In 2010, architect Kayla Carter is visited by Ann Smith, a “sixty-five or seventy”-year-old woman in mirrored sunglasses, who comes to her office seemingly intent on scaring her. This is a novel of alternating timelines, each unspooling in or near Round Hill, a small town in North Carolina. If you would like to read the book, you can find it here.įor more reviews head over to my instagram page for daily updates.Chamberlain’s tale of mid-1960s freedom fighters intersects with contemporary tragedy. Due to some complexities, the novel has been considered to fit the horror genre, however if you like psychological thrillers, I would urge you to consider a jump into this book, as it provides areas accomodating both genres.

Regardless of a like or dislike for this book, it cannot be ignored that Catriona Ward’s writing is gripping and well-considered on a topic so delicate. The Last House on Needless Street may leave you with challenging views and conflicting opinions. In some areas Ward’s novel echoes the loneliness of the creature in Shelley’s Frankenstein, who seeks affection but is afraid of the outcome. Throughout the novel we learn of Ted’s loneliness and the depths he’s willing to go for companionship.

This novel has many twists with many secrets unfolding like a spring flower ready to bloom. Not only do these narratives help us uncover what has happened to Little Girl with Popsicle, but their distinct voices and attitudes highlight Catriona Ward’s talent for characterisation.īefore reading The Last House on Needless Street, you must banish all predictions and assumptions of the novel you’re expecting to read and focus on the book in the present. Each POV is pivotal to the mystery of the missing girl by the lake. The narrative follows four POV, Ted, Lauren, Olivia and Dee, through the form of chapters. Eleven years later and Ted is still perceived to be the prime suspect in the case.

Ted Bannerman was always a prime suspect in the case but was never arrested. The plot focuses on the disappearance of Lulu, also known as Little Girl with Popsicle, eleven years ago at a lake near Ted Bannerman’s house. However what happens in this street is anything but ordinary. The Last House on Needless Street takes place in an ordinary house on an ordinary street. The Last House on Needless Street, Catriona Ward, Hardback, 400 pages, Profile Books Ltd, Waterstones, £7.49

The last house on the street review