★★★★★ out of ★★★★★
By Catriona Ward
Way back in April (it’s almost October!) I was given an advance reader copy of The Last House on Needless Street by award winning author Catriona Ward by Tor’s new horror imprint, Nightfire. The book already had buzz from Stephen King saying that he hadn’t “read anything this exciting since Gone Girl” and a blurb from Paul Tremblay telling me to stop reading the blurb and “open the damn book,” so I did…I read this book in one sitting and so far, it is the best book I have read all year.
Why did it take so long to write a review then? Because I think it’s almost impossible to talk about this book without spoilers because there is a HUGE twist I never saw coming (it’s like Sixth Sense level!) and you should go in as blind as possible so here are the very, very basics:
Ted is a recluse who lives on Needless street with his daughter Lauren and his cat Olivia. There is something not quite right about Ted- he’s constantly talking about visiting the “old gods” in the forest, he thinks there is a murderer on the loose in the neighborhood and years ago he himself was questioned in the disappearance of the “Little Girl with Popsicle”.
The story opens 11 years after that disappearance and throws you right in. It took me a moment to get my bearings and adapt to Ward’s style but with chapters told from each characters POV (including Olivia the bible reading cat and one of my favorite characters ever) soon I was in the groove and unable to stop reading and my jaw hit the floor when the twist was revealed. I loved every minute of this book so listen to me (if you didn’t take Paul Tremblay’s word for it and even got this far, here) and go get the book!
The Last House on Needless Street was released today, September 28 and you can find it on Amazon, Powell’s or wherever you get your books! You can also read the first chapter and 2 more excerpts on Tor’s website.