The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
My thoughts
OMG, this book blew my mind. At many points, especially in the first half I thought what the hell am I reading? So many times I wondered if it was worth sticking with as it was so terribly confusing and strange. There are inconsistencies and utterly bizarre, eerie things going on, yet believe me it does all fall into place, eventually. It is eerie and creepy and worrying and absolutely wonderful. Part who-dunnit mystery, we know right from the beginning about the popsicle girl, a little girl who went missing years earlier, a horror story and a psychological tour de force.
Yes, there is a strange boarded up house at the end of a dead end street which leads only to a deep forest and particularly the first part of the book has nuances of The Ocean at the end of the lane The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman.
The main character, Ted, is the most enigmatic character I have read about in ages, his daughter Lauren is one of the strangest and angriest girls, Olivia the cat, well, I adored her and I’m not quite sure what it says about me when I say I wish I had an Olivia of my own. She talks, by the way (and can read!) but please don’t let the WTFness of this put you off, she is wonderful and pivotal to the whole story.
There’s also Dee, sister of the missing girl, seeking revenge and desperate to discover someone’s door to lay blame at. Even the secondary characters are mysterious and strange, the orange haired man with his noisy brouhaha dog, the dachshund/chihuahua/terrier woman, and the green boys – who ARE they? The story which eventually emerges is teeth grindingly gasp out loud horrific, yet ultimately immensely satisfying.
The writing is wonderful, everything is off-kilter and menacing, and I found by the latter third through to the end I felt genuinely disturbed and very anguished. I fell asleep crying and woke with tears still spilling from my eyes. Don’t be put off by any hype as this is sure to be a much talked about book even though you really can’t say too much, for fear of giving anything away.
The Blurb
All these things are true. And yet they are all lies…
You think you know what’s inside the last house on Needless Street. You think you’ve read this story before. That’s where you’re wrong.
In the dark forest at the end of Needless Street, lies something buried. But it’s not what you think…
My Copy was from Netgalley. It’s due out in March 2021 – join the queue.
