Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

La casa al final de Needless Street by Catriona Ward

51 reviews

travelseatsreads's review against another edition

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 From the very first page of this book an incredible building sense of unease began crawling up my skin. I think it’s one of the few books to ever give me that physical goose-bump reaction. The initial disjointed train of thought of Ted and the sinister uneasiness that went with it gripped me and did not let me go. Straight away I knew there was something seriously off and that this was going to be a chilling bumpy ride.

It's told from multiple POV’s and every single one of them worked flawlessly and are central to the evolving storyline. Olivia the cat (yes there’s chapters from a cat) was sublime, she literally purred from the pages and her clever wit and queenish attitude was magical. Lauren was also a fantastic character that carried that sinister element so perfectly, one minute sweetness and light but then bang the hairs on the back of my neck would stand up.

It’s hard to review TLHONS without spoiling it. Honestly, the magic of this book is the journey of reading it and discovering all the hidden underlying quirks, characters and even your own prejudice.

I did not want to put this down for a second so I switched between my physical copy and my kindle so that I could grab it every second I had spare. This book is phenomenally well written and I had an immediate connection with every single character, albeit a negative one at times. It’s a long time since I was so invested in a story and felt completely compelled to find out what happened to everyone in it. This book will stay with me for a long time and is one of very few that I may actually go back and reread at some point.

Please DM me if you’ve read it and want to discuss the plot, I just don’t want to ruin it for anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Death of parent

theliteraryhooker's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Going to need to think on this one, but what an amazing ride that was! I was intrigued from the very start and read the last half of the book in a single sitting. I don't want to discuss the plot at all because this is one where going in blind is definitely the way to do it, but just know that it's been a LONG time since a book has gripped me like this!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Death of parent

klitanightfuryreads's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I’m happy to start the year with such a strong book. I loved the book since the first Olivia chapter..

It was a rollercoaster that I didn’t want to end, I could easily read a second book about it. I thought I had it figured it out at first, then changed my mind, then everything was upside down and then everything made sense…

I may come back and write a more detailed reviewed later but right now I’m still processing and enjoying what happened…

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

biblio_jordyn's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What. The. Fuck.

That’s how I felt about this book in the best way possible.

It was dark.

It was suspenseful.

It had twists I didn’t see coming.

ALSO! GET THIS…
Unlike, most thrillers this unreliable narrator was a man, so I was living for that, also there’s a cat POV so…I mean, could it get any better?

My most common complaint on thrillers is “it’s not dark enough…” WELL THIS ONE WAS ALL THE DARK EFFED UPNESS and I was here for it.

I can’t say much more without giving it away! But, if you can handle the triggers? I would definitely put this on your radar!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, and Kidnapping

rorikae's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

'The Last House on Needless Street' by Catriona Ward is a mystery thriller chock full of twists and turns that kept me hooked. 
The story centers on the titular house and its inhabitants, which include a man dealing with flashbacks to his past, a young girl who rides around on her bike, and a cat that reads the Bible. A neighbor moves in trying to solve a years old mystery that she thinks those in the house may be involved in. The more that the story pries into the mystery at its heart, the more the expected story begins to unravel. 
Ward does an exceptional job of building expectations and then slowly unwinding them. Every time that I thought that I understood exactly what was happening, further pieces began to be revealed that would turn my understanding on its head. This is an incredibly hard story due to the subject matter. There are strong content warnings for child abuse, murder, and mental illness. I encourage anyone interested in this book to look those up so that you will be prepared going in. 
One of the strongest parts of this story is how Ward creates complicated characters but makes you care deeply for them despite their flaws. Every character has their own issues that they are dealing with and Ward explores these in-depth. I think in another writer's hands this story could be very harmful but Ward does a great job of making these characters feel fully fleshed out. 
I will say that I expected this story to have more of a speculative slant than it does. In some stories, this may have dampened my experience but Ward did such a good job with the story that it was thoroughly enjoyable even though it was different than my expectations.
I am interested in what Ward will write next as I have a lot of confidence in her storytelling abilities.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

jerusha's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Murder

hillarydanielle's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Loved the cat’s character, hilarious concept. A few hard to read scenes concerning animal death and abuse.
Would recommend for fans of I’m think of Ending Things. You will be confused as hell but you’ll keep reading on the edge of your seat to find out what’s happened, what’s going on, and what will happen next. If you haven’t read the author’s note after finishing the book I highly suggest it.

Was a bit disappointed that the big reveal surrounded a character with DID, similar to my disappointment with I’m Thinking of Ending Things. However the author did a fantastic job, I was constantly second guessing who each character really was, and was unsure if the cat and Lauren were in fact both girls, both cats, or a single entity. The way the author played with time also had me very confused and I was constantly waiting for a reveal that these things were all happening at different points in time. Especially with the mentioning of “the green boys” I was hoping for a more out-there ending. Overall some scenes were very hard to read from Olivia’s birth story to constant abuse flashbacks and the fact that Olivia was constantly starved by Ted’s neglect. The chest freezer was an absolute nightmare, the thought of boys decomposing and turning green in the attic, and the Misery imagery of broken feet. I was absolutely sucked in and while I think the author did a great job at what she set out to do, I was a bit disappointed in the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Lesbophobia

ak2190's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol

taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Homophobia, Self harm, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit

unphilosophize's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

 I did not enjoy this book. The story felt disjointed and like the author changed their mind what the book was about halfway through writing. One of the main characters was also severely undeveloped. The plot was fairly predictable.

I will never like a book that uses mental illness as a plot point.

A lot of folks talked about how they liked the afterward, and while I agree that it was an important thing to add it was poorly executed. I did not feel that her explanation really did justice to the diagnosis that she chose to exploit in her book, nor did it really talk about the controversy around that diagnosis in a good way.

Overall extremely disappointing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent