2024 British Fantasy Award for Best Horror Novel (nominee)
2024 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (nominee)
A USA TODAY BESTSELLER • A 2023 World Fantasy Award nominee • Best Book of 2023(Vulture) • A Best Horror Book of All Time (Cosmopolitan) • A Best Horror Book of 2023 (Esquire) • An Indie Next Pick • A LibraryReads Hall of Fame Pick!
The author of The Last House on Needless Street, Catriona Ward, delivers a masterful story about friendship and betrayal, dark obsessions, and the impossibility of escaping your own story. "Here's your next obsession." (Kelly Link, author of Get In Trouble)
In a cottage overlooking the windswept Maine coast, Wilder Harlow has begun the last book he will ever write.
It is the story about the sun-drenched summer days of his youth in Whistler Bay, and the blood-stained path of the killer that stalked his small vacation town. About the terrible secret he and his companions, Nat and Harper, discovered entombed in the coves off the bay. And how the pact they swore that day echoed down the decades, forever shaping their lives.
But the more Wilder writes, the less he trusts himself and his memory. He starts to see things that can’t be real – notes hidden in the cabin, from an old friend now dead; a woman with dark hair drowning in the icy waters below, calling for help; entire chapters he doesn’t recall typing, appearing overnight. Who, or what, is haunting Wilder?
No longer able to trust his own eyes, Wilder begins to fear that this will not only be his last book, but the last thing he ever does.
‘An origami puzzle of a book, the mystery so beautifully crafted you don’t see the folds, with edges sharp as a paper cut.’—Lauren Beukes, author of The Shining Girls
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Genre: Horror
The author of The Last House on Needless Street, Catriona Ward, delivers a masterful story about friendship and betrayal, dark obsessions, and the impossibility of escaping your own story. "Here's your next obsession." (Kelly Link, author of Get In Trouble)
In a cottage overlooking the windswept Maine coast, Wilder Harlow has begun the last book he will ever write.
It is the story about the sun-drenched summer days of his youth in Whistler Bay, and the blood-stained path of the killer that stalked his small vacation town. About the terrible secret he and his companions, Nat and Harper, discovered entombed in the coves off the bay. And how the pact they swore that day echoed down the decades, forever shaping their lives.
But the more Wilder writes, the less he trusts himself and his memory. He starts to see things that can’t be real – notes hidden in the cabin, from an old friend now dead; a woman with dark hair drowning in the icy waters below, calling for help; entire chapters he doesn’t recall typing, appearing overnight. Who, or what, is haunting Wilder?
No longer able to trust his own eyes, Wilder begins to fear that this will not only be his last book, but the last thing he ever does.
‘An origami puzzle of a book, the mystery so beautifully crafted you don’t see the folds, with edges sharp as a paper cut.’—Lauren Beukes, author of The Shining Girls
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Genre: Horror
Praise for this book
"You think you want to be a #Writer little one? *EVIL CACKLE* Read this gut-wrenching heartbreaking beautiful horror first!" - Tina Baker
"One of the finest literary craftsmen currently working is writing horror. Looking Glass Sound is a masterclass in atmosphere. Nearly every sentence is faultless, gutting and precise. Come for the family secrets but stay for the humanity, tenderness, and empathy that are so central to Ward's storytelling. This book will truly haunt you long after you read." - Olivie Blake
"This twisted tale of ghosts and murderers, derailed lives and childhood traumas is a vertical labyrinth that will take you straight down into the heart of darkness. Enthralling and heartbreaking." - M R Carey
"Catriona Ward is an inspired spider and Looking Glass Sound is her most masterful web yet... while we, dear readers, are nothing more than mere flies happily trapped within the pages of this brilliantly intricate novel." - Clay McLeod Chapman
"Complex, compelling, deeply unsettling." - Tammy Cohen
"Serial killings, magic, literary theft, love and betrayal... So clever and original." - Mark Edwards
"Stephen King meets Atonement meets... screw it, you've read nothing like it before. This is so much more than a horror novel. Impossibly compelling, brilliantly plotted and incredibly moving all at once. This is Catriona Ward at her most special, most intimate and most ambitious. I think at this point we can all just agree to follow Ward wherever she takes us." - Virginia Feito
"So, so brilliant. I felt like I was on a roller coaster. Her characters, the way she weaves together all the storylines, the reveals - all of them brilliantly done, and all while my heart was banging out of my chest." - Lisa Hall
"This gripping horror is a masterful exploration of storytelling. It will lure you to the dark side before quietly blowing your mind, time after time. A haunting tale of friendship, creativity and revenge, with prose as deep and sweeping as the cliffs of Looking Glass Sound itself." - Janice Hallett
"One of those books that as soon as you finish reading you immediately want to read again. Darkly mind-bending and softly gut-wrenching, this is another masterpiece from the incomparable Catriona Ward." - SJI Holliday
"In the right hands, narrative can be a kaleidoscope, fracturing into more and more wondrous configurations. Just - I think Catriona Ward maybe spilled a little blood into her kaleidoscope, here..." - Stephen Graham Jones
"Ward will break your heart, mend it, and then break it again for good measure. A novel that will define a generation." - Awais Khan
"Do not miss this book. Authentically terrifying." - Stephen King
"Murder, magic and monsters from the deep: Ward weaves her dark magic once again in this atmospheric, horror-drenched coming-of-age tale, with twist after head-spinning twist." - Ellery Lloyd
"A marvel of storytelling, sinister as hell, and, at points where I thought I understood where it was going, Catriona drowned me with her signature 'oh no, you don't' dark turns." - L V Matthews
"One of the most talented writers working in the thriller genre today." - Alex Michaelides
"I couldn't tear myself away. Looking Glass Sound is slyly addictive. Falling into a Catriona Ward book means knowing you'll be caught and never let go. Unconventional, imaginative, and brazenly twisted." - Hailey Piper
"Unbelievably good... so clever, so haunting and melancholic. A novel about obsession, love and loss; an exploration of trauma and delusion; a meditation on writing and what it means to create, to be trapped in a world of your own making, tormented by your own characters. It's so beautiful, so dark and so vivid." - Jennifer Saint
"Unsettling, moving and propulsive, Ward once again proves she is at the top of her game with this twist-packed page-turner which will break your heart and keep you up all night." - Holly Watt
"Looking Glass Sound staggered me; it enslaves you with a compelling beauty before delivering a brain-melting final blow. I'm still aching for these characters and overcome by this remarkable book. Catriona Ward is a writer like no other." - Matt Wesolowski
"One of the finest literary craftsmen currently working is writing horror. Looking Glass Sound is a masterclass in atmosphere. Nearly every sentence is faultless, gutting and precise. Come for the family secrets but stay for the humanity, tenderness, and empathy that are so central to Ward's storytelling. This book will truly haunt you long after you read." - Olivie Blake
"This twisted tale of ghosts and murderers, derailed lives and childhood traumas is a vertical labyrinth that will take you straight down into the heart of darkness. Enthralling and heartbreaking." - M R Carey
"Catriona Ward is an inspired spider and Looking Glass Sound is her most masterful web yet... while we, dear readers, are nothing more than mere flies happily trapped within the pages of this brilliantly intricate novel." - Clay McLeod Chapman
"Complex, compelling, deeply unsettling." - Tammy Cohen
"Serial killings, magic, literary theft, love and betrayal... So clever and original." - Mark Edwards
"Stephen King meets Atonement meets... screw it, you've read nothing like it before. This is so much more than a horror novel. Impossibly compelling, brilliantly plotted and incredibly moving all at once. This is Catriona Ward at her most special, most intimate and most ambitious. I think at this point we can all just agree to follow Ward wherever she takes us." - Virginia Feito
"So, so brilliant. I felt like I was on a roller coaster. Her characters, the way she weaves together all the storylines, the reveals - all of them brilliantly done, and all while my heart was banging out of my chest." - Lisa Hall
"This gripping horror is a masterful exploration of storytelling. It will lure you to the dark side before quietly blowing your mind, time after time. A haunting tale of friendship, creativity and revenge, with prose as deep and sweeping as the cliffs of Looking Glass Sound itself." - Janice Hallett
"One of those books that as soon as you finish reading you immediately want to read again. Darkly mind-bending and softly gut-wrenching, this is another masterpiece from the incomparable Catriona Ward." - SJI Holliday
"In the right hands, narrative can be a kaleidoscope, fracturing into more and more wondrous configurations. Just - I think Catriona Ward maybe spilled a little blood into her kaleidoscope, here..." - Stephen Graham Jones
"Ward will break your heart, mend it, and then break it again for good measure. A novel that will define a generation." - Awais Khan
"Do not miss this book. Authentically terrifying." - Stephen King
"Murder, magic and monsters from the deep: Ward weaves her dark magic once again in this atmospheric, horror-drenched coming-of-age tale, with twist after head-spinning twist." - Ellery Lloyd
"A marvel of storytelling, sinister as hell, and, at points where I thought I understood where it was going, Catriona drowned me with her signature 'oh no, you don't' dark turns." - L V Matthews
"One of the most talented writers working in the thriller genre today." - Alex Michaelides
"I couldn't tear myself away. Looking Glass Sound is slyly addictive. Falling into a Catriona Ward book means knowing you'll be caught and never let go. Unconventional, imaginative, and brazenly twisted." - Hailey Piper
"Unbelievably good... so clever, so haunting and melancholic. A novel about obsession, love and loss; an exploration of trauma and delusion; a meditation on writing and what it means to create, to be trapped in a world of your own making, tormented by your own characters. It's so beautiful, so dark and so vivid." - Jennifer Saint
"Unsettling, moving and propulsive, Ward once again proves she is at the top of her game with this twist-packed page-turner which will break your heart and keep you up all night." - Holly Watt
"Looking Glass Sound staggered me; it enslaves you with a compelling beauty before delivering a brain-melting final blow. I'm still aching for these characters and overcome by this remarkable book. Catriona Ward is a writer like no other." - Matt Wesolowski
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Used availability for Catriona Ward's Looking Glass Sound