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.

“The new face of literary dark fiction.” —Sarah Pinborough, New York Times bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes

“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

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.

Get the reading group guide here.

CATRIONA WARD was born in Washington, DC, and grew up in the United States, Kenya, Madagascar, Yemen, and Morocco. She studied English at the University of Oxford, and later, completed a Creative Writing Masters at the University of East Anglia. Ward won the August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel for her debut, The Girl from Rawblood, and again for Little Eve, making her the first woman to win the prize twice. Little Eve, which also won the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel, will be published by Nightfire.

Cover art by Corey Brickley
Cover design by Katie Klimowicz

Praise for The Last House on Needless Street

“The buzz building around Catriona Ward’s The Last House on Needless Street 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. Haven’t read anything this exciting since Gone Girl.” —Stephen King

“A chilling and beautiful masterpiece of suspense, cunningly plotted and written with the elegant imagination of a Shirley Jackson or a Sarah Waters. I was completely enthralled.” —Joe Hill, New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman

“A breathtakingly ambitious book, gorgeously written, and never once shies away from showing you its fangs and its beautiful, blood-filled heart. Stop reading this blurb already and open the damn book.” —Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts

“Brilliant. Breathtaking. Terrifying. A masterpiece to read at your own peril.” —Alma Katsu, author of The Hunger

“The new face of literary dark fiction.” —Sarah Pinborough, New York Times bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes

“Brilliant. One of the best novels I’ve read in a long, long time… It’s a fucking masterpiece…. A perfect horror novel, but not in the way you expect. Good God — it lives up to the buzz. It’s stunningly good.” —Alex North, author of The Whisper Man

“A brutal, twisty, puzzle box of a book. I stayed up way past my bedtime.” —T. Kingfisher, author of The Hollow Places

“Absolutely brilliant. This is extraordinary, high-wire-act horror, audacious as hell.” —Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Red Hands

“As mad as a snake but all the better for it. A story that slinks deeply into uncomfortable places in the tradition of Fowles’ The Collector. An enigmatic story of trauma.” —Adam Nevill, author of The Ritual

“I loved The Last House on Needless Street … It surprised the hell out of me in countless ways, and it’s so beautifully written and conceived. Already a firm contender for book of the year 2021.”—Tim Lebbon, New York Times bestselling author of Eden

“THIS IS THE BEST HORROR NOVEL I HAVE EVER READ. Even Shirley Jackson, her Majesty, would have to concede to this one.” —Natasha Pulley, author of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street

“Incredible. Just incredible. Throughout, I didn’t know where to put my heart. A breathtaking, fiercely beautiful novel.” —Rio Youers, author of Halcyon

“Books like this don’t come around too often… I would say I inhaled this in one, but I think I was too busy holding my breath throughout. Bravo.” —Joanne Harris, New York Times bestselling author of The Gospel of Loki