The Last House on Needless Street - Catriona Ward

AUTHOR: Catriona Ward

NARRATOR: Christopher Ragland

GENRE: Psychological Horror

RATING: 4.5 stars.

More than 24 hours later, and I am still caught in the tentacles of this book! It is so weird, and yet it is so well-written!

There’s a saying in Hindi that goes, “Jo dikhta hai, wo hota nahi hai, aur jo hota hai, wo dikhta nahi hai.” Translated to English, it means, “What is seen has not happened, and what is happening is not seen.” That’s the book! Whatever story summary I write, you can be sure that it isn’t exactly what the book is about.

So! Here’s all you need to know:

1. You will meet four main characters through the first person perspective: Ted, Lauren, Olivia, and Dee. Not giving any character insights except that Olivia is a cat.

2. Each of the characters has a strong and distinct yet weird personality. My personal favourite was Olivia, the Bible-quoting, self-righteous cat who wants to follow “The Lord”. 😂😂😂😂 Her portrayal, right from her hatred of dogs to her loyalty to Ted, was brilliant! Her best line from the book: “The trick to life is, if you don't like what is happening, go back to sleep until it stops.” I wish, Olivia, how I wish!

3. The start of the book is terribly slow and feels like all the characters are just rambling. Pay careful attention because within each one’s words lie a multitude of clues that make sense only towards the end.

4. There are some really gruesome descriptions of abuse. Those with a high degree of sensitivity, consider yourself warned.

5. You might have heard of unreliable narrators. Well, here everything is unreliable: the narrators, the events, the entire plot! You might assume that the author has gone overboard in her attempt, but it’s quite the opposite. I, who was utterly lost until about halfway into the book, could guess one, yup, just one of the mind-boggling twists! (Actually, I was feeling quite proud of myself for having guessed that. Turns out, it was only the first in a long series of turnarounds. Ouch, my punctured ego!)

6. There were plenty of confusing titbits that kept coming up in the story. After a point, I started noting down the oddities under each character’s name because there were too many things to keep track of. By the end, everything was clarified.

I can’t reveal much more because everything else would be a spoiler. What I will offer you instead is proof of how weird and complicated the book gets. This was me with my audiobook:

↳ Reached 17%. Went back to 0% and restarted.

↳ Reached 30%. Went back to 0% and restarted.

↳ Reached 67%. Went back to 30% and continued from that point.

↳ Reached 80%. Went back to 55% and continued from that point.

↳ Finally reached 100%. Phew!

At 12 hours, the audiobook isn’t tedious. But the plot content is such that you need to pay attention to everything, else you might feel lost. So am I asking you to stay away from the audiobook? Au contraire! It is narrated by Christopher Ragland, who seems to be part man, part woman, and part cat! Never have I heard such a fabulous narration by a male narrator voicing a woman. The sound is so natural rather that weirdly nasal high-pitched voice other narrators use. And his meows and mrows could give stiff competition to an actual cat! If you aren’t confident of relying on the audio version alone, you could try immersion reading, combining actual reading with listening. That would be perfect for this book.

I enjoyed this strange story also because of author Catriona Ward’s writing skills. Very few authors could have pulled off what she did in this book. It is impeccable plot development, where the threads seem so scattered and yet they weave themselves into a startling tapestry by the end.

I am not sure how I would have rated this had I read this, because I have a feeling I would have been bored by the slow-paced start and the extensive character monologues. But having heard the audio version and being blown away by the plot, I will go with 4.5 stars. To use another Hindi phrase, this was a "paisa-vasool" (worth your money) experience.