A review by lilias
The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

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

4.25

I absolutely hated the first 50 or so pages of this book, and I almost quit reading it, which I almost never do. But somewhere around that 50th page, I started to want to know what was going to happen and how it would unfold. Then, maybe 50 pages after that, I realized I did not want to stop reading and that I would finish this book before the day was over. 

The first 50 or so pages of this book just seemed full of misplaced whimsy and weirdness. I don’t like it when something, a book or a film, goes out of its way to be weird just for the sake of being weird. But nothing grabs my attention like a mystery. And when little reveals started to peel away the silly veneer that was, when it came down to it, author Catronia Ward speaking in (infuriating) riddles, I was hooked. I wish I had been so invested in the entire book, but, still, this was a really good reading experience for me, overall.

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