Reviews with content warning for Torture - The Last House on Needless Street

wow. just wow. going into this book blind, i was in for a whirlwind. i thought i knew what the twist would be, and to some extent i was correct, but i was proven wrong again and again. ward has an absolutely brilliant way of stringing the story along and tying together all lose ends in ways that are partly scary, partly going to make you feel weird, but are ways that are complex and imaginative. but most of all, ward details this book in a way that is simply there, right before our very eyes from the beginning that makes it incredibly unique while also functioning on one of the most basic aspects of the horror classics that makes it so moving and just downright incredible. the afterward is incredibly powerful and, to some extent, left me very emotional (granted, i get emotional pretty easily, so that might not have been her intention). the twists and turns in the book will challenge everything you know about the story and it's overall message in ways that will forever remain impactful.

the one thing i really want to flag for those who have read the book is that i think ward put so much time into researching the effects of DID in ways that must be praised and celebrated. she took so much care into not making this one of those classic horror stories that come off offensive to actually craft a narrative that everyone can relate to at it's basic level: though we all seemingly strive for the good, sometimes the path of memory, acceptance, and forgiveness does not look linear for all, and that sometimes the very key to forgive ourselves and begin to live life and survive again looks like doing just that again and again and learning to celebrate and be angry at sometimes and just lean in. and that is perhaps the most beautiful message to put in a horror book especially.

as an avid nerd of the classics and dabbles into what defines the monstrous, this book borrows from so much of these classic authors and hallmark texts and really extracts the themes that make them work (i.e. religion, alienation, body horror, gender constructions, growing up, sexuality, the transcendental spaces of the woods and water, even down to the classic 'haunted house' trope, and so much more) while also developing an entirely unique product in the end that makes me happy i decided to pick up this horror book (as someone who doesn't really read horror) and makes me even more excited to see both what ward and other contemporary horror writers will do in the future. highly recommend!

Content Warnings

nicolesbookreviews's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

linlinlin's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A classic style, modern American horror/thriller novel that I almost put down in disgust at the first big twist. Keep reading though! (unless you're the kind of person who should probably avoid the horror section altogether) This is so cleverly written and had me flipping back and forth to figure things out; probably deserves to be read at least twice.

I have a loved one with DID so I was FURIOUS at the plot twist, ra ra I'm so sick of horror writers depicting mentally ill people as serial killers and villains etc when they're subject to so much violence. I'm really glad I stuck with it. My loved one didn't read it so I don't know what the DID perspective on it is, but I was really pleasantly surprised by the happy ending for Ted and the efforts to depict DID reasonably and accurately by Ward. A lot of the contents around DID was stuff I already knew but worth reading if you don't.

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