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That’s not delivered here as a criticism, but rather a testimonial; Last House’s discordant world will linger in your mind, leaving you uneasy, whether you ultimately enjoy the book or not. Dee sets off to find Lulu, hallucinating as she goes deeper into the forest. She recalls the real events of the day at the lake.
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Without spoiling things, I wasn’t completely satisfied with the conclusion of the novel for the simple reason that a story should really only have one Norman Bates, and Last House has several, possibly stressing the limits of verisimilitude for some readers. Having multiple characters prove deeply unreliable as a result of their mental trauma feels like painting outside of the lines. It’s the kind of audacious triple-twist that I feel has been popular ever since Gillian Flynn rose to fame, though few authors, including Catriona Ward, do it quite as well.
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Despite having few settings and many developments which are only consequential as the darker corners of the narrative are exposed, it should prove a steady, engaging read that provokes a great deal of consideration in its wake. Just as the story is potentially growing still, it rises to a very satisfying final act that does a pretty solid job of resolving its admittedly daunting narrative. The heartbeat of The Last House on Needless Street is discordance.
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Thanks to this revelation, the police recover Lulu’s body and close the case. Ted lives in the shadow of his deceased mother’s influence, sometimes feeling her presence even though she is long dead. He visits a dubious psychologist, whom he calls the “bug man,” to try to help him deal with Lauren’s psychological conditions.
In the most basic sense, The Last House on Needless Street follows the story of Ted, a lonely man who lives in a boarded up house (on Needless Street, naturally) with his 12 year old daughter, Lauren, and his cat, Olivia. Children have been going missing at a nearby lake for some time and a woman named Dee, whose sister disappeared there some years prior, has convinced herself that Ted had something to do with it. For anyone who was willing and able to isolate during the pandemic, the setting of Last House on Needless Street will feel thematically familiar. The characters spend a great deal of time alone, rarely interacting with each other and typically contacting outsiders via the phone or in arranged meetings. It is very much a novel for our times, and this lends to its tension; any one of us could easily have wound up in another house on Needless Street, passing time no better than Ted and Dee do.
The Last House On Needless Street: Andy Serkis options Catriona Ward novel - JoBlo.com
The Last House On Needless Street: Andy Serkis options Catriona Ward novel.
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I experienced a monumental life event whilst reading Last House–the birth of my first child–and thus I did something I never do and read several reviews of the book before sitting down to write my own. I wanted to ensure I hadn’t missed some crucial detail, some pivotal element, some early plot point that my brain may not have absorbed during the wee hours spent sleepless on a hospital room’s couch under COVID quarantine. Never have I witnessed so many professional journalists collectively struggle to say something resonant about a book, to come up with an incisive thought that wasn’t some watered-down cliché or horror novel platitude. The Last House on Needless Street is a difficult title to digest, and I fear many readers will find it unsatisfying once they’ve swallowed (or purged, as may be the case) what lies between its covers.
The basement, which is filled with tunnels, is supposedly haunted by a couple of mobsters, at least one of whom also likes to visit the Comedy Store. “The Last House On Needless Street” prompts readers to contemplate the depths of the human psyche, the consequences of trauma, and the blurred lines between reality and imagination. The novel invites readers to interpret its events on multiple levels, leaving room for metaphorical interpretations that reflect deeper themes and messages.
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Catriona Ward: Learning to Fail LitReactor.
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Every character, setting, and arc is an askew, asymmetrical thing that shuffles at the edge of the reader’s perception showing a side that does not match its shadow. This is the unreliable narrator taken from element to thesis, and throughout my time with the novel I felt a deep discomfort which underpins all of the events that play out on the pages. When Ted falls asleep, Olivia manages to control her and Lauren’s body. She stabs Ted, only to discover that she and Lauren are other personalities inhabiting Ted’s body. The snakebite weakened her, but Dee is ready to take revenge. However, a little girl’s voice comes from Ted’s mouth, telling her that Ted is not a monster.
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Opening with a massacre, it intertwines the fates of two teenage girls – one the killer, one the survivor. The horror here arises from the sadistic control exerted by the damaged patriarch, who creates a toxic family that is also a prison. As soon as you crack open Catriona Ward's The Last House on Needless Street, you know something's very wrong. More than biting into a nice apple and finding a worm, this book is like unexpectedly stepping on the worm barefoot, only to find out the worm isn't a worm — and I mean that in the best way possible. Horror fiction can scare readers, make them anxious, or upset their stomachs, but the most powerful narratives in the genre manage to create an unshakable sense of unease, and that's exactly what this novel does.
To be fair, it was probably always going to be difficult to know precisely how to classify a story that heavily features a very religious talking gay cat, and that’s before you get to the potential kidnappings and possible serial murder of it all.
Ward is a talented storyteller, and she shows that here. “It would be a bad book if I wasn’t afraid of it,” she says, explaining that there’s actually an important emotional element involved in telling and reading stories about our fears, of both the real and the fictional variety. While the novel blurs the boundaries between reality and the supernatural, the haunting nature of the house is left open to interpretation, adding to the overall sense of unease.
With its release in 2024, readers were left in awe as they delved into the mysterious world within the last house on a seemingly ordinary street. In this article, we will explore the enigmatic ending of the novel, shedding light on its twists and turns. Additionally, we will present eight interesting facts about the book to further intrigue you.
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