2021/063: The Last House on Needless Street -- Catriona Ward

2021/063: The Last House on Needless Street -- Catriona Ward

Killing things is hard, sure, but keeping them safe and alive is much more difficult. Oh boy, do I know about that. [loc. 256]

Ted Bannerman lives in a house with boarded-up windows, the last house on Needless Street. He shares the house with his daughter Lauren and his cat Olivia, both of whom narrate chapters in this novel. Ted is not like other people: it's hard to tell whether he has learning disabilities, or is on the autism spectrum, or is simply misunderstood. He labels people by characteristic rather than name: the Bug-Man, the Chihuahua Lady, the Little Girl with Popsicle. Eleven years before, when Little Girl with Popsicle went missing at the nearby lake, he became the town's scapegoat. Was Ted responsible for the girl's disappearance? Quite a few children have gone missing over the years.

( one minor spoiler )