‘An ordinary house at the end of an ordinary street...’
I’ve become lazy with my reading. I still do plenty of it, but my previous system of one for me, one for them (meaning something that I genuinely want to read followed by a classic) has long since fallen by the wayside. One consequence of studying and teaching English Literature is that you end up embroiled with the classics whether you like it or not. Dickens haunts me. Shakespeare is never far from my thoughts. This has led to my personal choice of reading materials becoming more and more niche. Just as I have traditionally mostly watched horror films over all other genres, I now am mostly reading horror literature too. What’s wrong with me?
I often offer up a vague plot synopsis based on the belief that some stories are more powerful the less you know about them going in. The Last House on Needless Street is perhaps the most pertinent example of this. Strange things are afoot on Needless Street. That’s all anyone needs to know before entering the world of Ted and his various houseguests.
I was completely unaware of American horror novelist Catriona Ward before picking up The Last House on Needless Street but the plethora of positive reviews that her third novel received led me to pre-order the damn thing before it had even been officially released – something that is absolutely unheard of for me. I’m not too au fait with the world of literature so it normally takes me a year or so to become aware of the latest literary sensation. It was refreshing to get in on the ground floor with this novel and I’m glad I did, because when this is inevitably made into a feature film, I can adopt that smug air that people indulge in when they think they have found something first.
Ward’s novel mashes together a number of different genres (gothic horror, psychological horror, serial killers, unreliable narrators etc etc) to create something quite extraordinary. As the labyrinthine plot slowly reveals itself through Ward’s mesmerising but deceptively simple prose, there were moments that literally left me mouth agape, blinking wildly into the abyss. This book also gave me absolutely hideous nightmares which is always a sure sign of a successful horror novel.
The Last House on Needless Street creates a gruesomely unique whole out of all too familiar moving parts. A spine-chilling, cruel novel that will you stay with you long after the unforgettable conclusion.