Nowhere Burning

• Author: Catriona Ward
• Genre: Horror
• Publication Date: February 24, 2026
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for providing me with an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Set in the unforgiving maw of the Rocky Mountains, Nowhere Burning is the latest harrowing novel from bestselling author Catriona Ward, perfect for fans of Riley Sager and the hit series Yellowjackets.

A refuge for lost children may also be their prison.

In the middle of the night, Riley pulls her younger brother Oliver out of bed, and the two run away from home. Riley is intent on joining a group of teenagers squatting in the abandoned ruins of an infamous movie star’s ranch, Nowhere. For actor Leaf Winham, Nowhere was a place to hide from his fame, and to hide his crimes―until a fire ravaged his home and exposed him as a murderer.

It is rumored that the ranch nestled in the peaks of the Rocky Mountains is now home to group of feral children, a place where adults cannot enter, and Riley hopes to find a new family there. But the Nowhere Kids are fierce in defending their turf and their clan, and Riley quickly realizes that while she and Oliver may have left the devil they knew, this group is a new type of diabolical.

For something dark lives in the burned shell of Nowhere, something which asks a terrible price for sanctuary…

I really enjoy mystery, suspense, and thrillers, although I get a little nervous if they cross too far into horror. This was my first introduction to Ward’s writing, and it was a heck of a roller coaster ride with this book. Apparently some of her books lean further into horror, and this reads like more of a suspense/thriller with a creeping sense of horror throughout that never blossoms into terrifying, just pretty creepy. 

As for terrifying, that would refer to the list of content warnings that I noted while reading. Note that this list is not a comprehensive one, and just includes the ones that I caught. But there are some pretty serious trigger warnings in the book, including: death of a parent, suicide (off-page), child abuse and neglect, forced starvation, animal death, religious oppression, violence, blood, gun violence, amputation, arson, and murder. And all of these occurred within the first 30% of the book. 

Needless to say, this book began with a bang and only continued to escalate from there. We are introduced to Riley, a young teen with a 7-year-old brother named Oliver, who lives in an untenable situation. Their parents have died, and they live with a shadowy figure known only as ‘Cousin.’ Cousin utilizes a twisted form of religion and the threat of demons to cow Riley and Oliver. While Riley is allowed to attend school, Oliver does not and there seem to be no plans for him to get an education aside from what Riley is able to teach him. Riley and Oliver are very closely bonded, and she does her best to take care of him. At only 14, she takes on almost all of the parenting tasks, including providing nutrition. Cousin doesn’t provide any real care for the kids, and they live in fear of him. He has devised punishments for them, but the worst seems to be the way he starves them and has Oliver convinced that his hunger pains and desire to eat are signs that a devil is inside him.

Knowing that she needs to escape this house with Oliver, she makes plans to do so when she receives directions to Nowhere from another teen. The two of them escape into the night and head for a place they heard was a safe haven, known simply as Nowhere. But the site has other dangers that Riley and Oliver don’t even realize. The house is abandoned and once belonged to a movie star turned murderer, and there is a Lord of the Flies vibe to the land surrounding the house, where the Nowhere children live.

We get multiple perspectives in the story—Riley and Adam in the past, and Mark in the present, offering vastly different peeks into what is really going on. Riley’s timeline tells about her journey and experiences in Nowhere with Oliver, and unless you’re really sharp, the connection between these three characters doesn’t become clear until much later in the book, just before the last quarter of the book.

As for the horror and gothic aspects of the story, Ward did a fantastic job of creating an atmospheric setting out in the woods, whether it is at Cousin’s house or Nowhere. The plot twists came out of nowhere, and there was plenty of tension throughout the book. I was blindsided by many of the twists, and found myself unable to stop listening. Katherine Fenton and Christopher Ragland narrated, and I really enjoyed listening to them tell the story. I didn’t love how intense Ragland’s narration sounded at times when narrating Mark, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying the book.

However, there are some pacing issues. The beginning and end had a lot of action, while the middle part of the story was a lot slower-paced. I liked how the connections between the three POV characters didn’t become clear until much later. One of the weaker aspects of the book, in my opinion, is how only certain characters are well-rounded, while the other Nowhere children feel more one-dimensional. All we know about them are their names and that they escaped a worse situation than living in the woods in a group of misfits. I would really have liked to learn more about some of the characters, especially Noon, who plays a pretty big role in the story yet doesn’t get much of her internal world on the page, like the other Nowhere children. 

Overall, this was a disturbing and addictive read, and it dealt with some really tough issues. Grief, loss, abuse, belonging, and the bond between siblings are all explored really well throughout the book, and I couldn’t help but feel for poor Oliver, who was brainwashed by Cousin, but also for Riley, who had taken on a parent’s role in the absence of one in the home. Some of the violence feels gratuitous, but it did serve a purpose in the story. 

Bottom line: A compulsively readable suspense with mild horror, this book is an intriguing read as long as you aren’t affected by the content warnings.

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