Title: The House at the End of Lacelean Street

Author: Catherine McCarthy

Release date: April 16th, 2024

*Huge thanks to for the digital ARC of this one!*

I’ve long been a fan of Catherine’s mystical way of telling a story. Not everything is as it seems and you feel like you’re in a hypnotic trance as you dance through the world of hers you’re in.

Which was what I expected going into her newest release, ‘The House at the End of Lacelean Street.’ Often times, when I see a book with a title like this, I’m tentative at trusting anything that occurs at the start of the book. If classic novels and movies have taught me anything, it’s that what begins in these stories isn’t always what is ‘actually’ happening, so, I suspected Catherine was up to some deviousness.

What I liked: The book follows three strangers, who all get on the same bus and arrive at the same destination – the house at the end of Lacelean Street. Oddly, a key with specific instructions awaits each of these people, and, while they kind of question the how, they all float along, doing as the instructions say, while also following what they feel they must do.

We get a middle-aged woman named Claudia, an older man named Howard, and a young, drug-addicted woman named Stacey. These three must learn to work together to uncover what is going on at the house, but also to unlock their own memories and what it was that brought them to this very strange place.

McCarthy does a wonderful job of being coy, of actively engaging the characters with ‘motions and reasons,’ while not having them do much at all. They must eat at the same time, arrive at the library at the exact same time and remain in certain areas throughout. As little tidbits are revealed, like the truth about Howards dog, Claudia’s life and Stacey’s life, the bandages are ripped away, leaving the horrible, broken scars below.

It is within those moments that this book really shines. Where we get the emotional elevation and connection between them and we see the way that a hidden life has effected far more than they’d ever expected.

The ending was really well done, and, while the entirety of the story is a grey, hazy, Twilight-Zone homage, the ending is perhaps the most directly inspired by the classics section.

What I didn’t like: This will completely be a personal preference, but the one thing I felt kind of took me a bit away from the story was the appearance of Stephen King’s ‘IT.’ I was onboard with the appearance/reference The Great God Pan and The Wind in the Willows, but King’s book took me a bit out of the ‘suspending reality’ aspect. I can’t fully put my finger on it, but I think it was because I felt removed from this magical make believe work whenever it was discussed and jarringly put back into this one.

Why you should buy this: McCarthy has struck a fine chord with this one. For a novel that is filled with heavy themes and tons of heartache, this was ripped along and the tension she’s created throughout was palpable and built and built until the fantastic crescendo at the ending.

If you’re looking for an unnerving, chaotic novel where strangers are revealed one painful section at a time, look no further. Wonderfully dark.

5/5

The House at the End of Lacelean Street