Looking Glass Sound

You know you’ve read a Catriona Ward book when your first thought upon finishing it is “What the hell did I just read?”  This is round three for me with her books after loving The Last House on Needless Street and Sundial which were both mind-bending 4-star reads for me.  Once again, Ward puts her superpower for throwing the reader off balance to full effect, and that’s what I appreciate most about her writing: I never know what to expect!

Wilder Harlow meets friends Nat and Harper one summer as a teenager while vacationing on the Maine coast. They bond quickly, with Wilder and Nat both enamored of Harper, and all of them trying to frighten one another with stories of a local killer named the Dagger Man. They promise they’ll come back the following summer to Whistler Bay no matter what - and they do.  What they don’t anticipate is the dark revelations that will change the future for all of them.

That’s all I’m going to say about the plot. With Ward’s books it’s always best to go in as blind as possible, and honestly, even if I tried to explain it further, I’d end up as confused as you!  That confusion is part of why I love Ward’s books so much. You really have to pay attention to every detail, because things change on a dime continually keeping you so off-kilter that you don’t know which end is up!

Ironically, that’s why I struggled a bit with this book. I usually enjoy that psychological fun house aspect of her writing, but this got almost too convoluted with a lot of past and present events getting muddled, identities changing, and book within a book (within another book?) confusion.  Also, since the story started when the MCs were teens, the first part read YA to me, but even as adults they seemed childish. To Ward’s credit, though, this is an ambitious and highly creative plot, and once again, she blew my mind with that ending! As usual, her writing is stellar.

I read along while listening to this on audio, with Christopher Ragland and Katherine Fenton narrating.  I loved Ragland’s narration for The Last House on Needless Street, but not as much for this one. Harper is a British female, but she sounded neither British nor female, Wilder often sounded angsty or unhinged and Nat’s New England accent felt like a caricature. I did enjoy Fenton’s narration of a different female character and wondered why they didn’t have her voice Harper as well. Men voicing women almost always sounds off (and vice-versa).

It wasn’t my favorite of hers, but I’d still highly recommend it to those who love a book within a book story (with a twist!) and enjoy the mental challenge of a more complex plot. Catriona Ward’s unique blend of psychological horror, mystical elements and atmospheric writing are an appealing combination!

★★★ ½  (4 for the DRC and 3 for the ALC)

Thanks to Tor Nightfire, Macmillan Audio, NetGalley and author Catriona Ward for the DRC and ALC to honestly review. It’s now available.