Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Looking Glass Sound

Catriona Ward captures the immersive depths and fear that can come with the unknown ocean depths like no other author I’ve read. I’d say it’s a great beach read, but maybe not for those who have a touch of thalassophobia.

The first half of the novel had me obsessed. I loved Wilder’s perspective and the atmosphere Catriona Ward created, moving from the New England coast to dark academia and back. Unfortunately, from the 50-80% mark, the storytelling got quite confusing, trying to figure out who’s who, what’s real and what’s not, random time skips, and shoehorned in POVs, which left me feeling discombobulated. And I won’t get into any spoilers, but I have to say I hated the ending, I thought it was such a cop-out.

Thanks so much Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for this advanced listening copy! I’d recommend this one, even given the parts I didn’t love, and it’s still a 4⭐️ read for me!

Overall, if you’re looking for a gothic horror read with a summer setting to cap off your August and get you ready for that September academic vibe, this is the one for you!

Content Warnings

oracle_of_madness's review against another edition

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5.0

Catriona Ward is one of my favorite horror authors and maybe a general favorite overall. I feel like horror usually fits on a single plane that encompasses the different aspects of the genre. However, Ward seems to have created her own unique plane for her horror stories that really distinguishes her style from anyone else.

This story is not just horror. It pulled me in and touched every nerve, giving me such a full picture that I couldn't help but feel intense attachment to these characters. I really thought I understood where this story was going. I felt like I understood its route and destination, but I was not even close. By the end of this book, I was in pieces realizing just how brilliant and unpredictable this story is.

This is about three friends and what happens when they realize that their seemingly magical summer town is home to a serial killer and where this leads them throughout life.

Highly recommend this one!

Out August 8, 2023!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!!

Content Warnings

emilycmarshman's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Catriona Ward has quickly become one of my favorite living writers. She has mastered such a specific atmosphere throughout her books (at least the two that I have read) that hangs over you like a haze, even after you’ve finished. When I read Sundial earlier this summer, I had a hard time forgetting the way that it made me feel. Even now that dread sits in my chest, and Looking Glass Sound has made me feel no differently.

This was comped, at least to me, as Stand by Me meets Shirley Jackson, and I’d be remiss not to confirm this comparison is correct. Wilder is sixteen when his parents first bring him to Whistler Bay, to the cottage that his uncle lived in up until he died, and he’s determined that that summer, he’ll get a girlfriend, and he’ll write every day. Then he meets Nat and Harper, a local fisherman’s son and a rich British girl who summers in Maine, and his plans fall askew – in more ways than you can possibly imagine. Women are disappearing, and have for as long as everyone can remember, and there’s someone slipping into children’s rooms in the night to do nothing more than photograph them with a knife against their sleeping necks, but nonetheless, and rightfully so, people are frightened. It all comes to a head the summer before Wilder is meant to head off to college, and what happens will linger in his life until the end of it.

I love how many different narratives Ward is always able to weave together. You think you know exactly what’s going on, but she’s always one step ahead, and when she finally reveals to you how all of these stories align, it’s like you never actually understood what was happening at all. This could get confusing at times, but I was never lost for too long, and I came to understand that when I was lost, it was because Ward wanted me to be. And that ending! This is my favorite Catriona Ward novel so far, and I can’t wait to delve further into her backlog.

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