#BookReview: The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

Oh Viper Books , what have you done??? You have sent me a book that I think has actually, really truly, blown my mind!!! Read in one big gulp last weekend, when it was all I could do to remind myself to breathe, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it all week.

I have been recommending this book all week to anyone who stood still long enough to be cornered. The conversation went something like this:

“You have to read this amazing book, The Last House on Needless Street!”

“Really? What’s it about?”

“I can’t tell you! Just read it!”

And there in lies the problem! This book is practically impossible to review without giving huge spoilers and that isn’t going to happen!!

So what can I tell you? Well this is a story that twists and turns continually. Just when you think you have a handle on what might be happening the world flips upside down and your nerves are jangling once more.

I can tell you that it is in part the story of Ted. Ted lives on Needless Street. He lives a strange and secluded life, leaving mainly to visit the forest or the mysterious ‘Bug Man’. But he doesn’t live alone. Keeping him company in the old, rather ramshackle house is his beloved cat, Olivia and his daughter Lauren. They make a curious trio, where the boundaries of their interactions keep shifting.

When Dee moves in next door, life starts to change. Dee’s sister , the Little Girl With Popsicle, disappeared eleven years ago and Dee has been haunted by the event ever since.

But what does Ted have to do with this dark time and what ghosts is Dee about to reawaken?

Catriona Ward’s writing is simply stunning. With shifting perspectives and a nail biting level of detail, her prose literally gets under your skin. I can’t imagine anyone being able to put this book down; once you’re pulled in you won’t be able to climb out! And you won’t want to either!!

Be prepared for that fact that emotion is provoked by this story, and these emotions will change at a seconds notice; in fact scrap the idea of notice!!!

This book is quite simply a stunner. It is mesmerising, elegant and heartbreaking by turns. You won’t have read anything like this, it will stay in your head and you won’t want it to leave. This book needs to read, discussed and shared. It is a book that defies definition, defies any attempt to push it into one genre or another. It is book that stands, quite brilliantly, alone.

Please everyone JUST READ THIS BOOK!!! Thank you!!

Rachel x