Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook ARC! Looking Glass Sound has a twisting, compelling narrative that will leave you feeling haunted. The book starts in the early 1990's where Wilder Harlow goes (along with his parents) to a Maine coastal town where his recently deceased uncle lived. His parents have a strained marriage and Wilder feels out of place. He ends up meeting handsome local boy Nat (Nathaniel) and Harper (a beautiful Brittish girl and instant crush for Wilder). The three share local horror stories and end up uncovering a brutal serial killer. Wilder attempts to escape the trauma of this past in college and his new friend and roommate, Sky. Wilder confesses the whole truth of his friendships, the murders, and the Dagger Man to Sky who then leaves him betrayed, and Wilder sets off on a quest for revenge. But this is where the story takes a wide turn and the questions of what is real and what is fiction take over. The characters are authentic, the voice is powerful and moving, and the twist is ground-shaking. Christopher Ragland and Katherine Fenton add a sympathetic air to the characters through their emotional narration. Fantastic all around.

It much can be said about this book without giving too much away. While the synopsis is one thing that really drew me in, it’s a bit misleading… in a good way. I had no idea what I was getting into.

I will ALWAYS gravitate towards books set in my home state of Maine, so the setting was a huge note for me. Also, I love books within books, so this is right up my alley. Add in this speculative supernatural thriller element that Catriona Ward always does so freaking well and I knew that I was going to love this.

Set in a coastal town, with this fantastically eerie atmosphere, a teenage Wilder meets two people who will alter the fabric of his world, knitting them all together. Later, when his story of his time in Maine is stolen and published by a close confidant, Wilder begins to plot. Not only a book, but how to get back at this boy who took his story. But that is kind of just the beginning, though by the time you, as the reader, reach this point, you start to see that nothing is as it seems. As you peel back layer after layer, page after page, you’re fully immersed in this strange story within a story.

I chose to listen to the audio along with reading the physical copy and I found it narrated to perfection.

Ward moves her brand of weirdness to the Maine coast, where author, Wilder Harlow is writing his last book, Based on his own past and the killer that terrified his community, Harlow returns to the town to help jump-start his memories. Instead, he sees things that cannot possibly be real, leaving him to wonder if he will survive the writing of his fictional memoir. Ward's books can be a little like string theory, interesting, but also very confusing if you look too closely.