I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Nowhere Burning by Catriona Ward Published by Tor Nightfire on February 24 2026
Genres: Adult, Horror
Pages: 304
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A dark homage to Peter Pan, Nowhere Burning explores the terrors of childhood and the uncertainty of growing up.
“Change means fear and loss,” Noon says. “But it is the only way.” She leans in and embraces Riley. “Children are sacred,” she murmurs. Every hair on the back of Riley’s neck thrills. “Growing up is a demon.”
I never know what to expect going into a Catriona Ward book, and once again I’m left with all kinds of feelings and emotions. Nowhere Burning is a twisty, disturbing and sometimes confusing story about a group of runaway kids who live on a remote ranch high in the Rocky Mountains called Nowhere. Ward includes multiple perspectives and timelines, all of which weave in and out of each other. It’s up to the reader to figure out what’s going on, and I found it to be a compelling, hard to put down mystery, although there were a few negatives for me.
The story of Nowhere and its bloody history is well known, especially the tragedy surrounding famous actor Leaf Winham, who bought the ranch as a private retreat and turned it into his personal playground. Years later, after Nowhere burned down in a terrible fire, there are rumors that young kids live there, the Nowhere children, who steal into town on occasion and rummage through trash bins for food. Sometimes people from town are abducted and returned, covered in oozing cuts, starved and confused. Fourteen year old Riley and her young brother Oliver have heard all sorts of stories over the years, but one day those rumors become reality when a strange girl named Noon follows Riley home one day and invites her and Oliver to join her. She says Nowhere is a safe place for kids like them—those that have been abused and neglected.
Riley and Oliver live with Cousin, who barely feeds them and locks them in their bedrooms. One day shortly after meeting Noon, Riley has had enough and plots their escape. After a harrowing journey, they do indeed arrive at Nowhere, but there’s something off about Noon and the others who live there. Riley isn’t completely sure she and Oliver are any safer than they were living with Cousin, and she’s about to be proven right.
The chapters alternate among several groups of characters. In the “present” (I use that term loosely because you just don’t know since Ward doesn’t label her chapters with dates), we follow Riley and Oliver on their journey to Nowhere and their subsequent adventures on the ranch. Then we meet Marc and Kimball, two friends who are making a documentary about Leaf Winham and have found a man who had a dangerous encounter with him and has agreed to take them to Nowhere. Finally, in a past timeline, we follow an architect named Adam who has been asked by Leaf Winham himself to come to Nowhere and build a special extension onto the house. We also get a few side perspectives that try to fill in the blanks, but actually add more confusion to the story. Little by little, you begin to see how Marc, Kimble, Adam and Leaf tie into Riley’s timeline, but Ward doesn’t give up that information easily.
Ward explores some dark themes, like child abuse, neglect, torture and murder, but she tempers all that darkness with hopeful moments, like Riley’s complete love and devotion to Oliver, wanting to protect him no matter what, or Marc’s love for his young daughter, who has a terrible illness. Even the kids who live at Nowhere are devoted to several young children in their care and will seemingly do anything to protect them. These lighter moments are few, though. This is a mostly serious story with some terrible secrets buried just below the surface. Catriona Ward is a master at creating a creepy atmosphere, and while not all the individual story elements meshed for me, I can’t deny her ability to combine dread and tension with heart-pounding action and suspense.
Nowhere Burning has several nods to the classic Peter Pan tale. For example, Noon takes on the role of Peter, a boy-like child who dresses in green and lures other children to Nowhere, which has the distinct feel of Pan’s Never Land. There’s also a crocodile named Tinkerbell that skulks around, looking for food and terrorizing the children. Leaf reminded me a lot of Michael Jackson, and I definitely noticed the parallels between Nowhere and Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch (Nowhere even has a Ferris wheel!) I liked all these touches and thought they worked well overall. I even saw a bit of Dracula in the story: Adam felt like a representation of Jonathan Harker, who finds himself trapped in Dracula’s (Leaf’s) castle but is drawn to the monster nonetheless.
A few things didn’t quite work for me, though. There is so much going on in this story, and not every element was given enough page time to make sense. Some side plots felt oddly out of place (the very weird and disturbing relationship between Adam and Leaf, for example), others felt randomly inserted for no reason at all (Cousin making Oliver carry boxes of bricks up and down the stairs). There’s even a serial killer plot that I’m not sure was even necessary. The book’s final emotional punch should have worked, but it felt rushed and sort of tacked on, so unfortunately it fell a little flat for me.
But like all of Catriona Ward’s books, Nowhere Burning dug its claws under my skin and didn’t let go. Readers who love weird and disturbing mysteries and can deal with a handful of trigger warnings will eat this up.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
That sounds like a lot of stuff for a single book to carry, indeed. It’s not even that long. Lovely review as usual!
I was surprised how much she was able to get into such a short book!
One of these days I really need to read a Catriona Ward book because I still haven’t! And I love that this latest one has a bit of Dracula in the story. Thanks for sharing!
You should try her for sure! My person favorite is The Last House on Needless Street.
Terrific review. I think this sounds too intense for me, but the overall plot seems really intriguing, especially the Peter Pan elements. On the one hand, I do want to know more… but I don’t handle plots with endangered children very well, and think I’d be better off passing on this one!
Thank you! Yes, definitely beware of the trigger warnings for this…
Given your review, I expected this book to be 500 pages long. I had to scroll up and check. Ward’s books are more miss than hit than me but this one does have my attention. The only one I’ve really liked is Sundial. I immediately thought of Neverland so I’m glad it gave you the same feelings. I will probably grab this one if I see it at the library but don’t know if I will seek it out otherwise. I am SOOOO not a fan of Peter Pan. Now Hook? He is a different story.
It was very short for everything that was packed in! And the Peter Pan story can be hit or miss for me too. This one worked, though.
This is definitely a strange and disturbing read which didn’t really come as a surprise having reading a few books by Ward already. I could definitely have used a little less of a busy feel and definitely not all the storylines felt equally compelling, but even so, I was pretty much hooked.
Lynn 😀
Yes, it’s weird how almost mesmerizing her writing is!
There’s a lot of disturbingness in the Peter Pan story (with Peter being completely amoral and all), so I can see how it would lend itself to horror… Hmm!
Peter Pan is definitely a great story to do a horror riff on!
I knew about the Peter Pan references from another review but the others are surprising to hear of. And I can see what you mean about there being a lot going on here. It definitely sounds complex, although that doesn’t entirely surprise me based on the book I’ve tried by the author so far. Im sorry it wasnt perfect for you but it still definitely sounds intriguing over all.
Here books are always so unusual, I do love her ideas, and she’s on my “must read” list:-)
Oh wow that seems indeed a lot for a sole book!
It was a little crowded, but I still enjoyed it:-)
Hmmm I think I’ll wait for this one from Libby. I usually enjoy Ward’s books but this one sounds way too busy for my head right now.
It was a bit busy for sure!
Interesting all the references you found to other works. I like when stories can do that, giving us something new while also paying homage to what’s come before.
I enjoy that too, and she did a great job twisting the original stories into something different.
Another author I keep saying I need to read. Sounds like it was a good dark read. I like that it had parallels to Peter Pan, and even some other dark stories. Great review!
https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2026/02/17/e-galley-review-and-now-back-to-you-heartstrings-2-by-b-k-borison/
Just started this so I’m very early into it and can’t form much of an opinion yet. So far it’s a little slow to get off the ground but your rating makes me optimistic things are going to pick up!