I was really looking forward to this one. I had seen some of my friends give such high reviews. Unfortunately it was just way too complex and confusing for me to really enjoy. I kept having to reread to understand what was going on. It does have great twists but again very confusing! It was just ok for me.

4.5 stars, rounded up

Ward has a gift for shaping form and format into unpredictable and exciting new areas. The focal shifts in this one made my head spin. If you've read "The Last House on Needless Street", you know how Ward can flip the narrative on a dime. "Looking Glass Sound" has similar vibes.

The chapter-free, highly-digestible prose made it nearly impossible to put down. When the story gets its hooks in, it doesn't let go. I felt trapped reading it, which added to its horror and appeal.

It starts as a story of an awkward teen who spends a summer with new friends. It veers sharply so many times throughout its progression; I was never quite sure what to believe. There were subtle, clever hints that there was more than meets the eye, and an air of confusion and uncertainty lasts until the final page.

I'm keeping plot details scarce for this review. It's another one that's most effective if you go in blind.

Ward is one of my favorite living writers. Everything she publishes is a day-one purchase. While I like some more than others, they're always interesting and pleasantly disturbing. "Looking Glass Sound" continues this tradition. I rank it up there with "Needless Street" as her best work yet.

4.5/5
Looking Glass Sound is an unfathomable web of tragedy and betrayal that incessantly rearranges itself to drive the knife in ever deeper. Under the guise of a memoir that will expose the truth to the horrors of a small coastal town, Catriona Ward supersedes reality, creating a fractured world that further cements itself as more and more horrors are revealed. This is the perfect thriller to lose yourself in, and I love how the narrative almost rejects being defined. Catriona Ward’s writing is a terrifying force, and Looking Glass Sound pulls you under like an unforgiving tide.

A full review will be posted on my blog closer to publication!

#LookingGlassSound #NetGalley
I received an advanced reader copy from NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for an honest review. This book is worth the read. It will leave you speechless, on more than one occasion.
To be honest, I almost DNFed this book in the early stages because I believed the characters and plot were flat, but I continued anyways, and I'm so glad I did. Once I got used to the style and the unique storytelling of the author, I couldn't put it down. I HAD to know how things would end for these characters. The last 100 pages had me laughing, smiling, crying, and gasping, and this story is going to stick with me for a while after finishing, I can already tell!

I’m honestly not sure how to review this one. It was well-written and a good book, but it was just not my cup of tea. The multi-layered plot was very distracting, and I just didn’t love it as much as I wanted to. I am chalking this up to just my opinion. If you have enjoyed others by this author, I think you will love this one. I am definitely an outlier as evidenced by the many, many glowing reviews.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

What a wild ride?! I’m left feeling not sure what’s real and what’s fiction in the best way possible. Catriona Ward is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors!

Thank you @netgalley for sending me a digital arc! I squealed when I saw I was accepted! Catriona Ward is an author I will read every book from.

➡️THOUGHTS:
This was a signature Cat Ward book. Dark, twisted, and weird. And I loved it!🤣 This book is hard to review without giving away what is actually going on. It was like a book within a book within a book, if that makes ANY sense whatsoever. I enjoyed the first half more than the second half, but it was still a solid 4 star read! It is basically a story about storytelling and how you can make yourself the hero in the story, no matter if you truly are or not. It will required your full attention, or you might feel confused. I think you will either love this one, or hate it.

It follows Wilder, Harper and Nat from teenaged years through adulthood in Whistler Bay. There was a serial killer in town, and someone was sneaking into houses taking polaroids of sleeping children with a knife to their neck. Same people or different? Wilder meets someone named Skye in college and they become friends. Skye encourages Wilder to write a memoir about what happened at Whistler Bay all those years ago. But why? What are his motives?

I really enjoyed this. A story within a story within a story. Like one of those Russian Matryohksa dolls, this tale unfolds one tantalizing piece at time until all is knitted together at the end.

Recommended.

Twisted doesn’t begin to describe this book, in a mostly good way. I enjoy books told from different points of view, and different periods of time, although this one had me pretty confused as to what was happening sometimes. It did finally come together for me, and I was happy to have stuck with it. The images of the Maine coast in all of its seasons were beautifully written, the serial killer and photographer totally creepy.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy, I won’t forget this book anytime soon.

Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward is a multi layered psychological mystery horror that is a complicated mind read.
The writing is amazing and the plot is creative and twisty. So many twists that my mind was spinning at the end.
I would definitely recommend this book.
Thank you NetGalley and Tor/Forge for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

We meet Wilder Harlow when he arrives in Maine with his parent for vacation. Ward already begins her hypnotism - weaving a story of a young man who cannot fit in and is looking for acceptance as his parents marriage disintegrates. There is a serial killer in Maine, and Wilder begins to record the events for his first planned novel, but that's just the first half of the book. Wilder returns many years later and with complete control, Catriona Ward adds layers to the story that will make you question once, twice, three times what happened. If you are a fan, you know that nothing will be straight forward and that that horror will slowly seep in. This is a slow burn of a book but so artfully and beautifully done. I loved it and challenge you to find something similar.
.#Tor #LookingGlassSound #CatrionaWard

What. Did. I. Just. Read?!

Thank you #netgalley for this eARC!

4/5⭐⭐⭐⭐

"In a cottage overlooking the windswept Maine coast, Wilder Harlow begins the last book he will ever write. It is the story of a sun-drenched summer of his youth and of the killer that stalked the small New England town. Of the terrible tragedy that forever bonded him with his friends Nat and Harper in unknowable ways. Of a horror that has followed them over the years."

This is my first Catriona Ward novel. Her writing style is unique, and I kind of love it! She will no longer be a stranger to my library.

This book is tragic, and twisted, and so damn good. When you think you know what's happening, or how this will end, I can guarantee you're wrong. All of the characters and storylines/timelines tied together perfectly. This is one of those books I can't get out of my brain long after I've finished it.

The only reason I'm giving this a 4 star rather than a 5 is because around page 200 it was losing steam due to some repetitive storylines, and I was struggling to get through some of the slower parts. I was hoping it would pick back up - and it did!

This book is being published August 8, 2023.

#Bookstagram #fiction #netgalley #arcreview #lookingglasssound #readingaddict #bookwormsofinstagram #comingsoon #thrillerbooks

Boy what makes this book different?? How about everything! This is one of those books after you read it you think what did I just read? And this isn’t a bad thing. I enjoyed the book but you need to read it through and don’t skip to the ending because you will be really lost.
The story starts with a tale of a boy, Wilder, going to his uncles summer house to stay while they fix it up to sell. While he is there he meets two kids, Nat and Harper, who also come from a rough home life. They bond over the summer with trips to the beach and cave diving. During that summer some women disappear and mysterious Polaroids are found with someone taking pictures of sleeping children with a knife to their throat. When the mystery is solved Wilder leaves and the story picks back up when he is in college and drifting from that nightmare summer. You need to keep your eye on the ball because before you know it the story goes a different way and that’s great story telling.
It is definitely a book that will haunt you for a few days, the characters are intense, the store is extraordinary and the writer does story telling to another level.

Another incredibly unique thriller from Catriona Ward. I don't want to spoil the (many) twists so I will just say that I am so excited to push this book on my friends and customers- if only so I can get their reactions!

This book really made me think and question everything I just read in prior chapters. There's so many layers to the book. I was still thinking about this book days later and trying to piece together what actually happened. I think I might read this a second time to see if I catch any other clues and hints about what was going on

I don't feel worthy enough to review this book. Catriona Ward is by far one of my favorite authors. Her writing style is so unique and I know that any book I pick up from her....I will love.

Looking Glass Sound was absolutely a 5 star read. As usual, I was all over the place....confused.....guessing....confused again. Sheer Madness and I LOVED IT! Keep em coming Cat!!!

A confusing and twisting tale surrounding a group of friends. Murder, secrets, and lies run wild in this book.

I enjoyed this, but felt it fell down a bit in the last act - like Ward's previous works there's a moment where the book gets flipped over on its head ("twist" isn't a strong enough word for these books!) but this time the resolution and reveal just were not satisfying for me. I enjoyed but did not love it.

Since the first time I read one of Catriona Ward’s books back in 2021, I’ve been completely enthralled by the stories she creates and the twists she includes within them. I can still vividly imagine the settings of any of her books that I’ve read, and that’s saying something for my ADHD brain 😅

I absolutely loved this one until about 75% of the way in. The characters, setting, twists- everything was great, but unfortunately the ending just wasn’t for me.

If you love twisty psychological thrillers and books within a book, you should definitely this one to your list! It kept me on my toes the entire time, and I genuinely could not put it down until I knew how it ended.

Thank you to the author and netgalley for my e-ARC to read and honestly review!

At this point, if Catriona Ward wrote in lipstick on a napkin I'd buy it. Genre notwithstanding, she is a towering talent with an infallible sense of literary timing. Writers across the spectrum could take a lesson from her deft hand with structure and revelation in the text. As a writer, I was thrilled that she decided to examine the power and the danger of writing itself. Her trademark labyrinthine plots - complete with horrors both objective and interpersonal around every corner - lent itself so well to the book-within-a-book (within-a-book) structure. As always, Ms. Ward seeded her worlds-within-worlds with the painful inevitability of generational trauma. And as always, I'm in awe. One could aspire to write half as well and still be considered brilliant.