The Last House on Needless Street

I have a little request for those of you who’ve already read this.  Could you all raise your hand if the first thought after finishing this book was something like:

“WTF did I just read?!” 

Those of you who have yet to read it, and I recommend that you do … just wait.  You’ll get what I’m saying soon enough.

Catriona Ward has written the only book I can think of in recent memory that I have no clue how to review without giving spoilers, but here it goes:

Ted lives alone in a boarded up house on Needless Street with his daughter, Lauren, and his cat, Olivia.  By the way, the cat is one of the narrators, so that should give you some idea of the mind games this book will play with you, but c’mon … how could I not love that?  Spoiler: I did.

In an alternate scenario, there’s a family out for a beach day, including sisters, Dee and Lulu - only by the end of it, one sister is nowhere to be found.  What happened that day? What does this family’s experience have to do with Ted - or does it?  That’s the twisted mystery that lies ahead for the reader, only I warn you - whatever you think you have figured out, you’re most likely wrong. 

Have you seen a kaleidoscope?  You know - the toy where you look into the hole on one end and twist the other end so the colors and shapes change and everything reconfigures in a new way?  This book is like that.  Just when you think you’re making out the shapes and colors you’re seeing, a twist happens and all those pieces come together in a completely different way.  Personally, I loved those toys, and I enjoyed every new twist this book offered.  You won’t know which way is up, the narrators are ALL unreliable, and the story will send you ten different directions so you can’t get your bearings, but that’s the beauty of it.  If it were simple it wouldn’t be fun.  The irony is that by the end of it, the actual explanation kinda made perfect sense, so I didn’t feel like I needed to suspend any disbelief.

Well, that’s the best I can do with this one.  Read it and enjoy all those beautiful and colorful twists!  I listened to this on audio, narrated by Christopher Ragland, and he did a brilliant job voicing all the parts.  I HIGHLY recommend trying it in whatever form - print or audio - that makes you happy!

★★★★ 

Thank you to Macmillan Audio, NetGalley, and author Catriona Ward for this audio in exchange for my honest review.  It will be published September 28, 2021.