The Last House on Needless Street ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑
Genre: Thriller
US Publication: September 28, 2021
Print: 352 pages
Audio: 11 hours 30 minutes
Confetti Rating: 5 stars
REVIEW:
The Last House on Needless Street is a 5-star book that you may not end up liking, but mark my words - you WILL be hearing about it.
In fact, if you listen hard enough, you may even hear the buzz building already. Though it was published in the U.K. in March, it won’t be available in the U.S. until September. So what are North American bibliophiles doing to get copies? Firing off requests to publishers, buying them online from U.K.-based Book Depository, and mailing them off to one another. Then after they’ve finally read the story, they’re discussing it with one another.
And there is A LOT to discuss.
What is it actually about, you ask? The genius is that people who’ve read it can’t really tell you. The back cover of the U.K. version sums it up quite well:
“This is the story of a murderer. A stolen child. Revenge. This is the story of Ted, who lives with his daughter Lauren and his cat Olivia in an ordinary house at the end of an ordinary street. All these things are true. And yet some of them are lies.”
Intriguing, huh? I thought so, and I found the reading experience itself to be unsettling as well. Not only do unsettling things occur, but I also was never quite sure what was going on. “What am I reading here?” was a phrase that ran through my head for the duration. While I did have a fairly good hypothesis, which ended up being correct, I wasn’t let down by not being completely blindsided by each reveal. That’s a true testament to author Catriona Ward’s writing. Putting the pieces of her puzzle together felt like a win rather than a loss.
The Last House on Needless Street is being primarily shelved as horror, but that doesn’t feel entirely accurate. It’s a creepy, gothic thriller that 50% of your book club will hate, and the other 50% will appreciate as the modern classic it’s destined to become.
My lovely friend Kat was gracious enough to gift me her copy after she wrote her own excellent 5-star review. I also subsequently received the audiobook courtesy of Macmillan Audio via NetGalley, so I was able to experience both formats. The narrator, Christopher Ragland, is superb and should be a contender for an Audie Award. If he doesn’t receive one, it would be as much of a crime as if you didn’t add this novel to your Must Read list.
PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:
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.
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 drinks alone in front of his TV, trying to ignore the gaps in his memory.
And a house cat who loves napping and reading the Bible.
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.