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

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I didn’t know anything about this book until reading it, other than it’s often highly recommended in online horror lit circles. I enjoyed it, while some parts had me rolling my eyes. It has horror elements, but I’m not sure I’d categorize this as horror. It’s more like a spiritually broken cozy mystery. (I’m probably saying that because of the cats.) Overall, I enjoyed the writer’s style, and gobbled up the book in a few days.

I did realize quickly that Ted has DID, and when I would read an alter’s segment I couldn’t help but imagine Ted going through all the motions. I didn’t think that I was being tricked as a reader, and some of these things are obvious; Sentences one character thinks/speaks are often slightly reworded and then thought/said by another character. Also, the rug shows up too often for the reader to not notice that it keeps changing color, and for some reason that color change is being used to indicate the underlying mental health issue. The author’s afterword explains why the book progresses the way it does. She had anticipated backlash about using DID as a horror trope, but it didn’t keep her from revisiting that very trope.