That was more chilling to think about than a fictional character, and Im honestly not sure what kind of person this makes me. (LogOut/ Despite my general like of the grimdark/dark fantasy subgenre, horror is a genre I rarely read in. Accepting that things didnt quite make sense but knowing it would come together. The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward (Author), Christopher Ragland (Narrator) Eleven years ago Dee and her six year old sister visit a lake with their parents. Often, Im not a fan of male narrators trying to do female voices, but Christopher Ragland did an incredible job of matching all the different characters. CATRIONA WARD was born in Washington, DC and grew up in the United States, Kenya, Madagascar, Yemen, and Morocco. Absolutely hated it and it was fucking confusing to follow. Around halfway, I think things start to fall apart fast. . So, just a heads up. The Chihuahua lady and the mom seemed to be close, and the mom told her later on that she would be going out of town as a way to lead false tracks away from her if the police came snooping because of what happened at the hospital . Claire Douglas | The Girls Who Disappeared, Amy Lea | Exes and Os (The Influencer #2), Trish Doller | Off The Map (Beck Sisters #3). "I love the kitty more," I said. And Ive been thinking a lot. 05/04/2021 15:11. 7. Death. Your thoughts are echoed in a very good review by Wayward Magazine. Wearing a cast on his arm, Bundy asked the women for help. Thriller/psychological twisty turner, I couldn't put it down and read it in two days straight. 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 . Sex/Life season 2 spoilers follow. . Fuck this book and every author who blurbed it. All original content on this site belongs to the author. Lauren is not a very happy teenager but enjoys riding her bicycle in the house. For more information, please see our 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). PAGES: 352pg. This is probably the best-executed book I have read so far this year. Dee, the girls sister, has never stopped thinking about Lulu. When a woman named Dee moves into the abandoned house next door while on a quest to find her sister, who was kidnapped years ago, Ted's life begins to spiral into chaos. Lauren isn't Lauren, and also suffers from severe dissociative identity disorder. And while Im in the minority who didnt fall in love with Wards prose, story, or characters, I can see why others did. Lacy Baugher is a digital producer by day, but a television enthusiast pretty much all the time. It releases on September 28th! Her fear of snakes is not based on a false memory, the snakes slithered out from beneath Lulu when Dee tried to move her. Whether he did or not, as well as the mystery of what happened to the Girl with Popsicle who vanished back then, are just two of the story threads this ambitious narrative attempts to balance as it juggles three different perspectivesone of whom is the aforementioned cat and asks readers to question what they believe to be true and why. The same applies to the psyches of its characters. You think youve read this story before. Books received from a third party sponsor have no impact on the honesty of my reviews. But then, its a bit of a grey area and it all really depends on your POV how you see her. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. The cat is a litmus test, isnt it? Ward laughs. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. While Im talking about spoilers, one of the most chilling things about this book was how the mother treated Ted. Five-star audio production, and five-star book. Learn how your comment data is processed. There is so much going on in this book that its easy to slip up and inadvertently spoil the story for others which makes it especially hard to review. The Last House on Needless Street is finally out! , I hope you enjoy it if you read it. Thanks! Privacy Policy. Privacy Policy. That's where you're wrong. Depending on how you view him, he can come across as creepy, sinister or benign. I never heard from her again although I do think of her every once in a while. Ted lives in his childhood home with his daughter Lauren and his cat, Olivia. Topics. At the end of the street are the eerie Woods where the gods are buried. What a waste of time. Scan this QR code to download the app now. In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three. The book was well written and certainly had its moments but the ending was extremely disappointing. This all seems rather straightforward, aside from maybe getting the perspective of Olivia the . Each character has their own distinctive voice, each one giving a slightly different viewpoint of the story. Full of twists and turns, sorrow and humanity. ONLY 3 for my enjoyment level of the story. Sandra's b-day episode! 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. She hasn`t repressed the memories, the guilt of what happened and the fact that she kept it all to herself drives her to find who took her. Als Hauptverdchtiger galt damals der Einzelgnger Ted - ein eigenartiger Mann, der 165961634207 Things are slowly getting out of his control when Dee appears in the house next to his, bent on finding her lost sister who went missing some ten years earlier from the lake. But its not what you think. Thats not to say I cant appreciate a great thriller or mystery I like watching true crime shows for instance. Inquiries to kay@kreisaumedia.com. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. Catriona Wards latest novel, The Last House on Needless Street, is the sort of book that defies easy description and categorization. Thank you, Catriona Ward, NetGalley, and Viper books for the opportunity to read this book. I can`t remember the last time I had my emotions so completely and cleverly manipulated. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. There are layers upon layers that are coming together nicely by the end. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. A woman who may be able to crack this cold case. That was my first encounter with this particular mental disorder so I had no understanding of what it really meant. I enjoyed the switching POVs initially, as I was just trying to piece things together, before anything had been confirmed. All the evidence is there in the beginning. The conclusion is somehow so predictable, while also being entirely chaotic in its execution. The only reason I can write this stuff is because Im afraid of it. How did that book end? It sounds trite but this is story-telling at it's finest. As the review details, the "multiple personality"/"it was all in their head" reveal is a tired trope by now and a cop-out substitute for good story telling and plot development. What kind of parent says they dont love their child? And a house cat who loves napping and reading the Bible. #whathaveidone #booksfordays #whoops, Herbs have been planted. It was such a fantastic book!. She pushed down her own guilt and focused that guilt on trying to find her sister and the person who eventually took her away from the scene. Welcome! I'm very late to the party but I completely agree (except I never read anything else by the author). Once I figure that out, I started to get uncomfortable and grew uneasy. To nie tak, e ta ksika bya dla mnie neutralna - ale miaa moim zdaniem tyle samo zalet, co (niestety) wad. It doesn't matter if you're into Stephen King, Octavia Butler, Jack Ketchum or Shirley Jackson, this is the place to share that love and discuss to your heart's content. Otherwise, feel free to skip this part and maybe grab a copy for yourself if youd like to make your own judgment! The ending is propulsive and shocking and definitely had me re-running prior scenes in my head to assist with putting the pieces together. When new neighbors move in next door, the legacy of the house will finally be revealed - along with the secrets buried among the trees on this dark, dead-end . A stolen child. Now take it out of your pocket. 'completely and cleverly manipulated,' is about right, tortuously and underhandedly. Each one walked away with him and was never seen again. In the dark forest at the end of Needless Street, lies something buried. GENRE: Thriller. Suffice to say, horror is not a genre Im overly familiar with which can be one of the reasons I failed to love this book. The Last House on Needless Street has a small(ish) cast of characters. I knew Ted was innocent, but I didnt guess the DID storyline. Her desperation drove her to the edge of sanity, and I guess thats what she paid for in the end. I think what I wanted to do with this [story] was destabilize that a little bit.. Im fascinated by the lake. All these things are true. Or watch movies for that matter. Eleven years ago, Lulu, a six year old girl, disappeared from the nearby lake. This is finally out! I didn't find it horrifying or terrifying, though it is thrilling to read. He's unemployed, drinks a lot, and suffers from a few undiagnosed mental health problems. Perhaps the difference in myself and the disgruntled is that I usually figure out the twist or the plot or the aha moment in everything I watch or read, so having my suspicions confirmed in this case didnt bother me at all. It feels like a complete short story unto itself, and rightly so because it is integral to all that follows. The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward is one of those books that is difficult to describe without giving away spoilers. This is a place to discuss horror literature. But still I rise , My Rebel Highlander by Vonda Sinclair~Review~. Dee is left petrified of snakes, thinking she knows who took her sister, she fixates on Ted Bannerman, even though there was CCTV showing he was in a store, with scores of witnesses at the time, proving he had nothing to do with the taking of Lulu. The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona WardPublished September 28th 2021 by NightfireDate read: May 9, 2021, Ted, who lives on Needless St.Dee, whose sister disappeared nearby as a child. Hear noises at chasingthesky.bandcamp.com. 3 of which have their POV chapters: Ted, Olivia, and Dee. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Change). document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. . I'm not used to how much space I take up in the world. ), but such a creative way to describe Ted from another point of view. 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, and his cat, Olivia. 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. Then Dee moves in across the street. Death. A teenage girl who isn't allowed outside, not after last time. THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREET blew me away. But that plotlines closure felt a bitforced? 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. To play [not just ] with the expectations of horror but also with the snap conclusions people might come to about certain kinds of behavior or mental health conditions [or socio-economic indicators].. Wow. In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three. There is something odd going on in the boarded-up house at the end of Needless Street. Today, we're delighted to share this Q&A our . But in the grand scheme of things, I found this book a bit underwhelming. Everything in The Last House on Needless Street is old, dirty, or broken. Those that Ted interacts with are christened with Ted names such as bug man his therapist and Chihuahua lady, one of his neighbours. This is something that has made its way into my psychology and my imagination, Ward says. long-awaited, Stephen King seal of approval-bearing, and impossible to review without spoilers -- Janice Hallett, author of The Appeal I read this in 1.5 nail-biting days. His mother knew what he was at an early age after finding him killing an animal, and her words in that moment never left him: "For a long time, I have feared that this was in you. The first few chapters are disorientating. In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three. If you watch a lot movies or read a lot of books not much comes off as a surprise. Here is what Im afraid of. Baby snake bites Lulu who falls and hits head against rock. One thing is for sure, nothing is as it seems.Actually, that is just the given synopsis. 18 March 2021. Timy reviews The Last House on Needless Street, Catriona Wards Horror novel, published by Viper. We know you all have many questions for Catriona Ward, author of The Last House On Needless Street. This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers. Overall, not a win for me. To me, everything is as it seems. Bravo and a round of applause to Catriona Ward!!! Catriona Ward manages to carry out this balance with aplomb. The cat chapters were a little kooky (who knew cats could be religious! It is pretty obvious that something isnt right in the house right off the bat. Having read the award winning Catriona Ward's incredible debut, Rawblood, it is not surprising that her latest novel, an atmospheric gothic horror, the darkest of fairytales, is one of the books of 2021. For Ward, part of writing Needless Street necessarily involved processing heartbreaking and often quite upsetting things. I loved Rawblood. 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. He lives secluded, has his mental health problems, and the only time he leaves the house is when he is going to the forest, to a local therapist for meds and advice, and to local pubs to drink and try to date women. I had figured out what was happening and what had happened about half way through the story but this didnt spoil the story, in fact it made me somewhat more invested as I raced to see how it would all manifest. The books narrative counts on its readers to feel as though they know whats happening, that theyve already guessed the twists ahead of them. The perspectives switch between Ted, the sister of the abducted child, and that of Teds cat. We see into the depths of their lives through their memories and find the darkest corners of their existence. Im just really not into it, I guess. Dee didn`t kill her own sister, it was accidental and she panicked and ran off only to realize she wasn`t dead. There are some deliberate reverberations that I set up with Ted in the beginning, Ward explains.Hes called Ted, and he lives in Washington state, near a lake where there had been a disappearance. Shes honed in on Ted and is determined to find out what became of her sister. Thats not to say I wasnt appalled by some of the events because, hell, I was. I find that it is a relief. The Plot (from Goodreads): Three missing girls. Edition: Main. It gives hope that people with this disorder can find their path in life even if its not an easy one. The atmosphere in this novel is depressing and the strangeness can lead to confusion "'The first time I tried to run,' she says, 'he took my feet. Couldn't handle the lukewarm purple prose and near total absence of suspense. I really liked Little Eve. It hangs like it has been strapped there. Trigger Warnings: Child Abuse. 'The Last House on Needless Street' is complex and multilayered, but more like a multiverse than an onion. We HAVE to talk about this book!!! Ted`s mother was reponsible for the child disapearances over the years, so no, it wasn`t coincidental. Her debutRawbloodwon Best Horror Novel at the 2016 British Fantasy Awards, and was a WHSmith Fresh Talent title. After reading some of the other reviews, I can tell I am in the minority here and that is ok. But it is home for three: Ted, the town drunk; Dee, a teenage waif; and Olivia, a precocious cat. Yes, go ahead and read the afterward about how the author explains, but again, in my opinion, it still didnt work. It was obvious the cat was an alt personality. However, upon finishing the book, I appreciate how the author didnt make Ted the villain of the story after all even if it seemed like it for a long time and that she showed how Teds life was improved with the right medication, professional help, and genuine friendship maybe even love. This book is wearing the disguise of horror. The Last House on Needless Street is published on 18 March (Profile, 12.99). And yet some of them are lies. (LogOut/ September 29, 2021. A young girl who isn't allowed outside, not after last time. You dont get to know everything about everyone. A teenage girl who isn't allowed outside, not after last time. Gabino Iglesias is an author, book reviewer and professor living in Austin, Texas. I wasnt surprised, in hindsight, but still. His daughter Lauren comes to visit from time to time, but they never go out when she does, and their relationship is always tense and often violent. But Ill talk about this a bit more in depth in the spoilers section after the review itself. Because, although Needless Street has no real factual content in the plot at all, there are echoes of a real-life tragedy built into its bones, the kind that could certainly encourage readers to draw specific conclusions about the things theyre watching unfold. This is smart! 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. It started off with a strong atmosphere and intriguing set up. I knock things over, I bounce off doorways. The clues are all there, slowly introduced by fact or omission, even the street name takes on a different tone when the final page is turned. 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. Thank you! Book spoilers to jog your memory. I have a little request for those of you whove already read this. . A teenage girl who isn't allowed outside, not after last time. Do not miss this book.. His daughter Lauren visits occasionally. When she turned into her street, she looked at the house that she had earned. I loved the story, but the audio production made it ten times better. As I mentioned in my review, I suspected from the first chapter that multiple personality issues will come into play in some way, including Lauren and Olivia. I loved Olivia! There is also a skill to taking difficult and horrific situations and diffuse care and feeling into the writing, so that the issues raised arent dealt with gratuitously. All I know is that Stephen King had an endorsement quote on the cover, it was a horror book, and may or may not contain a serial killer story. I thought that was really important to make sure that [those things] come out, [that[ it has the light shining through the dark branches as it were.. And an ordinary house at the end of an ordinary street.All these things are true. She alters her memory of the snakes in order to cope with the guilt. However, it gave me plenty of things to think about, and one thing I cant take away from Ward: she clearly put a lot of research into the main mental health problem featured in this book, and handled her characters with care.