✨ Review ✨ Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward; Narrated by Christopher Ragland; Katherine Fenton

First - it's important to note that this book is more mellow and slow-burn-y than the other books I've read by Ward -- it's different and you have to commit to the long haul for the payoffs here.

The book nestles stories in stories around a central incident of The Daggerman of Whistler Bay -- a man that takes photos of children sleeping with a dagger at their throat, leaving nothing but a polaroid photo behind. In this sleepy coastal Maine town, fears of the Daggerman loom.

At the same time, teenagers Wilder, Nat, and Harper explore the coast, swimming, chatting, and just hanging out, until one day when they enter a cave.

This blends all sorts of genres -- fantasy and horror, coming-of-age and trippy shifts in narration and style.

It's the kind of book you'll want to pick up in print so that you can flip around and go back and read sections you have already read. Audio made a nice supplement, but lacked some of the tangibility of the physical copy. (Great, emotional narration though!)

This isn't an easy read, but is a cool playing with form and style to tell a sort of horror-adjacent story. I can't wait to talk about this one with friends!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: general fiction, literary fiction, horror/fantasy
Setting: small-town Maine
Pub Date: August 8, 2023

Read this if you like:
⭕️ sifting through confusing shifts of POV (this sounds bad but it made it super interesting to read and think about!!)
⭕️ books that are stylistically malleable -- playing with genre and style
⭕️ books with a horror feel but aren't necessarily super scary
⭕️ slow burn books

Thanks to Tor, Macmillan Audio, and #netgalley for advanced copies of this book!

Rating: 4.22 leaves out of 5
-Characters: 4/5
-Cover: 4/5
-Story: 4.75/5
-Writing: 5/5
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
-Fantasy: 3/5
-Horror: 3/5
-Mystery: 5/5
-Thriller: 5/5
Type: Audiobook
Worth?: YES

Want to thank Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to read this book.

Wow wow wow wow... just wow. I love Cat. I need to get that out there. This is my second book by her and the second time I am just... blown away. She has a special gift. Cat's writing is like a careful planned maze that make you think you are going the right way until you hit that dead in. The twists and turns in this book is just spot on.

Why you love it and only gave it 4 stars? There were times that seemed liked they dragged a bit. It wasn't high on the fantasy and horror as well, which is okay because she was very high in the mystery and thriller aspects.

As for the characters... they are like Nesting Dolls, that is all I am freaking saying. YOU NEED TO COME INTO THIS WITH AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE.

From the author of The Last House on Needless Street and Sundial, Catriona Ward returns with LOOKING GLASS SOUND, an enigmatic mind-bending twisty psychological horror novel.

A book within a book—where the lines are blurred between fact and fiction— and one man’s struggle to come to terms with the terrors of his past.

We meet Wilder Harlow and his parents, who have inherited a cottage from his late Uncle Vernon on Looking Glass Sound near Castine in Maine. The family decides to spend the Summer there before deciding whether to sell.

Wilder was a sixteen-year-old with high hopes of the Summer changing his life. There he meets two friends. Nathaniel and Harper. Nathaniel is a handsome boy, the son of a local fisherman, and Harper is a little wild British redhead from an affluent family. The trio bonds during the magical summer and promises to return each year.

These relationships will change his life. Wilder is infatuated with Harper. Wilder also looks up to Nathaniel. The three are close that first Summer.

There is also a mystery in the rural New England Town. A serial killer is known as the Dagger Man of Whistler Bay. He makes threatening Polaroid photos of children as they sleep. Wilder’s summer becomes linked to the story of the Dagger Man, as his friendships and his parent's troubled marriage are shattered.

Trying to cope with the trauma, he meets the outgoing Sky Montague, an aspiring author who wants to be Wilder's roommate. What is his motive? Does he want to be his friend, or is he trying to gather information about the Whistler Bay murders?

A book within a book; later, he returns to the cottage to write a book he started years ago. We met him in 1989 via his unpublished memoir. As a reader or listener, you are unsure where this story is headed, and the second half weaves even more layers. What is true, and what is fiction? A maze, a puzzle, a mystery. Who, or what, is haunting Wilder?

Spellbinding! Genre-bending, deeply unsettling, and creepy—LOOKING GLASS SOUND blends a multi-layered mix of literary fiction, Gothic, horror, mystery, and psychological thriller.

Hauntingly dark and layered like nesting dolls, a maze, misdirection, horror, mysterious and intriguing storytelling blurring fact and fiction. From friendship, betrayal, grief, and dark obsessions, LOOKING GLASS SOUND would be enjoyable for Stephen King and Dean Koontz fans.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Christopher Ragland and Katherine Fenton for a creepy, spine-chilling listening experience.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio for a gifted ALC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Blog Review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
Pub Date: Aug 8, 2023
Aug 2023 Must-Read Books

If someone held a gun to my head and asked me to explain what happened in this book… I’d be dead. 🤷🏽‍♀️

Okay this one is a bit of a tough one to review because my rating half way through compared to the end are vastly different.

The first half of this book I was vibing with it. Nat, Harper and Wilder were an interesting combo, the dagger man was creepy and we had just a scary atmosphere going on. It was exciting how it all played out and honestly I would have given it like 4 stars.

Then we get to the next 1/4 of the book and it was slower and not scary anymore but interesting enough.

But that last 1/4 of the book? I can honestly say I have no idea what happened. I was so confused and lost. Maybe the whole inception vibe was lost with the audio but I checked in with my buddy and she also had no idea and had the print version. Like I can’t even describe how much I didn’t understand what was happening.

Anyways it’s going to be a No from me but maybe you are much smarter than me and will love it.

Thank you @macmillan.audio for my advanced copy.

Looking glass sound comes out August 8th.

The narrators do a good job. Their voices were soothing and kept me interested in wanting to know what was going on.

The author has done a good job of weaving a fairly complicated web with one character becoming more and more unreliable as the story continues and making things intertwine. Leaving the reader to figure out exactly what was happening and what wasn't, which I like.

With the main character, Wilder, becoming more unreliable as the story continues, things can get a little confusing and make you feel like you are losing your mind along with the character, which I also like.

However, I didn't really care about any of the characters or what happened to the characters. I cared more about what was actually going on in Looking Glass Sound than if anyone died or not. Which is why for me this is three stars. The narrators of the audiobook kept my interest in the story overall and I love an unreliable character telling part of or most of the story, but when I don't really care about the characters or what happens to them in the end then the story was just fairly average for me.

Giving 2stars, but truly rounding up to 2.5. What the heck did I just read? I will say that I honestly loved the first half of this book. I couldn’t stop listening. But then at about the half way mark, it totally shifted and I became so bored and confused.

I try to listen to my audiobooks while I knit or clean, so that I am not distracted. There were times I would back up and re-listened because I thought I had missed something. Nope…still confused.

It felt like groundhogs day at some points. At that point I just speed things up just to finish. What started off strong, lost me in the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wowza - this book was wild! Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing/Macmillan Audio for advanced copies of both the ebook and audiobook because this was such a trip!

I had no idea what to expect from this book going into it but it ended being absolutely mind blowing and had me looking in every direction for answers. Even now that I’m completely done with the book, I still don’t know what was true and what was false. There were multiple timelines and I couldn’t tell you which one was the main/true story (I think I know but I won’t get into it because it’s kind of spoiler-y.) I also can’t tell you which characters actually existed and which were fictionalized within the story (again - maybe I know? But maybe I don’t? 😂)

I 100% think my mystery/suspense/horror friends will love this and I 100% recommend going in blind. It might be kind of messy doing so but it’ll be worth the adventure. Looking Glass Sound drops Aug 8!

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?

Thank you to Macmillan Audio & Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this early audiobook

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Catriona Ward for the advanced copy of Looking Glass Sound in exchange for my honest review.

I'm really glad I had the audio for this one because some of these chapters are LOOOONG. I enjoyed the narrators as well.

I was absolutely HOOKED on this one until roughly 70% in, and then I got so beyond confused I had a really hard time even understanding what I was reading. Having finished it, I still can't confidently say I understood what happened.

Fans of Ward's writing style from her previous books will definitely not be surprised by this one, ultimately I think it just wasn't for me.

Nevertheless, I will continue to anxiously await everything Ward publishes! Looking Glass Sound is on bookshelves next Tuesday, August 8!

First off, thank you to Net Galley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC of this one in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I wanted so badly to enjoy this one as I was very excited about it, but there was way too much going on for me to be able to follow along. It seemed as though there were 4 or 5 different books within the book, interchangeable characters and an incredibly weird storyline that didn't quite go anywhere?

The beginning of the book wasn't terrible. I liked getting to meet the initial characters and learn a little about their story, and I did enjoy the mystery of the missing women. However, once that twist was revealed, before the halfway point of the book mind you, it just sort of went nowhere after that?

The story is layered but in a way that over complicates it and leaves it hard to follow in my opinion. It's possible that I may not be understanding the depth of this one, but I just can't grasp this book beyond the first tidbit of the story.

Unfortunately this is not one that I would recommend, however I always suggest that everyone read every book for themselves! Someone else may truly love this one, unlike myself.

This was...weird. I was really digging the first half and then the second half just completely changes the tone and storytelling style. So the second half wasn't for me, as much as all the backstory and drama of the first half. That was more my speed though I understand how the deep dive is both necessary and much closer to the style I've come to expect from Ward. If nothing else, Ward has made a study of emulating the greats of horror. Her work is stunning and original, while still calling upon classics in all the ways that matter. For that alone, I will keep reading her work!

I could not get into this one on audio! Perhaps I will try in print! Thank you for the opportunity.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝘼 𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙮𝙖𝙡, 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙤𝙗𝙨𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮.

This is one of the most difficult reviews to write, just because I still don’t understand everything that happened. It took me almost half the book to fully grasp what was going on.

There’s always something about Catriona Ward’s stories that just get me. I love her writing style, but I’m always finding myself having to go back because I get so confused about what’s real and what’s not.

As always, the setting in this one is super creepy and eerie. I did a combo of the ebook and audio, and honestly, I was still confused most of the time 🤣 there’s always a lot going on and I was contemplating whether I read it right or not.

I do recommend going into this one not knowing much, you’ll probably be confused either way - unless it was just me. I do think I liked the ending more than the beginning.

My favorite thing about the book was the mystery of the dagger man. I liked Wilder, Nat, and Harper. Although, at times, their friendship was super rocky and toxic.

Ultimately, the book was super weird and confusing at times. I’ll honestly still pick up anything this author writes because the writing is super satisfying and engaging. I think Sundial is still my favorite from Ward, but there’s no doubt this twisty, gothic story will be a great summer read for some!

Thank you so much NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the eARC and physical copy, and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review!

I received a gifted copy of LOOKING GLASS SOUND by Catriona Ward from Tor Nightfire!

LOOKING GLASS SOUND starts off with Wilder, vacationing in Maine with his family. He’s always been a bit odd and hasn’t had many friends, but this new location brings him friendships that impact the rest of his life. This area of Maine is being stalked by predators and people are known to go missing and Wilder’s stay with his family takes a dark turn.

As the book goes on, we’re following Wilder as he moves forward in life, a life deeply impacted by his experiences that summer in Maine. When his college roommate steals his unpublished memoir, life takes more twists and turns for Wilder.

I didn’t know much about this book beyond the author’s name because that is all I needed to know to want to read this one. I am glad I didn’t go in with much more knowledge than what I said above. It is really a hard book to talk about and give a summary for without spoilers as this really takes some very different turns.

This story is a very meta look at storytelling in addition to being a dark story in and of itself. I had a few moments as I was reading where I had to stop and think about everything that was going on. I listened to this one on audio for quite a bit of the book, but did switch to physically reading for the second half as there were times where I did want to flip back and forth in the story. There is quite a bit going on in this one to keep track of.

Overall I had a good time with this book but I don’t know that it is going to be a book for everyone. It does leave some things ambiguous in an intentional way, but I could see some wanting more answers from it. I wouldn’t call this my favorite book from this author, but I did really like the unique way this story was told!

This one I just wasn't a fan. From beginning to end. The plot in the first half was intriguing with Daggerman, but anything outside of that was just weird and boring. The characters were just not lovable. They did not come across as 17 year olds and this threw me off right away. The 2nd half of the book was... I don't even know. The characters and events were just too much. I stopped following along and caring who was who and what was happening. It felt like a completely separate book from the beginning of the book. I don't even know why I finished it. I think maybe I thought there was going to be something that brought everything together, but there was not or I just didn't care.

Narrator Christopher Ragland's voice didn't fit, especially in the first half of the book. I thought his tone and voice didn't fit the characters and took away from the story as well.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the arc.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire for providing me with this arc.

This was an absolute mindf*ck of a book. It was like four books in one and at no point did i ever know where it was going. I really though i’d figured it out. I did not. Any psychological thriller fan will love this.

A serial killer plaguing a coastal New England town is a perfect premise for an end-of-summer read - and also the setup for Catriona Ward’s latest horror release. I think it’s important to note that this book is a horror novel and not a thriller. There’s definitely an aspect of intrigue and mystery encircling the plot more typical of a thriller, but also a greater focus on PTSD and the main character’s slow spiral as the traumatic events of his childhood summers continue to plague him.

Catriona Ward has done an exceptional job at making her recent horror releases distinctly dissimilar from each other and I think this is my favorite release from her yet. She does an incredible job of establishing atmosphere, particularly during those idyllic summers of Wilder’s teenage years on the coast. I could nitpick and say that she could have been more efficient with her writing, and certain scenes were a choice and not a necessity. But the prose in this book is just so striking I really wasn’t overly bothered by a somewhat inflated page count.

Beyond some of the grotesqueness of the horror elements of the novel (body horror be-warned) I was surprised more that most of the novel was actually spent with Wilder in college and the years that followed. A lot of books with a serial kiler backstory tend to completely skip the years between the inciting event and the serial killers eventual return and Ward definitely took a different direction with this spin.

This book is extremely meta, in a way I think some people will hate and others will completely resonate with. I’ve seen complaints from people who resent reading “books within a book” and if that is the case for you - avoid this one. I personally love this aspect when it is done tastefully and meaningfully. And Catriona Ward has used this trope to its full potential here in a way I genuinely didn’t see coming.

Thank you to the publisher Macmillan Audio for providing an audiobook ARC via NetGalley for an honest review.

I enjoyed the summer friendship of the trio and the mystery of the stolen manuscript. It did get a little slow and I was not invested in the reveal. Could have been a little shorter.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan audio for the free ALC in exchange for my honest review. This is my 2nd books by the author habent read sundial yet and perhaps my expectations were high as this felt like a YA mystery book not a thriller or horror. It felt very character driven and didnt seem likenvery much happened or the pacing was far too slow. I will chexk out sundial next.

Thank you NetGalley for the AudioARC of Looking Glass Sound!

This was my first book by Catriona Ward, and I am hooked! This was fantastic, there were so many twists and turns, as soon as I thought I had it figured out, Ward threw in a new curve ball & kept me guessing until the very end.