The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

Synopsis (via Goodreads): This is the story of a serial killer. A stolen child. Revenge. Death. And an ordinary house at the end of an ordinary street.

All these things are true. And yet they are all lies...

You think you know what's inside the last house on Needless Street. You think you've read this story before. That's where you're wrong.

In the dark forest at the end of Needless Street, lies something buried. But it's not what you think...

Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Any quotes I use are from an unpublished copy and may not reflect the finished product.

Okay, so I'm going to try to review this one without giving anything away! Books like The Last House on Needless Street only work if you go into them without any prior knowledge, which makes it hard to write in-depth reviews for them. 

These were my two Goodreads updates: 

1) Struggling with this one. I'm not sure I like the cat's perspective and find her love of God and the Bible a little odd. I wish we'd been given an explanation for it, or how she learned how to read, but we simply see her "accepting God's message" for her. It's weird because she's a cat, but she also has very human thoughts.

2) This book is making me feel crazy. I always notice inconsistencies in books, but I think the conflicting information in this book is intentional. It's just AHHHH. I don't know what they mean, or why they're there. This is mind-fuckery at its best.

I think they sum up my experience with this book perfectly. Initially, I was hesitant and considering DNFing it after a few pages, but all the reviews I read said you need to give it a few chapters to get going. I'm so glad I did! The cat's perspective grew on me, and I found myself looking for clues and trying to solve the story's mystery. Friends, I wasn't even close. 

There is so much happening in this book, yet it never felt overwhelming or rushed. We learn more about Ted, Lauren, Olivia, and even Dee (the sister of the girl who went missing). They were all very interesting characters that I really enjoyed reading about after a while. I found myself wanting to know more about them and what had happened in their lives, because it was obvious something had happened. They were all incredibly unique and thoroughly fleshed out characters, and I think the author did a great job of maintaining the mystery while developing their individual personalities. It was wonderfully written and completely captured my attention once I found my flow with the story.

Everyone was a suspect in my mind, and everything was suspicious. I didn't know who or what to trust, especially when the author kept changing small details for seemingly no reason. At first I thought it was a mistake, but then it kept happening. It made me feel crazy, and I desperately wanted to know the reason for the inconsistencies. I knew there had to be one, but I wasn't sure what it was. 

If you do decide to read this one, definitely give it about 50 pages before quitting. It's a little weird at first, but it does get better as the story progresses. You just have to get used to the different POVs! You also need to make sure you have a significant amount of time to read before starting this book, or you'll end up finishing it in the wee hours of the morning like me. Once I got to a certain point in the story, I knew I wouldn't be able to stop reading until I reached the end. (★★★★☆)

"A true nerve-shredder that keeps its mind-blowing secrets to the very end." ―Stephen King