The Last House on Needless Street

Catriona Ward

Sept 2021 · Macmillan Audio · Narrated by Christopher Ragland

About this audiobook

"The buzz...is real. I've read it and was blown away. It's a true nerve-shredder that keeps its mind-blowing secrets to the very end." - Stephen King

"Christopher Ragland delivers a story featuring three unreliable narrators, all keeping secrets . . . Ragland's story is a discomforting listen that is difficult to pause." - AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award winning review

A World Fantasy Award and August Derleth Award Finalist!
An Indie Next Pick! A LibraryReads Top 10 Pick!
A Library Journal Editors' Pick! STARRED reviews from Library Journal and Publishers Weekly!
Named one of the "50 Best Horror Books of All Time" by Esquire!

"Brilliant....[a] deeply frightening deconstruction of the illusion of the self." —The New York Times

Catriona Ward's The Last House on Needless Street is a shocking and immersive read perfect for fans of Gone Girl and The Haunting of Hill House.

In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three.

A teenage girl who isn’t allowed outside, not after last time.
A man who drinks alone in front of his TV, trying to ignore the gaps in his memory.
And a house cat who loves napping and reading the Bible.

An unspeakable secret binds them together, but when a new neighbor moves in next door, what is buried out among the birch trees may come back to haunt them all.

“The new face of literary dark fiction.” —Sarah Pinborough

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Nightfire

Ratings and reviews

The actual reading of the book was wonderful. The beginning was phenomenal. It kept me engaged and wanting to hear more, but it kind of let me down in a way later on. Just an okay listen, could have been better.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS - - - - - - - - - - respect the closing statement of the author and glad it was included in the audiobook. I think the format of the book could be improved regarding how trauma was described/depicted, but it's a surprisingly big step forward for DID rep. there is no twist if you come into the book with any knowledge about DID, but I'm extremely glad to not have had to drag myself through another demonizing narrative about an extremely marginalized group of people. I would have enjoyed the book more had the reveal come sooner and Ted et al's journey toward healing could take up more of the book honestly.

It was beautiful! So many twists and turns that I never expected. The book leads you down many different paths to the truth, from making me believe one thing is true, to making me believe something totally opposite in one chapter. The ending truly shocked me and I loved the way it ended. I made predictions on what is the truth, and what is just ted's imagination, and I was almost always wrong. I couldn't recommend this audiobook enough if you're thinking about listening!

About the author

CATRIONA WARD was born in Washington, DC and grew up in the United States, Kenya, Madagascar, Yemen, and Morocco. She studied English at Oxford and later the Creative Writing Masters at the University of East Anglia. Her second novel Little Eve won the 2019 Shirley Jackson Award and the August Derleth Prize at the British Fantasy Awards. Her debut The Girl from Rawblood also won the 2016 August Derleth Prize, making her the first and only woman to win the prize twice. Her short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies. She divides her time between London and the remote English moors.