Title: The Last House on Needless Street
Author: Catriona Ward
Genre: Horror/ Thriller
Published: 2021
Description: This is the story of a serial killer. A stolen child.
Revenge. Death. And an ordinary house at the end of an ordinary street.
All these things are true. And yet they are all lies…
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.
In the dark forest at the end of Needless Street, lies something buried.
But it’s not what you think…
Review: “The Last House on Needless Street” is an intriguing, yet at times
frustrating , psychological thriller. The book excels in atmosphere but loses
momentum due to an overabundance of plot twists.
We meet Ted, a lonely man who lives in a boarded-up house at the edge of
a wild forest with his daughter, Lauren, and his talking cat, Olivia. Dee, a
woman driven by vengeance, moves in next door. Dee is convinced that Ted is
responsible for the disappearance of her younger sister, who vanished from a
nearby lake eleven years earlier.
The story’s strength lies in its unique narrative structure and its
gloomy atmosphere. Catriona Ward creates an oppressive world surrounding the protagonist
Ted, his daughter Lauren and the talking cat Olivia. The characters are
untrustworthy, which creates constand underlying tension and a sense of disorientation
for the reader. The gothic, dark setting, centered around the dilapidated house
at the end of the street, on the edge of the forest, is beautifully described.
However, the structure is also the novel’s weakness. The book relies so
heavily on mysteries and deception that the plot begins to drag halfway
through. The constant shifting of perspective and the surrealistic elements
make the story unnecessarily confusing at times. Although the final resolution
ingeniously puts all the pieces of the puzzles in place, the build-up to it
feels like an emotional battle of attrition that doesn’t remain equally
engaging throughout.
It’s a daring and original horror story, at the end you will be
wondering what the hell you just read. It’s a psychological puzzle, but the
pace in the middle section and the overkill of plot twists keeps it at a solid
three stars.
Rating: 3/ 5
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten