himpersonal 's review for:

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

4.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I know this book is considered horror, but I think it’s more accurate to call it psychological. Reminds me of how I felt watching Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Ted is a character for whom I’ll have infinite compassion. Dee, less so, but she too could benefit from kindness and therapy. I feel so deeply and heavily sorry for Ted. This may be the best fictional work I’ve read on dissociative identity disorder (not that I've read a lot, given there aren't actually a lot of books about it, but of those I've read...). It’s a rare disorder but one that those who suffer from it could be greatly helped if we had more books about it, both fictional and scientific.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail