I loved this author’s debut book The Last House on Needless Street so I was thrilled to hear about her new book Little Eve. This book started a little slow but it was worth the wait. Follow the characters in their cult-like environment and perfect setting and let the twists and turns keep you on your toes. This was a fantastically creepy novel! Thank you #NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Man. This was not what I was expecting. I was super excited to start Little Eve after reading Ward's other horror, The Last House on Needless street - which was my favorite horror of 2021! But unfortunately Little Eve, in my opinion, fits better into the category of psychological thriller or maybe even a gothic mystery rather than a horror. This simply wasn't scary.

I love, love, love reading about cults in both fiction and nonfiction. I struggled very much to vibe with the cult elements in this book and honestly I think it's because of the lack of explanation during the first half of the story. We are thrown into life with Eve and the Uncle she lives with, but very little explicit information is given. I spent much of the first have of the book incredibly confused. I also struggled with the pace, as it seemed there was a lot of filler - this book could have been a novella.

The gothic atmosphere is pulled off nicely and the second half of this book picks up significantly. I enjoyed Eve's relationship with her sister and the Scottish vibes were perfection. I think if this was marketed as a slow-burn thriller and I had adjusted expectations, I may have enjoyed this more.

Many thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my gifted copy

I really wanted to like this book. Catriona Ward has such great covers and story ideas but I think her writing style is not for me. It’s very elaborative with a lot of description and filler details/drawn out scenes and scenarios. Just like The Last House on Needless Street, I found myself trying to quickly read or skim through about 50-60% of the book.
With that being said, I did enjoy the overall ending once I got there.
Would recommend giving this author a shot if you’ve never read something by her.

Thank you SO much to Tor Nightfire (Macmillan Tor/Forge) and Netgalley for the opportunity to ready this ARC in time for Halloween in exchange for an honest review.

Every book that I have ever read by Catriona Ward has been wonderfully dark and twisty with an ending I find totally unexpected but satisfying. This is another winner! It is not for the faint of heart, just like her other books. This one delves into the creepy crazy world of cults how they twist the minds of those who are a part of them.

In this one, the cult is ruled by Uncle "the Adder" and they are waiting for the great serpent that will wrap its coils around the world to bring about a new one. Though that does not seems to happen as the opening scene begins with murder most foul. Then it gets really interesting as you follow the twists back and forth though the past and into the future. It is a great journey and I loved all the descriptions that made the world feel so real (though I definitely would not want to have lived through that myself) and it is heartbreaking sometimes what Eve and the others go through.

I highly recommend this book, if you are looking for some great psychological horror to twist your mind. Thank you to Netgalley for providing a digital copy of this book.

A creepy, horror novel that involves some strange beliefs. This "clan" lives in a castle on the island of Altnaharra, off the coast of Scotland, with a causeway connecting it to the mainland. The clan is preparing for the end of the world and then its rebirth. The premise is this Adder is coming and one of them will inherit its powers. Little Eve will do anything to be the one to inherit.

Things start to go wrong when there is a murder and a detective Black gets involved. This clan has lots of rituals with snakes and something goes wrong at a ceremony. What is really happening on this island?

Well, I didn't like the snake aspect, but the weirdness of this clan was intriguing. The book was well written and it kept my attention. It has some surprising twists in the investigation and discovery that I enjoyed.

Thanks to Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Nightfire through Netgalley for an advance copy. This book will be published on October 11, 2022.

Little Eve is Catriona Ward's second novel which is re-released and published more widely. Set on a secluded Scottish island the story follows Evelyn who is one of many girls living under the care of "uncle" isolated from the world and living according to strange rituals and beliefs. This hauntingly tragic and sad tale will leave you feeling unsettled and wanting more. Written in Catriona's strong and literary style, this book will leave you thinking about it longer after turning the final page. The ending is something not to be missed, but I can't say more without spoilers. If you are looking for a gothic and deep tale, then look no further. I'd highly recommend this.

Little Eve is for anyone who likes their horror dark, atmospheric, and character-focused. It’s extremely unsettling, and disconcerting, and it definitely sent chills up my spine multiple times.

This story follows a family on an island who is preparing for the apocalypse. They wait for the Adder to come and give them his powers, as they separate from the rest of the world. Most of the book is focused on Eve, as we read about what led to one terrible night when things all went so horribly wrong.

The beginning is incredibly weird. In fact, I almost DNF’d it because I had no idea what was going on and I didn’t care. However, as the intricate truths behind this family and their relationships unveil themselves, I found myself getting dragged into the depths. This is also translated, so it’s possible that might have played a small role in my initial discomfort as well.

What a segway! Little Eve is very much an uncomfortable book, partially because it takes place in Scotland during World War I, and partially because it very much has cult energy. I’m not saying anything else (spoilers smh) but as you sink deeper into the trenches of this novel, you’ll understand that this is more of a character-focused horror story than anything else.

Honestly, my advice to you is that if you’re thinking about picking this up, give it a chance. It ends up being a twisty, dark story that I really only began to appreciate halfway through. There’s a reason it’s written in such a vague, disconnected way, and Eve’s journey is one that is incredibly well-written.

Little Eve is a gothic tour-de-force of atmospheric horror. I truly cannot wait to read another Catriona Ward book!

Cults? Ritualistic murders? Gothic vibes? Heck yes! Little Eve is a mysterious gothic tale with great horror elements. Ward does an excellent job making the entire plot believable because of the emotions she makes you feel through her characters. Do I know what it's like to be in a cult? No, but I do know what a toxic relationship feels like as I do the yearning to be good enough, to be worthy. Ward creates characters that sell every single bit of what she's putting out there. It's not that they are really all that likable, but they are relatable and believable which matters so much more.

The plot is solid from beginning to end. It starts with an intense scene with some gruesome depictions that introduces the mystery and sets the tone for the rest of the novel. Too often books start off great and fall apart at the end. That is not the case with Little Eve. The twists are surprising and come with enough time left in the novel to not feel rushed. Basically, Ward stuck the landing and then some.

Highly recommend to fans of thrillers, speculative fiction, gothic tales, and horror.

“There were eyes and hands everywhere.”

😱

I loved this book so much. Read it on a flight in a single sitting. The writing was more blunt and choppy at times but the way it enhanced the story was brilliant. I thought I had some of the twists figured out…I did not!

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc. This review is wholly my own.

Not my favorite Catriona Ward novel by a long shot. Little Eve was just "meh."

I know it is hard to resist a new novel by an author you normally like, but after Sundial, I have become a bit more apprehensive of Ward's stories.

You definitely get the dark & gothic atmospheric vibes. Very strange, Very Creepy & Very Culty (not a fan of cults).

This one missed the mark for me but others loved it, so definitely don't let my disappointment keep you from giving it a go.

LITTLE EVE is moody, dark, atmospheric, cultish, and rich with gothic elements. I really enjoyed the setting and the castle and Catriona Ward was able to make me feel all the weather and isolation with her descriptions. This one takes quite a few twists and turns and, like her other works I have read, did not leave much room for me to predict a single thing. And I just love that about Ward's mind and how she can weave together such a story from start to finish and captivate you the entire time.

I mean this in the most complimentary of ways: Little Eve is one of the most unsettling and disquieting books I have ever read. I liked but did not love the author’s novel The Last House on Needless Street; frankly, the reviews for Sundial kind of scared me off (not that they were bad - just that they seemed to describe a book almost impossibly dark), but this one was unforgettable. I found myself wanting to read it, unable to put it down, but at the same time feeling such a sense of dread around it. Loved the atmospheric stormy Scottish castle…the cult overtones…the nod to early 20th century spiritualism. I thought it was interesting that Amazon seems to categorize this book as a thriller - and it is - but it is also a slow burn historical horror. This is such a richly layered and evocative book, and I’m excited for its U.S. release. Many thanks to Tor for the advance copy. I really enjoyed this.

Briefly, the summary:

Little Eve takes place almost entirely on the fictional island of Altnaharra, off the remote coast of Scotland, around the time of the first world war first World War. As she did in Sundial and The Last House on Needless Street, Ward introduces us to a “family” who are more than they first appear to be. The main characters are two teenagers in the family: Eve and Dinah. The rest of the family is comprised of a man referred to only as Uncle (their patriarch), two adult women, and two other children.

Though I don’t think it is ever explicitly stated on page, the “family” is actually a cult, and the book details the daily lives of living within that environment, including their many complex beliefs, stories, and rituals.

The book opens with a brutal murder, and from there we travel back and forth in time (in the style of her other books, this is told in alternating timelines—a style which I personally enjoy) slowly unwraveling pieces of the story. What happened at Altnaharra? What’s up with that family, anyway? Through the perspectives of Eve and Dinah, the reader slowly picks up on pieces of the mystery, until we reach an absolutely crushing ending.

This was such a compelling story and I am thrilled to sa that it was just as dark, gothic, and twisty as her first two books. Am I obsessed? Yes.

Thoughts (no spoilers).

As stated 100 times already, I loved this one. It had a little bit of a slow start for me, but once things got going, I was sucked in.

One thing that I really appreciated about this book was the detail with which Ward described the rituals and daily life on Altnaharra, and how intricately Ward was able to weave in the classic signs/symptoms of a ‘cult’ without ever, on page, calling it a cult. (Charismatic leader, bizarre ideological belief system, extreme control over the members, punishment tactics for anyone who deviates or questions anything, isolation, apocalyptic thinking….etc etc). It was clear to me that Ward did a lot of research here to really build up a realistic cult-dynamic. I felt this way as well about Needless Street (re: her research into mental health) and even Sundial—she doesn’t half-ass it, she really goes deep to give the reader a a level of detail that feels authentic.

Interesting as well was that we have a bit of an unreliable narration (Ward is excellent at this) because the characters through which we are told the story do not recognize anything being odd about their lives or their cultish beliefs—at least not right away. Eve and Dinah don’t know anything different than the lives that they have, so when we are being told the story through their perspective, it is never explicitely stated that anything is amiss—the reader kind of comes to that realization on our own.

The book was…deeply unsettling. It is really dark, and creepy. Ward has this great ability to really build tension and I absolutely love it. I also feel like having read now three of her books, I can see plenty of threads that she likes to weave into her writing–themes of family, loyalty, and obsession come through in all of her stories, but I also think that each of these three books manages to be distinctly unique in their own right.

There is, of course, a twist. I will say that in this case, I did kind of guess the twist early in the book, but that’s okay! I think the “oof” moment is not really in the twist itself; it was having to rethink the whole story via the implications of the twist that is the gut punch.

I should mention as well that there are some pretty gruesome scenes in this one that really squigged me out. If body horror is not your jam…you might find yourself skimming a few sections.

It’s hard to say much more without revealing spoilers, so I’ll leave it there. I really, really liked this book and would definitely recommend to fans of her other two–or if you haven’t read those, for fans of murder mystery, horror, and gothic stories.

HOWEVER!!! I need to warn that this comes with big ol Trigger Warnings for like…all of the things (because, you know, cults).

Unfortunately I couldn't really get into this one and the writing style. I may try again with an audiobook in the future, as I've really enjoyed 2 other books I've read from Catriona Ward in the past.

Thank you to the publisher for granting me access to an ARC via NetGalley.

I appreciate this advanced copy by Netgalley. Unfortunately I could not get into this book and was unable to finish. I may try again.

Little Eve…this book was not what I was expecting. Needless Street was sheer brilliance. This one, however, I can definitely tell that it was an earlier novel. This book is definitely good, but after seeing what Ward can do this was a little bit of a let down.

I read <i>The Last House on Needless Street</i> earlier this year and decided I needed to read everything Catriona Ward writes. The policy hasn't failed me yet. I scored an ARC of the US release of Ward's second novel, <i>Little Eve</i> and was once again blown away by Ward's brilliance.

It's 1921 and something terrible has happened on the secluded Isle of Altnaharra. Four people have been brutally murdered, Dinah is mutilated but alive, and the island's only other resident- the perpetrator Eve- seems to have vanished. Having firmly established a creepy, horrific setting, the book's subsequent chapters alternate between the years after the massacre as experienced by Dinah, and the years preceding it, as experienced by Eve. What unfolds is a tale of cult brainwashing, the quest for power, and an emotional roller coaster as we learn what was really happening on Altnaharra.

There's a reason this book won the Shirley Jackson Award when it was released. <i>Little Eve</i> is a unique, heartbreaking story that's equal parts disturbing and compelling. Highly recommended for fans of Gothic horror or stellar writing in general.

Big thanks to NetGalley and Nightfire for the advanced copy!

The premise of this book is so creepy and fascinating. I found it a little difficult to follow at times because the structure isn't perfectly linear, although I guess that's in vogue for suspense novels these days. I enjoyed this book and would definitely read more from Catriona Ward.

I very much enjoyed this book - the plot, the pacing, the fleshed-out characters, the suspense that was maintained throughout. Recommended to all who enjoy a page-turning entertaining read.

Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the third Catriona Ward book I've read--The Last House on Needless Street and Sundial are her other two novels--and with it she has firmly established herself on my author-must-read list. Her books are always elegantly written and haunting in their subject matter. Little Eve is that and more.

In 1921, village butcher Jamie MacRaith is delivering meat to a small snake worshiping cult when he finds the sect and a local girl dead in what looked like a ritual death. But wait! One of them is alive! Dinah has survived and says they were all killed by her cult sister Eve. The story then unfolds by switching back and forth in time and switching perspectives mostly between Dinah and Eve. The reader is led down a winding path of emotions as life in the cult is exposed. We witness Eve's evolution from naive girl to accused killer and Dinah's life in and later survivor of the cult. Along the way Chief Inspector Christopher Black becomes obsessed with Eve and what transpired in the cult as he tried to figure out just what happened to Little Eve.

This is a dark and gritty gothic novel set in Scotland around World War I. It is rather formally written and takes a little while to get into the flow of the narrative but once there, the story captures and transports the reader. The sect characters are intriguing and it is easy to understand how authoritarian and charismatic "Uncle" controls the beliefs of the members. I found myself sympathetic to Little Eve and her trials. This is both a gothic horror novel and a murder mystery with twists associated with thrillers. It's hard to compartmentalize so I'll just say it's an excellent, compelling read. I highly recommend this and the other two books Ms. Ward has written.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan - Tor/Forge for an advance copy of the book. The publication date is October 11, 2022.