Catriona Ward's The Last House on Needless Street is a shocking and immersive read perfect for fans of Gone Girl and The Haunting of Hill House. Press J to jump to the feed. What cat understands English and speaks in slang? Book Description: Catriona Ward's The Last House on Needless Street is a shocking and immersive read perfect for fans of Gone Girl and The Haunting of Hill House.. ONLY 3 for my enjoyment level of the story. No idea about . It was obvious the cat was an alt personality. But the thing is, I did have an emotional reaction to the book due to some personal reasons, which was connected to the mental condition itself rather than anything happening in the book. I'm getting bigger all the time. He's unemployed, drinks a lot, and suffers from a few undiagnosed mental health problems. All commissions go toward supporting this blog. Her next gothic thriller, The Last House on Needless Street, will be published March 2021 by Viper (Serpents Tail). Just finished the bookagreed 100%. AGE RANGE: Adult. Topics. I no longer need to think of you as my son. It started off with a strong atmosphere and intriguing set up. She read English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford and is a graduate of the Creative Writing MA at the University of East Anglia. However, I seem to have completely lost grip on the story when it comes to the Chihuahua woman. I thought long and hard because at first, I wasnt sure if portraying DID in a horror setting was something I was comfortable with. Accepting that things didnt quite make sense but knowing it would come together. It is impossible to write a meaningful analysis of The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward (Viper, 2021) without . Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. out of By Catriona Ward. Ive been looking for a good opportunity to get to read this book, and the Ladies of Horror Fiction Readalong seemed like the perfect reason to jump The Last House on Needless Street on the top of my TBR. I laid her gently on a patch of moss at the foot of the tree. This was a book about DID. Inside the triple locked door Ted keeps his cat Olivia and his daughter Lauren safe from the outside world. I didnt find it horrifying or terrifying, though it is thrilling to read. There are a limited number of characters who are given names. He drinks but there are other issues as well. This book is in love with itself. "I love the kitty more," I said. It gives hope that people with this disorder can find their path in life even if its not an easy one. Find him on Twitter at @Gabino_Iglesias. I knew Ted was innocent, but I didnt guess the DID storyline. Privacy Policy. Publishing Info: Tor Nightfire, September 2021. Time is iffy and everyone is erratic. I read the reviews after the fact, and the fact that this book is about DID is totally spoiled. So we could provide even more entertainment for you! Lauren and Olivia the Cat also have their own points of view of what is happening on Needless Street. Weight: 340 g. Dimensions: 196 x 128 x 34 mm. And I think I have whiplash from all the twists! I am overwhelmed. This is the best book I have read in recent years. I feel like I need to re-read this book in order to catch all the clues I missed! There were times I was thinking about DNFing, but my curiosity got the better of me, and me see it through the end which I have no regrets about. For Ward, part of writing Needless Street necessarily involved processing heartbreaking and often quite upsetting things. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. *Now available! The New York TimesCatriona Ward's The Last House on Needless Street is a shocking and immersive read perfect for fans of Gone Girl and The Haunting of Hill House.In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three.A teenage girl who isn't allowed outside, not after last time.A man who . Thank you! Dee was looking for Lulus body but had lied so convincingly over the years that she herself believed Lulu was still alive. She wasn't out of the car before an exhilarated voice said two words she had learned that Chifuyu would think were her most beloved words . Please only click on the spoiler tag if you already read the book or have no intention of reading it. I loved Ward's Rawblood a few years ago but The Last House on Needless Street is such a disappointment, just a cheap series of narrative cheats whose only purpose is to support the oldest and most cliched 'twist' ending in horror fictionwe are seriously supposed to believe that not only does the murder suspect have multiple personalities, but that the dominant one has a name coincidentally similar to the name of a girl who went missing years ago, who was killed by his mother, but not really, she was actually killed by her own sister, who has stalked the suspect and moved in next door, but has repressed memories so she doesn't remember killing her sister, and who gets written out of the narrative by dying of a snakebite, because her greatest fear is snakes, based on a childhood experience which is actually a false memory, and the suspect acts so weirdly throughout because his psychiatrist is mis-prescribing him outdated medication, and who vanishes without explanation once he's exposed, and all of the other child disappearances around the area are just coincidence. I wanted to read this book and be shocked, so I ignored other reviews and didnt even read the synopsis. And I won't even start with the talking cat. At this point, we still think that Lauren is Lulu. And according to Ward, that unease is absolutely something she counted on her audience feeling. The creepy dilapidation of the outside world mirrors their mental state. A young girl who isn't allowed outside, not after last time. Its a bit un-shelvable.. . My dear friends, please add this brilliant book to your reading list! Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Do Billie and Brad get together: that is the question isn't it? I dont think I still have for that matter, although for all I know, The Last House on Needless Street gives justice to people dealing with this on a daily basis. Regardless if you . Nighttime is another alter, but I cant remember if he really had much point other than helping to integrate them. And a house cat who loves napping and reading the Bible. Seeking redemption and revenge is one thing, but inflicting self-judgment on innocent people is a whole another one. As for Dee, while I didnt have any feelings for her, Im not 100% sure she deserved to die as she did. Possible Spoilers Ahead. Dee saw her dead body, but the police/adults never found it. In the most basic sense, The Last House on Needless Street follows the story of Ted, a lonely man who lives in a boarded up house (on Needless Street, naturally) with his 12 year old daughter . Lauren appears in her own narrated chapters later in the book. In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three. In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three. Are you afraid of it too? Then youre forming this bond where you travel through the fear together., But, then again, by the time they reach the final page of Needless Street, readers ideas of what constitutes a horror storyand where precisely Wards book falls within the genremay have changed. Some say the concept has been done to death, but you could argue the same thing about everything ever created (movies, tv shows, books, whatever). The mothers coldness should have been a big red flag. To me it is a tightly woven tale, full of tension and intrigue, with the truth just dangled tantalisingly out of reach. It did not feel unpredictable to me. And yet they are all liesYou think you know whats inside the last house on Needless Street. Almost time to get my garden going. Fuck this book and every author who blurbed it. There arent actually twists to this story, just an occasional fact left for the reader every once in a while. It would be a bad book if I wasn't afraid of it, says author Cat Ward about The Last House on Needless Street, this season's must-read horror novel. THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREET is psychological horror of the highest order, disguised as a Russian doll of a novel, with layer within layer holding new characters and secrets. Your thoughts are echoed in a very good review by Wayward Magazine. I figure I might as well share it with you! All these things are true. I opted for the audiobook, and I have to say, Christopher Raglands narration is absolutely top-notch. In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three. (LogOut/ I can't keep track of it. Its been nearly two weeks since I finished reading/listening to the audiobook version of The Last House on Needless Street, and I still couldnt figure out how I feel about it. I loved the story, but the audio production made it ten times better. The Den of Geek quarterly magazine is packed with exclusive features, interviews, previews and deep dives into geek culture. Lauren isn't Lauren, and also suffers from severe dissociative identity disorder. All the evidence is there in the beginning. [Spoilers herein.] This is probably the best-executed book I have read so far this year. I could hardly bear to let go of her, even for a moment. Teds alters integrate, he gets therapy from a real therapist, and starts to become a part of society again. Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! The Last House on Needless Street has been called a horror novel or a gothic thriller. The worst kinds of monsters, after all, are those that we can find evidence for in the real world. The Last House on Needless Street is a book that has twists not for their own sake, but because what we think of as twists-unexpected events nonetheless grounded in established character and plot-are a natural extension of the characters and events Ward is tackling.. The Last House on Needless Street publishes September 28, 2021 from Tor . Dee dies from the snake bite. But I'll talk about this a bit more in depth in the spoilers section after the review itself. The story is narrated by Ted, Oliva, Dee and Lauren with some characters in third person and some in first person, a technical that allows a rounded tale, told from limited but different viewpoints. But I kept going because I was confused and felt that I might still be right. Pretty clear, right? Whilst I had my suspicions fairly early on about what was going on, I still enjoyed every second of it. I loved Ward's Rawblood a few years ago but The Last House on Needless Street is such a disappointment, just a cheap series of narrative cheats whose only purpose is to support the oldest and most cliched 'twist' ending in horror fictionwe are seriously supposed to believe that not only does the murder suspect have multiple personalities, but that the dominant one has a name coincidentally . Bravo and a round of applause to Catriona Ward!!! Children have been going missing at a nearby lake for some time and a woman named Dee, whose sister disappeared there some years prior, has convinced herself that Ted had something to do with it. So therefore, I wont go into specifics on the book, just my thoughts on it overall. Twice in the same day. Transgender journalist and musician from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Learn how your comment data is processed. Ted is an odd sort of a fellow. I really liked Little Eve. Ted has blocked out the outside world as much as possible, except for his . . Revenge. The house is a prison and a sanctuary, a reliquary of agony and torment. I was immediately drawn into the story, intrigued by Ted with his idiosyncrasies and strange way of living. The Last House on Needless Street Audible Audiobook - Unabridged Catriona Ward (Author), Christopher Ragland (Narrator), Viper (Publisher) & 0 more 4.0 out of 5 stars 3,338 ratings My Godreally? Ms Hayter told of her mother's 'senseless and needless death lying in the road without those who loved her'. But its not what you think. An unspeakable secret binds them together, but when a new neighbor moves in next door, what is buried out among the birch trees may come back to haunt them all. Revenge. Except that I have weird quirks. The Last House on Needless Street.