The Last House on Needless Street

Starred review from May 3, 2021
Ward (Rawblood) keeps readers deliciously off-balance throughout this multifaceted tale of isolation, mental illness, and child abuse. Ted Bannerman still lives in the house he grew up in, and often spirals through upsetting thoughts about his childhood while obsessing over the things he’s buried in the nearby woods. His companions are Lauren, a teenage girl with anger issues who Ted refers to as his daughter and whom he does not allow to interact with anyone but himself, and Olivia, a devoted cat who feels she has a mission from God to protect Ted. His only confidant is the “bug man,” a therapist from whom he struggles to hide his true feelings. When Dee Walters becomes convinced that Ted kidnapped her little sister from the beach 11 years earlier, she moves in next door to investigate, throwing off Ted’s routines. Meanwhile, Lauren’s anger becomes increasingly difficult for Ted to manage. There’s a creeping sense of something off with every member of the cast, even as Ward immerses the reader in each of their hyperfocused points-of-view. Subtle clues scattered throughout make terrifying sense in retrospect as the bigger picture slowly comes into focus. This masterful horror novel packs an emotional wallop that lingers.

Starred review from June 1, 2021

Ted lives at the end of the forebodingly named Needless Street, in a house with boarded-up windows at the edge of a forest. There he hosts visits with his daughter and tries hard to hold his life together by keeping to himself as much as possible. The novel opens, quite unsettlingly, on the anniversary of the disappearance of a young girl, a disappearance that Ted was initially suspected of causing. Ward's layered plot is slowly but compellingly unveiled, raising new questions at every turn. The multiple points of view, featuring vivid characters with honest but clearly incomplete narration, also draw us deeper into the various mysteries entangled within the central plot. The result is a stunning and immersive tale of psychological horror. It's terrifyingly real and physically upsetting, yet, like the best of the genre, it leaves space for hope to ultimately shine through. VERDICT Disguising itself as a straightforward serial killer story, this strikingly original work quickly evolves into a more special story. It will push readers to their limit, but also make them glad they stuck it out. It's a good match, in this way, to Stephen Graham Jones's My Heart Is a Chainsaw, Paul Tremblay's The Cabin at the End of the World, or Carmen Maria Machado's memoir In the Dream House.

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2021
Ward's latest novel follows the strange inhabitants of the titular, boarded-up house. There is Ted, a man who seems constantly in fear that people will figure out ""what he is"" and who frequently loses stretches of time. There's Lauren, Ted's daughter, who somehow comes and goes from the house but is also never allowed outside. And there's Olivia, Ted's cat, who reads the Bible, believes she was sent to this house to heal Ted, and loves the beautiful tabby next door. The carefully constructed life in the decrepit house begins to unravel when Dee, a woman convinced Ted kidnapped her sister 11 years ago, moves in next door. As Dee becomes more and more daring in her attempts to penetrate Ted's life, Ted's sense of reality and self begin to unravel. Ward ably handles the series of nested revelations of the truth about the house's inhabitants and how they connect to Ted's own childhood, all the while maintaining a propulsive, suspenseful tone. Recommended for anyone interested in horror with well-realized characters and a claustrophobic, intense setting.

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