YES! Just, Yes!

I have been devouring everything I possibly can by Catriona Ward ever since I read the house on Needless Street and I have yet to be disappointed. Ward's way of writing will leave you questioning reality and halfway through this book I was physically shaking from the tension and mind-blowing twists that Ward relentlessly throws at her readers. If you are a fan of horror, suspense, thrillers, or just great writing in general you need to be reading Catriona Ward.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC!

This was a trippy book. It had a slow start which took me some time to get into the story. After the 30% mark, I was all in. A story about 3 kids who develop a relationship in the summer where this whispering of a serial killer. It is mainly focusing on WIlder and his life. He makes friends with Nat and Harper one summer and then their relationship just turns toxic. I did find the twist satisfying but also confusing. I wish we got the perspective of Nat and Harper. They are still a mystery to me and I didn't believe that they had such a strong feeling about each other that could cause such destruction.

The narrators were amazing.

3.5 stars

I couldn't finish this book. It is badly written. The dialogue is dreadful. I had no idea how old the main character was. His parents treated him like he was 10 and sometimes he acted like it. Sometimes he acted 15 and sometimes 20. And some of the things that were said and done would be okay at some ages but absolutely inappropriate at other ages. A writer has to establish where we are in order for me to follow. This book couldn't even establish an age for the main character.

I read The Last House on Needless Street via audiobook, so I was already familiar with the narrators of this audio. I really like them both a lot, and I'm glad they were chosen again to narrate.
Maybe I just need to read Ward's books instead of listening to them because I felt a little lost trying to understand the rhymes that are most likely written in the physical book.
I really enjoyed the story and Ward does a spectacular job keeping the reader engaged and guessing that the eff is going on. She does a great job building a narrative that she then dismantles slowly. I love an unreliable narrator!
If you liked Ward's first book, this one is not to be missed!
If this is your first Ward book, and you like an unreliable narrator, this this book is a good one!
Every character is well written and each has a quirk or five that keep them interesting. Even minor characters are full of life and emotion.
Great stuff!

The novel opens with the unpublished memoir, The Dagger Man of Whistler Bay by Wilder Harlow, a teenaged chap who takes a summer vacation with his parents in their cottage on the cost of Maine. Wilder soon meets two friends, a boy named Nathaniel and a redheaded girl named Harper. The trio form a very close bond and over the summer their lives will be forever changed. The Dagger Man is a serial killer who has been active for many years.

Told in different timelines, we travel back to Maine coast as Wilder, a college student is unable to escape the events of the summer. He returns to write his memoir of the Dagger Man of Whistler Bay and to seek answers to the questions that has plagued him over the years. We also travel once again when Wilder, a married man returns to Maine Coast, two decades later.

What can I say about this book other than it is a bewildering masterpiece! It is like playing chess and doing a puzzle at the same time. Just as you connect puzzle pieces, the puzzle expands, and you are hunting for the next and next piece. This book is unique and nothing like anything I have ever read before. It was sheer brilliance, and I loved the ending! The narration was also well done. I 100% recommend this book!

This was a wild ride. Ward kept flipping everything on it's head and I realized I couldn't trust anything or anyone. So many secrets between multiple unreliable narrators. It was a bit much to keep up with on audio but that just means I can do a reread and still be as surprised as I was the first time around.

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.

This book is a seriously bad acid trip. It is a train wreck that is so awful that it mesmerizes and one just cannot look away.

I wish I'd looked away. Frankly, I want that thirteen hours of my life back.

The description of the book has nothing whatsoever to do with what the book is actually about, in large part because the author doesn't know what the book is supposed to be about. It's a child's memoir. It's a Goonies-style coming of age story. It's a sci-fi meets criminal minds. By the end, I wasn't certain if the author had taken serious drugs or if I had! What I was certain of was my head was pounding from the spinning of the story and my throat hurt from yelling at it. Sheesh! What a mess!

Ms. Ward is an American. She grew up in Washington, DC, according to her bio. This makes her usage of ENTIRELY British terms by characters that are supposed to be born and bred Americans, completely inappropriate. Her use of British terminology and sentence structure is misplaced. Her obsession with vomiting is entirely overdone. It lost all impact and meaning.

All the characters were in desperate need of intense therapy, some needed clinical incarceration.

I would like to find one positive note to include about this book, but I am entirely at a loss.

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, strange, and compelling. I especially enjoyed the gothic elements.

I’m not sure how I feel about this book. The writing style was very odd and felt broken and fragmented (which may have been the point?). This is my first book by this author so I have nothing to compare it to in terms of personal style, but it seemed to be 80% complex set up that was at times convoluted and difficult to follow. There were aspects of it that I really enjoyed and other parts that I really didn’t care for. Reading this felt vaguely Stephen King-esque: tedious, but with a huge pay off. I really enjoyed the twist and the ending of Looking Glass Sound, but I almost didn’t make it to that point. Around the halfway point I switched over to the audio, which I was approved for on NetGalley (thank god), and without which I doubt I would have made it to the end. All things considered, this falls somewhere in the middle for me. The atmosphere and the ending really saved this from being a 2.5 or 3-star read, but I’m still not sure I would recommend this to the average reader. I would probably have to know their tastes and what they were looking for in a book before assuming this would work for someone. Like a lot of Stephen King, this didn’t work until it did, and felt like you had to put in the work to get there.

enjoyed this! definitely a unique read. some parts felt stagnant and like nothing beneficial to the narrative is occurring, but i can see how it can be on purpose. overall an okay read!

— thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the free digital ARC.

Entirely a mind bending journey. Story within a story within a story. A cast that spins and changes like a ballroom full of guests suddenly thrust into a funhouse mirror labyrinth.

The actual story behind all of this, the serial killer is a seaside town, the tragic deaths of the women, beginning with the dedicated mother, and the love story between children who grow up to discover adulthood isn’t what they’d expected-well, it’s beautiful, heart wrenching, and unique.

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narrator very much, but I believe this particular book was best being read in ebook or physical form. All in all, four stars.

Have you read The Last House on Needless Street? Did you enjoy the writing? The complicated twist? Yes? Then read this!!

One of my most anticipated books for 2023.

Brain Freeze without the deliciously sugarful ice cream.

If you like her writing style you won’t be disappointed here! Go in blind! Just read it!

I love that feeling when suddenly I’m lost … I’m thinking, will this make sense? When I have to stop and reread something. Whaaaat? Then I’m feeling like Sherlock, by gad I think I’ve got it Watson!! Thinking, yes, unreliable narrator! I always go there first HA! But then it changes gears & I’m left thinking, uh oh here it comes! TWIST!

Such a satisfying mind twisting story. I cannot wait for her next novel!!

Thank you NetGalley & Macmillan Audio! Sooo good! Review also on Amazon.

This story was so freakin good! But I've enjoyed everything I've read by Ward. The creepy, mystery style of writing is always done to absolute perfection.

Is this a love letter to an author, possibly.... But with very good reason, and you should honestly check this book and her others out if you haven't already!

I loved the atmosphere of the Maine coast (that's where I'm from). But it's the characters, the blurred lines between past and present, and the magic of being a child mixed with the horror of what happened that made for a great story. All the elements worked so well together.

With this story, Ward weaves this web so intricately, giving just the right amount throughout to keep you on your toes. Waiting for the final piece to pop into place. It's one of those books where if you don't pay attention to every detail, you won't see anything coming. But to he honest, you probably won't anyway. And this is the way of Ward!

Would I have it any other way? Of course not. Because I love a good dark, twisty, mystery, and Ward is one of the very best at doing that.

The audio for this was also prefect. You got the whole vibe of the story through the narration.

This book has so many layers. It can be confusing at times, because it follows different stories and timelines. It’s also a book inside a book inside a book so it can be hard to figure out where you are in the rabbit hole. I listened on audio and wish i had a physical copy to look back on things to help it make more sense. I did really enjoy it overall. It’s one of those books where for most of it you stay kind of confused as to where it is going, but then by the end it all ties together, which are types of books I love to read. This is the first book i read by this author and I will definitely pick up more. Looking forward to reading Last house on needless street by her soon. I received this as an arc from Netgalley. Thank you so much.

Great summer mystery/horror read. Starts off pretty relaxed with a good mystery but the horror ratchets up as the story goes on.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for sending me an audiobook arc of this title.

Looking Glass Sound is a hard book to talk about because it feels a bit like reviewing several books at once. It is a book about a book, but also that book is about a book. As a result, there are a lot of twisty layers at work, and honestly by the end so much of what we know or think we know has been called into question that it’s hard to say for sure which bits did happen in the story. Of course, part of the point seems to be asking us what makes up a story and how it is made up, so what did happen isn’t really the focus. The narrative begins with Wilder, Nat, and Harper and their youthful friendship in Whistler Bay, Maine. The characters are compellingly drawn throughout.
It took a while for Looking Glass Sound to take off, especially if you came to it for the spooky factor. It feels like it might be a coming-of-age novel for a pretty large first portion of the book. As the young people start telling ghost stories about a woman lost at sea named Rebecca (strong gothic throwback vibes here), it becomes clear that the novel will take a more sinister tone as it continues as we learn more about the Dagger Man of Whistler Bay. And then it gets even creepier from there…
I simply loved Christopher Ragland’s reading of House on Needless Street, but was less impressed with his voices for Nat and Harper in Looking Glass Sound. I thought both the accents didn’t quite work, although I’m no accent expert. However, as the book continued I eventually forgot about this problem since he stopped voicing those characters, and I remembered why I had liked his work on House on Needless Street so much. Katherine Fenton did great work.

Mind boggling, book within a book, psychological horror following a group of friends in small town costal Maine. There's a killer, a stolen manuscript, and a ton of "WTF is going on" moments. I'm a massive Catriona Ward fan, and while this was very different from her previous work, it had the same powerful tension and impressively layered storytelling. She is truly top tier weirdo author. If you're ok with being confused and willing to put in some brain work, they payoff is well worth it.

I was very thrilled to receive an ARC of this audiobook. I am a huge fan of Catriona's writing and this book did not not disappoint! She is able to weave amazing storytelling, thriller and horror all into one. A tale of three teens and how those bonds can last a lifetime. Very cool concept of how our memory works..

3.5 Stars