by Catriona Ward

4.5 / 5 Stars
Find it on Goodreads!

This novel was a big wow for me. I’ll admit that when I first started it I was a bit skeptical and it was slow to start.

“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.”

I totally walked into this novel expecting that I had already figured out the ending. There are enough hints dropped throughout early chapters to allude to part of what’s to come. And you think, yeah this isn’t new, this isn’t groundbreaking. But you’re wrong. I was wrong.

The story is billed as horror but it’s not horror in the classical sense. There is horror in the experiences of the characters. It was hard to read sometimes and there is sensitive content. I mean, it’s about a missing child and the surviving sister of that child looking for vengeance. It’s about a murderer terrorizing families. It’s about an unusual recluse who has a secret and maybe a violent side.

But it’s about more than that – and there’s a reason that most of the people who have read this book won’t or can’t say what that is. That’s the hard part in reviewing a mystery / thriller, especially one like this. There is so much to say about this book, but it will only ruin the journey and ultimate reveal for other readers.

The beginning is a little confusing, but things start to come together pretty quickly, building to an ending that, frankly, I never ever saw coming. The prose is stunning. It’s beautifully written and incredibly descriptive without being over the top and losing steam.

I saw another reviewer use the word brilliant. And that’s the word. Brilliant.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.