The Last House on Needless Street

Gave up at 47%.

I am sure this was a good book, but I couldn't get through it with the writing style and I had to DNF it.

dnf @ 34%

i honestly forgot i was reading this book and just decided to dnf because i don't think finishing this will be worth it tbh

The purpose is to fog the mind almost as if you are drugged and can't make sense of reality. As the fog clears and things come together you the reader are changed and not alone.
This was an interesting ride and left its mark as intended. I am not clear on who the Bug Man was though. My only lingering question.

Couldn't get into it. Compliment the author for doing something experimental and unique. No insult towards the author in that regard. Just not my kind of book.

Absolutely lived up to the hype. A sensitive story of survival that sneaks up on you after 200 pages of tense horror. So glad I wasn’t spoiled—each successive reveal worked so beautifully. Need to read everything by Ward ASAP.

this is going to keep me up tonight

Quit around 15%

4 ★
this book was so hard to read because you're so confused all the time, and i felt like i've been too busy to fully commit to it, so it was hard to keep reading. but i'm so glad i did. up until halfway through i was reading a chapter every 2 days and i was starting to feel so demotivated cause i couldn't keep up with what was happening, but once i finally got more time and dived into this, it changed everything. i'm not gonna refer to what happens as a “twist” because really it's always been there and i wondered if it really was that sometimes, but it's only after a long while that you get the answers, and it's so amazing. once everything falls into place and you finally start to understand what was happening this entire time, the frustration of not knowing and not understanding dissipates and it all becomes worth it.

Although “The House on Needless Street” is billed as a horror novel a la Stephen King, I submit that it's more of a psychological thriller.

Catriona Ward does a nice job switching points of view between characters and packs enough suspense in each, short chapter to keep the reader paging on.

About a third of the way through, I guessed at most of the twist, but that could be because I watched and studied the movie “Sybil” back in high school psychology class. Dee's backstory and end were a surprise and somewhat disappointing.

Ultimately, this was a good fall read for shorter days as we edge into spooky season.

I thought this had great twists and a unique perspective on some common themes. Definitely worth the read!

I loved this book. It was the perfect one to get back into reading for pleasure. Such a page turner!

I can't even begin to describe how much this book affected me- in a good way. I've never wanted to bawl so much reading a book in my life. Just read it.

there was a lot about this that i didn't enjoy but there were parts of it that i did so that just averages out to a middle of the road book. 

Well, I feel like it would've been a better story for me if I hadn't remembered the plot from The Ward (unfortunately, an Amber Heard movie). As soon as we learned about Lauren and Olivia, I knew it was the same situation so nothing surprised me after that.

The stream-of-consciousness writing style made this so dense and slow to read and for the first time, I got the audiobook because I just couldn't sit through it anymore. Not only was the slow, detailed narration making it miserable to read through, the audiobook was just barely tolerable on 3 X speed.

The only reason I sat through it was because I hoped I hadn't figured out the final twist. Sure enough, I did. Not only that but man, did it drag. Like, get to the point. I knew all this 100 pages ago.

I DNFed this one the first time I picked it up. Not sure why I decided to revisit it but at this point I need to come to terms with the fact that I really don't vibe with Ward's writing style. This was way too long for me and by the time the “twist” arrived I no longer really cared because I wanted it to be over.
No rating, it's really just not for me.

Wow. That was an emotional rollercoaster. I couldn't put this one down! My anxiety and confusion wouldn't let me. I think I burned some calories with how fast my heart rate was going.

Weird prose from a cat point of view along with an odd obsession with it.  Almost 100 pages in and not sure of the main plot.  What is this House in the title?  The trigger event or the center of the mystery brings the side stories together at 1/3 mark for major clarity through the second act and it is readable all the way through. Once things are are more linear around page 200, a few twists and turns do connects some dots and land well, too. The last 50-75 pages are a little odd when the writer fills in some last-minute backstory and wasn't entirely clear what had happened and where it left us.  

3.5 ⭐️

I wish the cover didn't make this seem like a haunted house book, because it's really more of a psychological thriller type horror. I was wrapped up in this start-to-finish and the tension was absolutely immaculate. I spent so much of this so confused but when things started fitting together I was like [leo pointing meme] so many times. Sad and disturbing and devastating.

That was... a rollercoaster.

I have complex feelings about this one. I really liked it until I didn???t.
I wish authors would stop making mental illness a plot twist, but I don???t think the intentions were bad. Need to sit on this one for a while.

I stayed interested, but found the twists, at least for the most part, to be too telegraphed. I just didn't form the connections necessary to truly be vested in the big reveals and the ultimate conclusion.

Rating: 4.9 leaves out of 5Characters: 5/5 Cover: 4.5/5Story: 5/5Writing: 5/5Genre: Horror/Thriller/MysteryType: AudiobookWorth?: YesHated Disliked It Was Okay Liked Really Liked Loved FavoritedWow... okay so... for a good chunk of the book I was pretty meh about it. It was a slow burn but pretty atmospheric. I don't want to give too much away because going in blindly is what you need to do. I gave it 5 stars because... wow.

I adored this book. Probably one of my favorites of the year. It was so phenomenally done and there were so many twists that I did not see coming. 
There were times where I was scared, time where I felt sad, times I felt confused. My emotions were all over the place. I just can't get over how good this was. I was NOT expecting to love this as much as I did. 

Pleasantly surprised by this one! It felt like a really thoughtful and compassionate twist on a theme that's commonly used in a really ableist and oversimplified way. And regardless of the twist, the book stands as a compelling thriller.