The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

You know books, they do things to you. Always do. They leave you weak, lurching, horrified, or stunned. They turn you into a detective or make you feel hopeless. And sometimes, they make you see the world and the people in it differently. The Last House on Needless Street is one of those books. From the title and the buzz surrounding it judging from the number of reviews on its first few pages, I thought I knew what to expect. But nothing could have prepared me for the whirlwind of emotions that followed. I was terrified and thrilled, I crashed out as it almost felt like the author was taking me through a maze of events.

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The story centers around the mysterious disappearance of a little girl named Laura, renamed as “Little Girl With Popsicle” by the news headlines. She vanished from a beach while with her family. Her older sister, Dee, even after eleven years of her disappearance never stopped searching for her and is convinced that a strange man named Ted Bannerman had something to do with it. Ted lives alone in a dark, eerie house at the end of the Street or so it seems.

What makes this story unique is how it unfolds; through multiple perspectives, including that of Ted, Dee, Lauren(Laura) and even a cat. Yes, a cat. The narrative structure is deliberately disorienting, and pulls you into a maze of fractured timelines, unreliable narrators and layered secrets.

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For me to read a 599 page book in 24hrs, trust me, I was tightly held. Sometimes, I had to remind myself to breathe. The tension, the dread, the shocking revelations… they never let up.

One of the most significant revelations for me was learning about Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). I had never heard of it before. The book opened my eyes to the horrifying psychological coping mechanisms that children develop in response to extreme abuse. Oh those innocent creatures, it helps them zone out. It’s heartbreaking. It made me think deeply about trauma, memory and survival.

The author, Catriona Ward, did amazing with this one. She plays with perception and reality in a way that keeps you questioning everything and everyone but where it almost threw me off was close to the resolution with the flurry of personalities. It made the ending slightly ambiguous with no clear meaning or resolution. I had to piece together the final image myself. But maybe that was the whole point. Right?

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Even with the slight confusion towards the ending, the plot's slow unraveling, sense of dread and twists, made me fall in love with it. I think I’ll read it again. But, I have to get over this emotional hangover. I need to be sober before drowning myself in its weight again. Maybe the second read will expose things that eluded me in my first and the confusion would simmer down a bit. I just need to be mentally ready to go over those horrendous, let's say 578 pages.

Well, I wasn’t in the mood for spoilers this time so grab a copy if you would. The Last House On Needless Street is raw, disturbing and again, it’s brilliantly written. It’s sorta voluminous but you don’t really feel the stretch of time because each page pulls you in. It’s the kind of book that doesn’t just tell a story ~ it takes you apart and puts you back together differently. I’d highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys psychological thrillers with a dark literary edge.

I may likely look up more works from this author but I hope they catch my fancy as much as this one does. Well, that’s all for now. Till next time book lovers. Have a good one!