Ends and Edges. Review of The Last House on Needless | by Christina Do Billie and Brad get together: that is the question isn't it? I had previously recommended Catriona Ward`d first two novels on this sub. Rarely do I struggle to find words about a book that I loved, but I find myself in that position right now. The Last House on Needless Street - IMDb The reader plays detective the whole time trying to piece together what is reliable and what is not, Ward says. As for Dee, while I didnt have any feelings for her, Im not 100% sure she deserved to die as she did. Fascinated is the wrong wordIm terrified, and the event that has quite a power over me is the Lake Sammamish Murders committed by Ted Bundy.. The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward is one of those books that is difficult to describe without giving away spoilers. 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. His mother apparently used to experiment on him surgically, which caused his scars and is what her tapes were about.Teds therapist was also abusing him and making his condition worse. Which is disappointing, because I had high expectations going in based on the recommendations of people whose taste I trust in. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Its an echo [in this story] because its such a landmark in my landscape of fear.. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise There is something odd going on in the boarded-up house at the end of Needless Street. Tanya H. said "I don't know why they've got so many bad reviews but our experience was great! This all seems rather straightforward, aside from maybe getting the perspective of Olivia the . The story starts to kick in beyond this, grips you and never lets up. Descriptions of his love of nature reveal his complex character: he takes joy in feeding birds, and the nearby forest is a source of comfort to him; at times he feels he is 'in its . Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. As an avid reader, I often find myself reading a book description and not being able to remember whether Ive read it before. Dee goes into the woods to have a bit of fun with the boy, tells Lulu to stay by the lake. I was concerned when I realized this wasn't pure thriller from the get-go. In fact, Ward's most impressive feat here is that she keeps readers guessing from the first page to the last, even after revealing truths that change everything. Sometimes you just want to say read it, and then talk to me about it, and leave your review at that. The writing is complex and not linear so it does keep you on your toes in that sense. Overall, not a win for me. A young girl who isn't allowed outside, not after last time. I think its unnerving to the reader because fiction is supposed to be more organized than that. Ill be marking the place where Ill go into spoiler territory, so youll have a warning if youd rather not read on. All these things are true. After reading some of the other reviews, I can tell I am in the minority here and that is ok. The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward is one of those books that is difficult to describe without giving away spoilers. Dee dies from the snake bite. And a house cat who loves napping and reading the Bible. Both novels are critical darlings & both are horror-adjacent . The mothers coldness should have been a big red flag. To me, that unreliability is incredibly lifelike, but I think its unnerving to people. Ward uses unreliable narrators extremely well. It was such a fantastic book!. Her words stung me. I opted for the audiobook, and I have to say, Christopher Raglands narration is absolutely top-notch. Here is what Im afraid of. Ted Bannerman lives alone with his cat Olivia in a dilapidated, boarded up house at the end of a cul-de-sac. Their palpable burning desire for one another has carried fans through two seasons packed with . Its a bit un-shelvable.. 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. Wayward Magazine features veteran entertainment journalism staff covering new releases in horror and horror-adjacent fiction (mostly books). And a house cat who loves napping and reading the Bible. She lives in London and Devon. Revenge. Whilst I had my suspicions fairly early on about what was going on, I still enjoyed every second of it. The Last House on Needless Street on Apple Books (LogOut/ While Im talking about spoilers, one of the most chilling things about this book was how the mother treated Ted. Im a sucker for these kinds of stories where the story unravels piece by piece! I could hardly bear to let go of her, even for a moment. When she turned into her street, she looked at the house that she had earned. I'm very late to the party but I completely agree (except I never read anything else by the author). *Now available! Couldn't handle the lukewarm purple prose and near total absence of suspense. All rights reserved. I did not like the last 20-30% at all when the big "reveals" happen. 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. 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. shammon5 1 yr. ago. I think thats something that horror and the darker side of fiction do very naturally anyway. Thank you to Macmillan Audio for an ALC of this incredible audiobook. In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three. The Last House on Needless Street is finally out! It hangs like it has been strapped there. A space to share book reviews and other book related treats. You think youve read this story before. In her delirium, we find out that her memory about that day at the beach had been unreliable. Im not sure how to review it in its entirety without spoilers, so I will keep my thoughts brief on public forums and invite everyone whos read it to my blog post (coming soon) for a spoiler discussion. Inquiries to kay@kreisaumedia.com. I miss my friend, but I dont really have any means to reach her and even if I would, I have no idea if the person I call a friend is still around. The main character experiences severe childhood trauma and the story we get is the effect of that trauma. The Den of Geek quarterly magazine is packed with exclusive features, interviews, previews and deep dives into geek culture. I've read it and was blown away. There are also a lot of clues and hints sprinkled throughout which makes it a bit too easy to guess the twists. I'm So Mad About "The Last House on Needless Street" - Medium I hope its [really] about survival and hope as much as it is about suffering. We then find out that Lauren is another alter of Teds, created when he was just a child, and that he gave all the pain of his mothers abuse to Lauren so that he didnt have to endure it. I figure I might as well share it with you! I got a free e-copy through NetGalley about a week ago. HERO TOWING - 31 Photos & 39 Reviews - Yelp I loved Rawblood. Do not miss this book.. A teenage girl who isn't allowed outside, not after last time. No longer must I search my heart for a love that I cannot feel." The Last House on Needless Street|Paperback - Barnes & Noble You think you know whats inside the last house on Needless Street. I feel like I need to re-read this book in order to catch all the clues I missed! Yes, go ahead and read the afterward about how the author explains, but again, in my opinion, it still didnt work. Your post just bumped it to the top of my TBR list! Please only click on the spoiler tag if you already read the book or have no intention of reading it. 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. 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. How did that book end? 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. All these things are true. Sex/Life ending explained: Do Billie and Brad get together? First, there's the stunning transformation as the film shifts from . 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. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. . Your thoughts are echoed in a very good review by Wayward Magazine. Get help and learn more about the design. I dont know, I felt like all those big reveals thrown at us in the last parts were too muchI mean come on, too much going on with such a narrow character list. This is finally out! Thats not to say I didnt get caught by surprise here or there, though. Her fourth novel, the gothic thriller Sundial (2022 - Viper, Tor Nightfire) was Observer Thriller of the Month and a USA Today, CNN and Apple Books selection for best new fiction. Transgender journalist and musician from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Because in my opinion, this is not even close to a gothic thriller. The conclusion is somehow so predictable, while also being entirely chaotic in its execution. You think you've read this story before. Sure, she had a responsibility in the fate of her sister dragging her along, then leaving her alone to play by the river, then running away once she thought she was dead and the snakes were coming but Im not convinced she was a bad person up to that point or that she deserved punishment. But that was one twist I didnt quite see coming the mother being the psychopath, I mean. In a place that echoes with lost boys, 11 years ago, the haunted Dee lost her little 6 year old sister, Lulu, the Popsicle Girl, disappearing, never to be seen again. (LogOut/ 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. But I kept going because I was confused and felt that I might still be right. All original content on this site belongs to the author. But I don't need a mirror to know how I look. Trigger Warnings: Child Abuse. I was immediately drawn into the story, intrigued by Ted with his idiosyncrasies and strange way of living. It is pretty obvious that something isnt right in the house right off the bat. In [], The Plot (from Goodreads): Romance-novel connoisseur Tara Chen has had her heart broken ten times by ten different menall of whom dumped [], The Plot (from Goodreads): Carla Blacks life motto is here for a good time, not for a long time. Shes been travelling [], The Plot (from Goodreads): Alex has all but given up on her dreams of becoming a published author when she receives a [], Your email address will not be published. Needless to say, more tears were shed that day while the three Orimura siblings cried their eyes out when they sat together. And yet they are all liesYou think you know whats inside the last house on Needless Street. (LogOut/ 'The Last House on Needless Street' is complex and multilayered, but more like a multiverse than an onion. All of this means there is a closed, almost claustrophobic feel so the reader feels as closed up as Teds house with its boarded windows and triple lock. I usually try to keep my reviews as spoiler-free as I can, but Im going to have an exception here. Called last Monday to make an appointment for an oil change for 2 cars, were told the cars should be ready in 1,5 hours. It releases on September 28th! The Last House on Needless Street - a book full of - MicheleReader It sure left me with thoughts. Dee and her ending was kind of a let down. It did not feel unpredictable to me. Well, then there's the rest: gods buried in the woods, the mystery of Lauren's sporadic presence and brooding mood, angry green boys living in the attic, and Olivia, a cat who talks, reads, believes in God, wants to have a TV show, and suffers from dissociative identity disorder. He also disappears for days at a time and finds himself saying things like "I did some damage when I was out" or realizes he's thinking of the "wrong memory.". . 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 . 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. Labour hires Partygate probe boss Sue Gray - The Mail Again, I dont even know if this book is horror, Ward admits ruefully. I hadn`t read anything about this book prior, just jumped straight in. She read English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford and is a graduate of the Creative Writing MA at the University of East Anglia. Lulu had followed Dee while she hit on Trevor, and while Dee and Trevor were fooling around, Lulu slipped on some rocks and hit her head and died. I dont know. The Last House on Needless Street has been called a horror novel or a gothic thriller. Ted was a person of interest in the disappearance and now she is determined to find her sister or find the person responsible. I gave a single nod. Everything was obvious to me from the get-go. 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.. I thought long and hard because at first, I wasnt sure if portraying DID in a horror setting was something I was comfortable with. But that plotlines closure felt a bitforced? One thing is for sure, nothing is as it seems.Actually, that is just the given synopsis. That synopsis is short and covers just the basics. This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers. A man who drinks alone in front of his TV, trying to ignore the gaps in his memory. Cookie Notice Each one walked away with him and was never seen again. A stolen child. There arent actually twists to this story, just an occasional fact left for the reader every once in a while. Kate's Review: "The Last House on Needless Street" Depending on how you view him, he can come across as creepy, sinister or benign. She is determined to figure out what happened and is ready to lay the blame on Ted. Almost time to get my garden going. One particular line in chapter 1 made me guess the first twist, and from then on, the rest was easy to figure out. One of the best books I've ever read. out of By Catriona Ward. In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three. The clues were definitely therethe bike riding, shopping for the leggings, hints about how Lauren couldnt go outside. Horror books; Fiction; Firstly, this review is really hard to write in a spoiler free way but I am going to be extremely careful because you do need to go into it with no spoilers. What kind of parent says they dont love their child? Anyway, not long after my friend confided in me our contact quite abruptly ended. Like, holy shit, talk about psychopaths At first when they were in the forest and his mother revealed her fathers history and told Ted she never loved him I thought her coldness for her son was, if not natural, kinda understandable. Yeah, the mom buried Lulu in the neighbor's yard when the neighbor went on vacation. The Last House on Needless Street - Horrified Magazine Some are more disturbing than others. And an ordinary house at the end of an ordinary street. The Last House on Needless Street: The Bestselling Richard - Amazon So, when I read about Teds story, the abuse he went through at the hands of his mom, I just couldnt help thinking what might have happened to cause DID and create the person I called a friend. That was my first encounter with this particular mental disorder so I had no understanding of what it really meant. He nails the different voices so well, that you feel compelled to go and make sure that its really only one person narrating. You just dont, Ward says. Dee is driven by her obsession and seems to be somewhat in control, but then that image crumbles; she's afraid of going to sleep because the "red birds will come flying into her head." And Olivia is Ted's cat, with a mind all her own. That was my first encounter with this particular mental disorder so I had no understanding of what it really meant. Im really surprised at the hate for this book in this thread! Ted has blocked out the outside world as much as possible, except for his . Time is iffy and everyone is erratic. I thought this book was so cleverly written, with the hints towards DID masquerading as hints that Lauren was Lulu. The book embraces many of the most familiar aspects of the horror genre, but it also counts on its readers to possess a shared understanding of its common tropes and signifiers, and uses those assumptions to subvert many of their preexisting expectations.