In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three.

A teenage girl who isn’t allowed outside, not after last time.

A man who drinks alone in front of his TV, trying to ignore the gaps in his memory.

And a house cat who loves napping and reading the Bible.

An unspeakable secret binds them together, but when a new neighbor moves in next door, what is buried out among the birch trees may come back to haunt them all.

This book has been on my radar since it was released in 2021. I’d heard nothing but amazing things, and I know I’ve said this before, but when books get tons of buzz, I tend to shy away because I am afraid of being disappointed. On the one hand, I want to kick myself for waiting so long to read this one, but on the other hand, maybe it was a good thing I waited. The buzz had died down, I’d mostly forgotten any reviews I’d read, and I could go in with fresh eyes.

The novel is told from the point of view of Ted, a large and imposing man who lives in the last house on Needless Street; Olivia, his beautiful black cat; and Dee, a young woman looking for her younger sister who went missing several years earlier. Even though Ted was interviewed and cleared, Dee feels confident that he had something to do with her sister’s disappearance, so she does what any obsessed family member would do. She rents (or maybe she bought – I forget) the house across the street and monitors Ted’s every movement. What transpires next is outside of what anyone could possibly see coming.

This review may be a bit splotchy because I don’t want to give anything away. I don’t even want to accidentally drop any sort of clue because this is a book that requires the reader to go in as blind as possible. Forgive me if any of this comes across as incoherent.

When I first heard that one of the points of view in this book was that of a cat, I admit I was skeptical. I couldn’t fathom how that could possibly work. But trust me when I say it not only works, but it adds a unique and intriguing perspective to the story, especially as you delve further into the book.

As far as Ted goes, he is a complex character, and I went back and forth between feeling sorry for him and absolutely terrified of him. He is one of the most interesting and complex characters that I have read in a very long time.

Dee was another interesting character. She’s obsessed with finding out what happened to her sister and is very unreliable. She also has an extreme fear of snakes – and that alone made me feel very connected with her. I HATE snakes – I can’t even watch them on TV without being overcome with paralyzing fear.

The novel is intricately woven and perfectly paced, and the reveals are handed out like little grains of rice. As each clue is uncovered and things start to click into place, the tale becomes more and more twisted and complex until it all suddenly unravels in a way that is cathartic, heartbreaking, and ultimately kind of beautiful. (I realize that’s a weird way to describe a horror/thriller book but trust me. You’ll get it once you’ve read it.)

I started this one as an ebook, but then I was traveling and didn’t want to set it aside, so I switched to the audiobook. Trust me when I say the narrator is fantastic. He is able to voice every character so uniquely that, for the longest time, I was convinced that there were multiple narrators. What a talent!

If, like me, you are one of the few who still haven’t read this book, trust me when I say this is your sign to move it to the top of your TBR. It’s haunting, a little unsettling, and a twisty mind fuck, but in the end, it turns out to be something very raw and touching. I’ve not read anything like this, and I’m so happy I finally carved out some time to do so.

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