It does still involve multiple unlikeable characters.

54.The Last House on Needless Street – Catriona Ward

Somehow I managed to read two books about people with Dissociative Identity Disorder within a two week period without having any intention to. Nightmare by S.K. Epperson is from 1992, though, so DID is not a thing yet, and the people are referred to with the shorthand “multiples.” Anyway, The Last House on Needless Street starts out as a story that seems a little off right from the get go. Getting the perspective of someone’s cat usually does seem off. I did think it was funny that Olivia the cat referred to all people as “teds,” as though everyone is just a different version of her person, Ted.

Then there’s Dee, whose little sister Lulu was kidnapped while she was trying to be a teenager alone at the lake one July. Dee’s family fell apart as a result of that situation and she’s still trying to get it sorted out long after the leads dried up and her mother left and her father died.

Anyway, I led in by mentioning DID, but it doesn’t seem right to ruin the twist when it’s only from 2021. And the main thing reading two books involving DID so close together did was tip me off to one of the twists in The Last House on Needless Street right away. Oh well. Learning. I will say I found this work of Ward’s more interesting and engaging than the other few books of hers I’ve read, even with a microfiche error which I wish I hadn’t read.

 

Finny only really knew me, so if he thought of other people he ran into as “rachels,” I guess it would have made sense.

 

I have since stopped having the regret of reading microfiche errors by just not reading the rest of the book after glaring at said errors once I encounter them. I’ve already endured too many.