Happy belated Pub Day to LOOKING GLASS SOUND by @catward66 ! This beauty came into the world yesterday so it is on shelves already! Thank you to the author, @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for the audio ARC.

Ok I have read about 4 Catriona Ward books in the last 2 years. I have liked them all, but this might be my new favorite. This is a tragically beautiful coming of age story set in a coastal town full of dark folkloric stories.

When his family visits their new vacation home, Wilder meets bristley but charismatic Harper (also a summer visitor) and charming Nat, who lives in the normally sleepy town that turns into a tourist destination in the summer months. They play games and dare each other to do wild things until they find the body of what can only be one of The Dagger Man's latest victims. Their lives, and their friendships will never be the same...

💀💀💀

I absolutely loved the complicated characters in this story. I was compelled to continue the story by the mystery alone but the character development kept me going too. This story is a great example of how proximity to violence as a child can lead to psychological issues and other complications as they become adults.

I absolutely love the way that Ward's stories are all so different. Definitely an auto-buy author for me!

Have you read this or any of Ward's other titles? What did you think?

Have a great day our there bookbots!

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#bibliophile #booknerd #booksta #instabooks #catrionaward #macmillanaudio #netgalley #netgalleyreviewer #bookish

LOOKING GLASS SOUND
Catriona Ward

LOOKING GLASS SOUND is more about the journey than the destination. Ward takes the scenic route and I was along for the ride.

In LOOKING GLASS SOUND we are following Wilder. Wilder is an author who is haunted by the stories he holds, haunted by his past.

I contemplated breaking up with Catriona Ward if I didn’t like this book. We have a rocky relationship and although I always appreciate her wonder I don’t always see her vision. This makes for an oftentimes underwhelming reading experience.

I want more of some parts of her craft while wishing I had a little less of the eccentricities that go along with it.

By the end of the book I had made peace with the trajectory of the story, all the stops along the way, and most importantly I made peace with Catriona Ward and her writing.

I find myself even more of a fan.

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy!

LOOKING GLASS SOUND...⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Having previously read “The Last House on Needless Street” I am excited to read anything by Catriona Ward. This story was just as twisty, and mind-bending. As with her previous work, Ward is masterful in layering perspectives, and potential outcomes. Part coming of age story, part romantic love triangle, part thriller, there are lots of secrets that unravel as the novel progresses.

The struggle I had with this story was due to the complexity of character and plot; I had trouble following along at times while listening to the audiobook. The pacing was just a little off for me, and dragged at some parts of the story. Overall, I definitely would love to read more from this author.

I always loved Ward's writing, and Looking Glass Sound did not disappoint. I liked the concept of a book within a book, as it kept me on my toes in figuring out which story I was reading. Like Ward, the tension was up all throughout and I didn't see the ending coming.

This was my first Catriona Ward novel and I will definitely read her backlog. I am always instantly interested when there’s a New England setting in a book. I really loved the characters and the mystery surrounding the murders. I did feel like this book was a little too fast paced only because I kept feeling like I was missing some information. And it can also be a little much when there’s a book inside a book. But once I could keep everything straight, I really enjoyed the story.

The narration was pretty good too. The Boston accents were not great but thankfully there wasn’t too much of that.

Looking Glass Sound
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author: Catonia Ward

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley, Tor Publishing, and Macmillan Audio and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: In a lonely cottage overlooking the windswept Maine coast, Wilder Harlow begins the last book he will ever write. It is the story of his childhood summer companions and the killer that stalked the small New England town. Of the body they found, and the horror of that discovery echoing down the decades. And of Sky, Wilder’s one-time best friend, who stole his unfinished memoir and turned it into a lurid bestselling novel, Looking Glass Sound.

But as Wilder writes, the lines between memory and fiction blur. He fears he’s losing his grip on reality when he finds notes hidden around the cottage written in Sky’s signature green ink.

My Thoughts: Ward is known for mind bending fiction, as well as fiction within fiction and this latest novel does not disappoint. Wilder Harlow and his two close friends have the summer of their lives before Wilder’s parents divorced. Wilder is also working on a novel, which we get pieces of. This small town in Maine, also has a known serial killer, the Dagger Man of Whistler Bay. There are also a vast amount of women missing from this sleepy small town. Fast forward to Wilder’s college years when he is befriended by Skylar, does this friendship come at a cost? The cost of his novel that he has been working on for years? This coming of age story with ghastly horrors will have you second guessing your thought process.

This is a book within a book. Those are the hardest novels to write but Ward does it so well. There are two presenting mysteries here of the serial killer and the missing women. The characters were well developed with depth, mystery, and intriguing. The author’s writing style was complex, multifaceted, very twisty, mind bending, thought provoking, and suspenseful. You think the story is going in one direction, then boom it switches gears and throws your brain for a loop. Your brain 🧠 cells will get a workout in this novel. The terrors this novel outlines goes deeper than a slasher flick, the tragedies are more than a mire surface level, and the who, what and when will throw you for a loop over and over.

I had the pleasure of having both the digital book and audiobook. I think the audiobook was better, easier to follow along. The narrator chose for the audiobook was perfect, had amazing voice affliction, voice variation between characters, and really brought the characters and plot horror to life from the pages into your brain. This is a compelling, unique, unpredictable, tragic horror suspense novel that will keep you guessing until the very end. There are a vast amount of books that are one and done, you read once and it would not benefit you to read again. However, with this novel, I think it could be read over and over and each time, you would gain new insight into the mind of Ward. I would highly recommend picking up this book.

I loved this wild ride. You have to FOCUS when reading or listening to this one - so you gotta be in the right headspace. I don’t know how to describe this but this is the most insane thing I’ve read in a long time. There were moments where I thought that it was too out there but I should have trusted Catriona Ward would always bring us back to earth and somehow convince us what happened is logical and real. Whew this was kind of my biggest fear at the end, but damn I loved it. Lost 1 star because I was a little distracted and bored at times, but once I got to the last third, I could not stop listening. Lots of triggers so please be careful!

I both read and listened to the audiobook. The audiobook really helped me absorb the setting and class of the characters. It held me transfixed and I found it honestly, enchanting. I couldn't put it down. Catriona Ward knows how to spin a tale in a way that makes you know that something isn't quite right and yet, I never expect where her books will go. I enjoyed "Last House on Needless Street" and thought it was a studied and kind portrayal of an often mischaracterized illness.

Here, I knew something was off, but I really did not expect where this went at all. It felt like a cozy read that was speaking more deeply about narrative and stories within stories and who really controls the narrative. I loved the ending, but also felt confused and disoriented. Ward's writing style is perfectly plotted. She is playing with several storylines and expertly constructs in a way that I have never seen done so well.

I don't think I enjoyed reading the ending as much as I will enjoy seeing it made into an A24 movie. It is pure bait for some director looking to twist us up into a ball of mirrors.

The premise behind this book was oh so promising, and I rapidly consumed the first half. If it had kept to just that I would have loved it. But, half way through it takes a twist, and I struggled to stay invested in the story and the main character. He has nothing endearing to him, and it becomes a painful struggle to care about what happens to him.

I'm not sure what I was expecting from this one, but like the other 29384738974 reviews say, it's best to go in blind. I started out bored, grew more interested, and then left utterly confused. I'm not sure psychological horror is what I would label this, as I've read others that fit the bill perhaps a little more. If you're listening on audio, the accents are atrocious.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

I had such a good time with this book! I was drawn into this book almost immediately. The more that I read the more hooked I was until I reached the point that putting this book down was no longer an option. There were some pretty big twists and a few of those twists left me questioning everything that I thought I knew. I just couldn’t wait to see how all the pieces fit together!

The story opens with a teenage Wilder heading to his late uncle’s cottage on the Maine coast with his parents. He soon meets Harper and Nate who become his summer companions in the same town where a serial killer known as The Dagger Man has been active for years. After the ordeal of that summer, Wilder goes to college where he meets Sky and they become close until Sky steals Wilder’s unpublished memoir. Just when I thought I know what was going on, things would shift and I found myself to figure out what might happen next.

I listened to the audiobook and thought that Christopher Ragland and Katherine Fenton did a wonderful job with the narration. I thought that their voices worked very well together in this audiobook. I thought both narrators had very pleasant voices and I had no problem listening for hours at a time. I felt like they were able to expertly bring these characters to life and I am certain that their narration added to my overall enjoyment of the story.

I would definitely recommend this book to others. I found this to be a wonderful thriller that kept me hooked until the very end. This is the fourth book written by Catriona Ward that I have had a chance to read and I have enjoyed each of them immensely. I cannot wait to read more of her work!

I received a digital review copy of this book from Macmillan Audio and Tor Nightfire.

Review
Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward
Rating: 3.75/5 ⭐️

Looking Glass Sound is a mind-bending work of speculative fiction that left me feeling uneasy and confused. It is a huge story that includes murders, a love triangle, ghosts, witchcraft, campus vibes, coastal vibes, stolen identity, and fiction within fiction (within fiction). I’m still trying to work through it in my brain and I finished it weeks ago. I may not be the best candidate to review this story, but I was a huge fan of the author’s The Last House on Needless Street, so I requested and was granted an ARC of this audiobook on #netgalley.

Catriona Ward is maybe too smart for her own good and I’m in awe of how her brain even constructed the plot of this novel. The novel plays around with structure and I wonder if I’d have had an easier time understanding the metafiction aspect of it had I not listened to the audiobook — probably not.

On the other hand, I was really taken with the story of Wilder, Nat, and Harper and the STRONG sense of place Ward created with Whistler Bay. I enjoyed that part of the story so much — The Dagger Man, the Polaroids, the coastal Maine setting — it all felt like a warm hug from Stephen King. That being said, I was too confident. I thought I had it figured out by the 50% mark and boy, was I humbled.

The latter half of the book gives us lots of jumps in timeline and perspective, which largely contributes to all my head-scratching. The layers upon layers of plot were just too much for my brain. I think this may have been the wrong book at the wrong time for me… and in the wrong format.

Ward’s writing is impeccable. Her characters are complex and messy, romantic and tortured, and all the things that capture the human condition. Prose is effortless and easy to get completely lost in. My rating is a 3.75/5 ⭐️

For fans of:
*Meta fiction
*Stories sweeping decades
*Intricate plots
*Donna Tartt
*Stephen King

Many thanks to my friends at @tornightfire and @macmillan.audio for the #gifted copies of this book.

Complex. Weird. The perfect mix of confusion and satisfaction.

“It was me that was haunted, not the place.” -Ward in conversation at @politicsprose.

There’s a certain genius with which Ward writes horror. It’s never simplistic: mere violence and fear. Instead, it brims with a passionate intensity and steeps in perplexity, leaving the reader haunted by the writing itself.

And Ward’s newest may be her most haunting yet.

On the first summer holiday in the idyllic coastal town, Wilder is determined to find love. And he does. Those friendships of youth burgeon with a special intensity. But things change when the friends make a terrible discovery. And it will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

What opens as a coming-of-age tale swiftly shifts to a disturbing circular narrative. A story within a story within a story, blurring the lines between fact and fiction to create a horrifying sense of uncertainty.

This is a wildly ambitious plot, unpacking the traumatic effects of violence while pondering the authenticity of memory and storytelling. And on both accounts, Ward excelled.

While many felt the plot confusing and convoluted, that’s where I thought Ward’s narrative stood out. The meticulous layering (though necessarily befuddling at times) created an intimate and resounding portrait of trauma. It was a look within the mind of survivors, narrating the distortion and horror, unlike any I’ve read before.

The more I sit with this story, the more I appreciate it’s brilliance. I can’t wait to see what Ward does next!

🎧 You’re going to want a physical copy of this one, if for no other reason than to reread sections for clarity. But the audiobook is a great accompaniment. Full of emotion and nuance, I found myself lost in the voices created by narrators Christopher Ragland and Katherine Fenton.

I found this book engaging enough to finish and chock full of twists. However, the ending really left me unsatisfied and wanting more. This is the first I’ve read of this author and would certainly give another of her books a try but this one was just okay.

The audio narrator was fine no issues with them.

3 stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan audio for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for giving me access to this audiobook!
I will start by saying that I very much enjoyed this as a reading experience and a story. There was some very thoroughly thought-out character development and plotting throughout, and it is clear to me that the author must have made a very insane-looking map of her plan before writing the story.
I can't give many plot details about how the story unfolds because a lot of what happens is part of how all the twists land in the last quarter of the book.
I thought that the way the story is layered was quite complex, and required several points during the audiobook where I had to stop and go "huh??" and then listen to something again, to be sure I was grasping the meaning. This actually is why I rated this a 4 star instead of a 5 because I think I would have been more deeply impacted by some of what the author was trying to accomplish if I had been able to see the story on the page, as opposed to hearing it without seeing it. But the narrators of this audiobook did an excellent job! Kudos to them for creating the atmosphere of the novel and keeping it alive throughout.
This was a really fun read, and I would recommend it to any thriller or horror readers because the twists were great and actually shocking at times!

Unfortunately this didn't land for me. It's my least favorite out of Catriona Ward's novels, maybe a 2.5. Too ambitious, drawn out, took itself a little too seriously. Parts of this had me wondering if it was trying to be over the top? I don’t think it was. I did have fun reading this book until the big twists started. I can take a few twists but the end was just full of them. I know that this is what happens in a catriona ward book, but it was just a lot for really no reason. The gender swap reveal was especially questionable. I didn't understand the reasoning behind that choice. I'll still be checking out Ward's future novels as I enjoyed her other books, this just really missed the mark for me. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Initially, I found myself captivated by Catriona Ward's LOOKING GLASS SOUND, but my interest waned quite swiftly. The book commences as a memoir written by our main character, Wilder, detailing his childhood on the Maine coast. During this time, he forms relationships with two other teenagers and undergoes a series of disturbing events. However, the narrative then deviates to his college years, where he encounters a new character, Sky, before shifting once more, leading to a sense of bewilderment. The storyline is intricate and full of unforeseen turns that kept me on edge, but I found it challenging to stay fully engaged. This book would lend itself better to the spooky Autumnal season, rather than the beach read that I tried to force it to be.

True rating: 2.5

Was not able to finish the audio due to it being archived, but thought it was good up to the point I was stopped at. Look forward to finishing it on print

To be honest, I’m not really sure what happened in this book! It felt like a fever dream. The story began as a coastal mystery with some sort serial killer on the loose. Then it turned into writer betrayal and discoveries of secrets. In the end, it switched to some off kilter magical death oath. Like I said, I’m not even sure what happened. This chaos works for this author most of the time. But I failed to even connect with the characters let alone the different timelines and POVs. I think it’ll be a future re-read for me to maybe figure out what is really going on.

Props to the narrators for encompassing so many different personalities. Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and author Catriona Ward for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars

Thanks to MacMillan Audio and Net Galley for the advanced listener's copy.
Unfortunately, this didn't work too well for me. I was invested at the beginning when it was the trio of teenagers spending a summer at the beach. I was invested when it seemed like there was a serial killer or something terrible afoot. But, as the book went on, and it got more weird and more meta, I just lost interest and couldn't keep all the threads together to really stay invested in the characters or the strangeness going on around them. To me, it felt like it took too long to reveal the plot surprises and the voice was all over the place and I just couldn't get a good handle on who or what was important. And, I wasn't scared at any point which is what I was looking for in reading this. Although this one didn't quite work for me, I will continue to seek out Ward's books in the future.