BOOK REVIEW: The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
A roller coaster from page one. Buckle up and get ready to ride.
Oh. My. God! This book was so much more than I could have imagined. Granted, I went into it with very little knowledge - just that there was a little girl who never goes outside, a Bible reading cat and a potential serial killer. Let me just say that this book is so much more than that. I don’t even know where to start.
This is a true work of genius, so where to start in my processing my thoughts is a little challenging especially since I don’t want to give away any spoilers. Let’s just say that you can’t assume anything, not one little thing.
There are two different subplots that are working parallel to each other. We have Dee on one side who has not been able to cope with her little sister’s disappearance over a decade ago. Then you have Ted who lives in a boarded up house with his daughter and cat. As these subplots develop you learn more about how they are connected even though more questions come about. But, the characters...
Dee struggles and seems to be an unstable narrator at times; however, she is on a mission to find her sister who she believes may be alive, but her own demons continue to haunt her. She is consumed and obsessed with the hunt for her sister and falls victim to her own personal, harmful behavior. Taking risks that are dangerous without any real concern for the “what if.” As amazing as the rest of the character’s development is, I feel that Dee is the weakest character and the conclusion of her conflict is not only ironic, but also a little anticlimactic. Don’t get me wrong, she is essential to all the story.
Ted, on the other hand, is one of the most complex characters I have encountered in a story in quite some time. I was enthralled with him. I don’t know if it was because there was just something there that kept tugging at me, telling me there is way more to him than I can see right now. It was like I was trying so hard to pull back the curtain, pull the lid off, whatever analogy you want to apply here, that was me. There were so many innuendos about what he was that I just became obsessed in trying to figure out what he was. I just couldn’t let it go. I had to find out what his story really was and why he was doing what he was doing. But, what was he doing? Oh, there were numerous points where I was confused about who was doing what, but it worked so well.
Lauren, Ted’s daughter, was also beyond intriguing. I’m not quite sure how old she was. I feel like she was somewhere between 11 and 13, but again so complex; so many innuendos. A girl who, from the moment you meet her, is just not quite the average pre-teen girl. She exhibits some behaviors that are supportive of some of Ted’s proclamations, but then again, you wonder just how prepared Ted is to handle a child with Lauren’s needs. There is something wrong, but right when you begin to see the truth, you realize there is, in reality, just another complication in the story.
The last important character is Olivia, the Bible reading cat. There was at times almost a sense of comic relief because here is a cat talking about being a cat and reading the Bible for guidance and purpose. Olivia LOVED being a cat. Ward did an extraordinary job giving this cat a realistic, humanistic personality that was believable and not silly or superfluous. It could have very easily been a damaging aspect of the book. A ridiculous and absurd and cartoonish presence, but Instead it heightened everything else that was happening. Olivia was a critical character to the outcome of the book, and never once did you forget that she was a cat.
“Thoughts are a door that the dead walk through.”
The alternating points of views between these four characters only led to the growing tension as the conflict began to shift and change as the story progressed. As characters revealed more details about their current and past lives. As the truths were explored and exposed. As the trauma and pain that is hidden and repressed comes to the surface with the force of a submarine cresting the ocean surface, leaving the reader in the same sense of awe and shock.
The underlying messages in this novel are powerful and not ones that you even think about going into it. When you think things are beginning to fall into place and it’s beginning to make sense as to what is really going on, you learn that you were wrong. The one consistent is the impact of trauma. I would love to hear from someone who figured out the ending of this book from the beginning!
There are some trigger warnings with mental illness, child abuse and death, but these topics are included with an important purpose. I applaud the author for writing this. Not just writing about it, but creating such a masterful tangle of characters, pain, and, in the end, hope. There is a deeper meaning here of coming to terms with our pasts - both the aspects that we controlled and the decisions we made, but also the aspects that we couldn’t control.
Ward provides an afterward, which I read, and think is a critical piece to the conclusion of the story. Do not skip it. I was so fascinated by the depth of research she put into this, that I followed up and researched more on my own as well. The power she puts behind bringing light to her topic and focusing on it by breaking through the stereotype will leave you wondering how you got from page 1 to the end.
Where does this book land on my bookshelf?
It’s probably no surprise, but it is clearly on my top shelf. This may be one of those books that I talk about for a long time. While the plot itself was good, the characters great, there were parts that were just ok. Dee’s subplot still leaves me with some questions. There were some moments of confusion, others of suspense, others of disbelief, but you have to hold out to the end. Ward’s ability to create the complexity that inevitably shines through is a nod to her talent as an author. I can’t say enough about this. If you are looking for something that will make you question, doubt, wonder, scratch your head, and leave you thinking “what is happening!” then add this to your TBR list right now!
Take a peek at all my reviews: The Bookshelf