Book Review | Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward

One unforgettable summer on the coast, 16-year-old Wilder’s holiday leads to a horrific discovery involving a serial killer called the Dagger Man. He writes down the story of his childhood summer companions and the killer that stalked the small New England town. Then while he’s processing his trauma, his unpublished memoir is stolen. Years later, he has the chance to set the record straight. But as Wilder writes, the lines between memory and fiction blur. Is he losing his mind or is there something more?

No one told me that grief would feel so much like fear.

Looking Glass Sound is a trippy, multi-layered psychological horror that forces us to reexamine everything we’re told. Wilder’s memories take us to a life-changing summer with new friends Nate and Harper, and to college with best friend Sky. Meanwhile, a woman named Pearl tells her own disturbing tale. It is a book about writing a book, and how the process involves telling untruths to mask a story. There were times when I felt confused as to whether the scenes were dreams, flashbacks or hallucinations. But I like how the writing tackles the psychology of the characters, and how they make up narratives for their purposes.

This book is the epitome of the saying “There are three sides to every story.” We don’t get just one unreliable narrator, but many. Which unfortunately made me realise that I don’t really know them. Also, the supernatural element feels superfluous and leaves the ending with a messy, unsatisfying conclusion. I still have questions about the witchcraft element and how it ties to the powers of a story.

There’s enough horror here in the loss of a home, the betrayal of a friendship, the haunting memories of a life unlived, and the devastation of a story untold. The book asks – when something terrible happens, who does the story belong to? It makes me think of the tales we tell to make ourselves feel better. Looking Glass Sound is not an easy read, but leaves an intriguing impression.

About the author: Catriona Ward

Photo by Brent Cox