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A review by belchie324
Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward
5.0
Catriona Ward might be one of the best fiction authors in the business right now. These past couple years have brought some of her best work, and she's basically just getting started. Last House on Needless Street was a stunning fucking ride, and Sundial was a shotgun blast to the face. Looking Glass Sound? Holy mother of fucking god. This one is a metafiction masterpiece. It's a nuclear fucking bomb of a book man.
The first and second acts of this book feel fairly straightforward for Ward, and for a second I was beginning to wonder if this was going to fall flat or not. I can say without a doubt the third act of this is one of the best third acts of any thriller novel I've ever fucking read. The walloping slams each twist and reveal hammer the reader with eye opening moment after eye opening moment. The last three or four chapters of Looking Glass Sound had me feeling so wholly enraptured. The end of this book had me feeling so totally consumed, like this book chewed me up and spat me out.
I do think this book is overly convoluted at times. I struggled to keep up at times, but I also think that comes with the challenging nature of metafiction for me personally. This book isn't going to be for everyone, it's a little challenging in how much it asks the reader to trust in the end destination. If you've read these newer Ward instalments and really enjoyed the rollercoaster-esque feel of them, then you'll have a grand time with this one. The true test for these books from Catriona is if they will continue to hold up on future re-reads, because there is certainly a heavy element of shock and awe to all of her books that may not always hold on a subsequent read throughs. The point stands though. This is easily Catriona Ward's best work so far, and I'm so excited to see what she does next man. I'm waiting with baited breath!
The first and second acts of this book feel fairly straightforward for Ward, and for a second I was beginning to wonder if this was going to fall flat or not. I can say without a doubt the third act of this is one of the best third acts of any thriller novel I've ever fucking read. The walloping slams each twist and reveal hammer the reader with eye opening moment after eye opening moment. The last three or four chapters of Looking Glass Sound had me feeling so wholly enraptured. The end of this book had me feeling so totally consumed, like this book chewed me up and spat me out.
I do think this book is overly convoluted at times. I struggled to keep up at times, but I also think that comes with the challenging nature of metafiction for me personally. This book isn't going to be for everyone, it's a little challenging in how much it asks the reader to trust in the end destination. If you've read these newer Ward instalments and really enjoyed the rollercoaster-esque feel of them, then you'll have a grand time with this one. The true test for these books from Catriona is if they will continue to hold up on future re-reads, because there is certainly a heavy element of shock and awe to all of her books that may not always hold on a subsequent read throughs. The point stands though. This is easily Catriona Ward's best work so far, and I'm so excited to see what she does next man. I'm waiting with baited breath!