Beware the Dagger Man.
These were the words that echoed through Wilder Harlow's teenage years on the remote New England town of Whistler Bay. He's returned to the solemn Whistler Bay one final time to write one final book--a memoir of his childhood, the rampant killer amongst them, and the betrayal of his college best friend Sky, who stole Wilder's memoir & turned it into a bestselling work of fiction: Looking Glass Sound.
As time runs out to finally reveal the truth of Whistler Bay, Wilder finds that his grip on reality is slipping. Whistler Bay and Looking Glass Sound begin to take each other's form, and with them, Wilder finds characters from his past coming to life and haunting his present. What's worse: he's found notes around his lonely cottage on Whistler Bay that suggest some of his past refuses to stay buried.
Somehow, some way, readers, Cat Ward has done it again. "Looking Glass Sound" in many ways may be her most complex and most polarizing novel yet, but I would whole-heartedly consider it a literary horror masterpiece. With a coastal setting all its own that Ward breathes incredible life into, "Looking Glass Sound" is a completely new labyrinth that requires (like its predecessors "The Last House on Needless Street" and "Sundial") readers to devote attention to every last detail.
Marching forward with a suspense-laden sense of dread, "Looking Glass Sound" is, at its core, a story about stories and the perpetuity of words. Haunting, moving, and most of all, shocking, this is one for true Ward devotees. Enjoy the ride.
Rating: 5 Stars
Publication Details: Out 8/8/2023, Tor Nightfire
*Huge thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing my review copy!*
