was captivated by the story of their friendship and the killer that was oh-so-close to their beach home.

For me, the book got confusing and derailed in the next few parts. For those that enjoy meta-fiction this will be your jam. It became a book within a book within a book? And I had a hard time connecting Pearl with the story.

I did appreciate the ending and can see how it was coming together. I look forward to more from Ward, even if this wasn’t my favorite, I think others will enjoy it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Here we have another unputdownable, unique, and thrilling read from Catriona Ward! I loved it even though I feel like I need to do a small re-read just to wrap my head around all the complexities that make up this amazing new novel! Highly recommended.

Holy wow, this is an impressive piece of work; so much was packed in but in such an effortless way. I don't totally agree with it being a horror novel, instead I find it rather difficult to categorize. There are Gothic elements (and I fucking love a Gothic touch). It's definitely got a psychological thriller-y touch--the blur between reality and fiction becoming continuously less discernible.

I do kind of understand others' critiques of the story becoming over complicated towards the end, but it personally didn't bother me or take away from the story; I just felt like it played to the psychological element of the story.

I can see myself rereading this in the future, seeing as I had to urge to start again at page 1 immediately after finishing. Also, I couldn't put this down--I devoured the last 250ish pages in one sitting. I felt invested in the story and connected to the characters in a way that I don't typically get for other books I read. Thus far, one of my favorite reads of 2023. I have yet to read Sundial or The Last House on Needless Street but they have definitely moved up in my queue of books to read. I'll also noted that I liked this significantly more than Little Eve (although enjoyable, not close to how much I dug this one).

There’s a cottage on the coast of Maine that Wilder Harlow and his family have inherited from his Uncle Vernon. A bit of mystery surrounds this place, as years before someone had been stalking children and leaving Polaroids of them sleeping in their beds with knives to their throats. As Wilder makes friends and begins to figure out his own identity as a young adult, he comes to discover that what he thought he knew about the people in his life is really only the tip of the iceberg. Their stories begin to unravel and intertwine the deeper he digs into the story as time goes on.

What I really loved:
- Cat Ward is an auto-buy author for me at this point if I’m being honest. She could write anything and I’d buy it out of pure curiosity. I have come to expect a story from her that seems fairly straight forward and simple on the surface but very quickly becomes strange the more you read and put things together. She continues to deliver in that regard!
- She did a great job of diving into character thought in this book. I think this is something she excels at — listening to a character’s ins and outs can get really boring but she hooks you fairly quickly and keeps enough happening to keep you moving forward.
- There is a bit of a twist at the end that you don’t quite seem coming and it’s a unique way of doing things for Ward. It was very much a puzzle piece of plot and characters and at times it could be a little confusing but she executed it well, I think!
- There’s a solid dose of murder and creepy characters in this story with shady backgrounds and motivations and that always adds to the intrigue!
- While this wasn’t a horror novel, the murder-y and psychological aspects had a bit of a horror-esque lean which I appreciated.

What I didn’t love:
- I think I was hoping for a larger twist than what there was, and the twist/explanation for things came significantly later in the book, almost to the end. But it was still solid.
- There were parts that were big puzzle pieces that she did a decent job of explaining, I think, but I wish there had been a little more clarity. But then maybe that was also the point, to leave the reader wondering what had actually happened, what was real, imagined, or out of the ordinary.
- This one didn’t quite grab me and suck me in as forcefully as her other stories have, and I wish it had had a little bit more of that “I cannot put this down!” flavor of urgency to it.
- I read this book as an early review copy through Netgalley and had it delivered to my Kindle. So this is purely a ARC-specific complaint, but the formatting was really wonky and made it difficult to read sometimes, and I think that probably also made the puzzle piece aspect of the story less clear and cohesive for me.

Overall:
This was yet another great story delivered by one of my favorite writers in (psychological?) horror/thrillers, and I definitely recommend the read, especially if you’ve enjoyed her others!

As I read the synopsis of Looking Glass Sound I was hooked with a blend of psychology horror and questioning sanity making me think of my favorite horror movie The Shining. I am sorry to say that Catriona Ward does not meet those expectations and I feel that this book never connected with me at all. I felt that the ideas never hit, I never cared about the overall story or characters and felt I had seen many similar sounding stories before. Overall I wish this was better but was not.

Catriona Ward’s Sundial dramatically underwhelmed. So I wasn’t expecting much for this, but she’s been a critic’s darling for a while now, so I figured I’d give her another chance and…Yes, that’s more like it.
Looking Glass Sound isn’t merely well written, but it’s as atmospheric and as clever of a book as one might wish for. Tripp in its cleverness, in fact. This novel is so Meta, it’s Meta wrapped in Meta with Meta on top.
Which, yes, kind of making it read disjointed and choppy at times and makes your mind twist itself all round at times, but in the end, it’s worth it, if only for how original it is. And yes, for how clever it is.
I’m huge on both originality and cleverness. I think there isn’t enough of it in modern fiction where author ply the formula because that’s what sells and I salute Ward for going against the current. Or at least establishing herself enough to be in a position to do so and then going for it.
Not sure if this book will appeal to everyone but for fans of thought-provoking, intelligent, smart AND literary genre fiction, this is your ticket.
Take a trip to Looking Glass Sound. See what you’ll find in the water there. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.