Once again my mind is blown. There were times that I was sure I knew where this story was heading, and times where I had no idea what the frick was going on. Per usual with Catriona Ward's books, the ultimate story surpassed my expectations. Can't wait for the final publication.

Ward moves her brand of weird to the Maine coast, where author, Wilder Harlow is writing his last book, Based on his own past and the killer that terrified his community, Harlow returns to the town to help jump start his memories. Instead he sees things that cannot possibly be real, leaving him to wonder if he will survive the writing of his fictional memoir. Ward’s books can be a little like string theory, interesting, but also very confusing if you look too closely.

Looking Glass Sound is far less "horror" than some of Ward's other books, but no less enjoyable for that. It's a rich, confounding, and doom-laden read. Perspective on the book’s main events is provided initially by the protagonist’s (Wilder) journal and then fictional renderings of those same events. It’s all very “meta” but it’s rendered so naturally that you barely notice. There are echoes of Thornton Wilder in Wilder’s complicated sexuality and the setting and tone of the story in salt-sprayed coastal climes evoke Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca (also the name given to the first death in the story). The writing is crisp and uncluttered, and the setting in Maine is intriguing in contrast to Stephen King’s many stories set in that state. What links this book to Ward’s earlier works is the messy humanity of the characters and the absence of an easy good versus evil dichotomy. It’s all shades of gray, just like life.