Many thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read in advance another superb Catriona Ward novel.
My reaction to "Sundial" mirrors the reaction I had to this author's previous excursion in thrills and horror.
Wow. Simply wow. Once again, blown away by Catriona Ward's ability to take you on the darkest journeys imaginable. Like "The Last House On Needless Street", the author excels at practically world-building her own horrific universe from which there's no escape. The feeling of dread here becomes so palpable, you can sense early on that few of these characters are going to get out of this alive.
Housewife Rob seemingly leads a typical suburban family life with her professor husband Irving and her two young daughters, 12 year old Callie and 9 year old Annie. But the marriage is toxic to its very core. Irving's given to physically abusing Rob when the moment strikes him. Callie's succumbing to dark thoughts and impulses, which may have led her to an attempt on Annie's life.
While Annie's recovering from Chicken Pox, Rob impulsively decides on a rescue mission to restore her daughter's sanity as well as her own. To Irving's ominous displeasure, she takes Callie away to visit Sundial, the sprawling, now abandoned Mojave Desert ranch where Rob grew up with her twin sister, Jack.
And here at Sundial a place, haunted with terrible secrets and memories, is where the novel plunges deeply into unheard of realms of human cruelty and family dysfunction. As Rob struggles with her tortured past and Callie falls further into her dark, imaginary world, Sundial's many secrets, twists and disgusting horrors are revealed, one by one.......which I wouldn't dream of discussing in detail since that would spoil the demented funhouse ride this book takes you on.
Reading Catriona Ward's first book gave me the same kind of Wow Factor thrill I had when I picked up Stephen King's "Carrie' many years ago. I became a King fan for life and the exact same thing has happened again......which means I'll be first in line for every Ward book from now on. Without a doubt a 5 star stunner.

Another amazing dark and disturbing novel from the fantastic Catriona Ward, and this one might just be her darkest and most disturbing yet. A twisty and twisted family drama that is so tense I actually found myself holding my breath regularly throughout. Incredible, horrifying storytelling with unforgettable characters. A book I shall remember for a very long time.

Unfortunately there's not a lot that I can say that's positive. There were a few bits that I wanted more of but expanding on what those were would venture into spoiler range.

We are introduced to a dysfunctional family unit right away and everyone's mannerisms are slightly off. The mother Rob doesn't react in any normal way but is fiercely protective of her daughter Callie. It's apparent that Callie needs serious professional help, so Rob brings Callie to her childhood home, Sundial, with the intention to help Callie. From there we get the unusual history of Sundial and learn that Rob has or had a twin named Jack. Sundial, and its history, get the story moving in a peculiar direction. There's a research facility on the property and with the story's focus being on this particular experimentation, I only came to one conclusion about the purpose of this inclusion in the past timeline. As I mentioned, there are other highly interesting details that I think could've been expanded on and maybe my overall opinion would've been better.

Having NOT read The Last House on Needless Street I am disappointed with this being my introduction to Ward. There was no big twist and I felt the story was unfinished. Or maybe could've used an epilogue for those readers (such as myself) that would prefer less ambiguity.

I absolutely LOVE the US cover for this book!!

“𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗜 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘀𝗼𝗮𝗽 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗴𝗼 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘀. 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵. 𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗳𝘂𝗹.”

From the author of 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗧 𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗦𝗘 𝗢𝗡 𝗡𝗘𝗘𝗗𝗟𝗘𝗦𝗦 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗧 comes my first anticipated release of 2022: 𝗦𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗔𝗟.

This is the life of Rob. She walks on eggshells in her own home. Her and Irving have two daughters: one more hers than Irving’s.

Every part of her life down to the most minuscule details, she has planned. She’s tried to build something in her life that is so far from how she grew up. She just wants a normal life.

But there’s something wicked buried in her daughter. Callie, the bone collector. Callie, whispering to imaginary friends.

The hallmark of a really good author in my opinion is the ability to twist everything so that when it’s unveiled, your mouth falls open. By creating mind bending agony where your brain just…short circuits in the best way.

And Catriona definitely did that with 𝗦𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗔𝗟.

However, this was paced far slower in my opinion. I also struggled to connect how the Arrowood sections were connected to the larger story. I felt they could have been left out.

Lastly, the animal abuse. I usually do okay with graphic content but it really started to get under my skin by the end of the novel.

I still really enjoyed this one. If you love books that make your brain explode, then you’ll need to read this ASAP.

4⭐️

Thank you to TOR NIGHTFIRE for my physical copy!

Deep within the Mojave desert, exists Sundial. Once her childhood home, Rob must return to dig up family secrets & save her family. But from what? And from who?

This book hurt my head, but in a good way. ... I think.

It was wild. Lots of triggers for this one, so I suggest looking into those before diving in.

The dangerous, unforgiving desert setting was perfect for this psychological thriller/horror. I could picture it all so clearly with the guidance of Ward's descriptions and prose.

This book delves into toxic, complicated relationships, nature vs nurture, family bonds, and maintains an unsettling atmosphere throughout.

There were times I wanted to put this down but the need to know what the next reveal would be kept me coming back for more.

Something I did dislike was the book within a book chapters. I ended up just skimming those sections because I didn't feel like they added anything more to the story.

If you enjoy a mindfuck, this one certainly fits the bill.

Thank you Macmillian-Tor/Forge for approving me for this ARC!

Title/Author: Sundial by Catriona Ward
Publication Date: March 1st 2022

I enjoyed this much more than The Last House on Needless Street.

A book about the monsters that live inside us. A book about family and the sins of the past. Can someone be “born bad”? And can you fix them? Just when you think you know what’s going on, new information comes out that changes everything. I loved discovering the truth with Rob and Callie.

The Arrowood book inside the book was unnecessary and a bit boring.

I received a free copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Another twisted psychological thriller by Catriona Ward. I don't even want to attempt to summarize the plot, because it is twisty and I don't want to ruin anything. Rob and her older daughter Callie are the main characters, and they both have issues. Actually, everyone in the family has issues. Let's just say this is a horror meditation on family, genetics, and the bonds of family.

"You can't escape what's in your blood...

All Rob wanted was a normal life. She almost got it, too: a husband, two kids, a nice house in the suburbs. But Rob fears for her oldest daughter, Callie, who collects tiny bones and whispers to imaginary friends. Rob sees a darkness in Callie, one that reminds her too much of the family she left behind.

She decides to take Callie back to her childhood home, to Sundial, deep in the Mojave Desert. And there she will have to make a terrible choice.

Callie is worried about her mother. Rob has begun to look at her strangely, and speaks of past secrets. And Callie fears that only one of them will leave Sundial alive…

The mother and daughter embark on a dark, desert journey to the past in the hopes of redeeming their future."

Thanks to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Rob has created the ideal suburban life with a husband and two daughters. But as her oldest, Callie, starts collecting tiny bones and talking to an imaginary friend, Rob suspects the darkness from her past can't be ignored.

Rob decides to take Callie to her childhood home, Sundial, where she'll have to make a terrifying choice. But Callie has noticed the new way her mom looks at her. With their relationship steeped in secrets and fear, Callie realizes both of them may not make it out of the Mojave Desert.

TW: Animal cruelty, child abuse, domestic abuse (physical & emotional), drug abuse, death, gore.

2.5/5

This was one of my 2022 anticipated releases. Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed. I didn't hate it, but I didn't really like it either. I DID enjoy the mystery and anticipation of figuring out what happened at Sundial and the family dynamics there.

The writing was ok. It was intriguing enough to continue, but there were multiple times when we'd go through a scene twice from both Rob and Callie's perspectives. And there's also a book-within-a-book...for some unknown reason.

The plot, reveals, and epiphanies felt heavy handed and the pacing was off. The narrative slowly revealed what happened at Sundial and the current ramifications, but once I realized where it's going the story began to feel drawn out. While there was time spent on Callie and Rob's relationship, the majority of the book was spent with Rob growing up at Sundial.

There were also a few things I didn't gel with: Rob's repetitive thought tree, not getting the other perspective in the past (which would've been more interesting), Rob's choices for her family (the toxic household did the exact OPPOSITE of what she claimed to want), and Callie's personality. ***** MAY BE SPOILER. I felt some of Callie's characteristics were purposeful misleading as opposed to misunderstood. MAY BE SPOILER *****

There's a final act reveal that was objectively pretty cool, but by the time I got there, I was tired. I liked the open ending.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The synopsis of this book sounded intriguing to me & I heard so many good things about this author's 1st book so I requested a copy to read.
Unfortunately, I have tried reading this book on 2 separate occasions and during this 2nd attempt, I have
decided to stop reading this book
and state that this book just wasn't for me.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

Where do I even begin??? Rob is having a little trouble with her daughter Callie, so she decides to take her back to her childhood home (more of a compound actually) and what happens next is confusing, surreal, jaw-dropping.. Just like her previous book this one was super confusing as well. Until it wasn't. I can't praise Catriona Ward enough. She is an automatic buy for me!! I'm purposely leaving this review vague because it's best to read it blind
ALL THE STARS!!

Take my review with a grain of salt, but I really don’t think this author is for me. I tried The House on Needless Street and guest the twists right away and felt dirty reading the book. It had such high praise I went ahead and requested sundial. I wish I hadn’t. This book needs better trigger warnings. The amount of gratuitous dog abuse/torture and child abuse was absolutely unnecessary. Basically would not recommend this to anyone.

Wow, I'm just blown away. Catriona Ward has done it again. This unsettling and twisted story will have you in knots. With multiple narrators and many of them highly unstable, it leaves you in a constant state of wondering what is around the next corner. Rob is a loving mother... at least she tries to be. Her husband Irving on the other hand is a creep from the start. When one of Rob's daughters starts doing really disturbing things, Rob decides the only thing she can do to save her family is take her daughter Callie to the desert, deep in the Mojave., where the darkness all started. This was twisted ride of crazy surprises with an ending that will leave you gobsmacked. Catriona Ward is an auto buy for me. Her writing is top notch and her story telling will leave you will goosebumps. Fives stars all around.

"No one can make me do this anymore" words of power. Irving and Rob Cussen are normal parents of two normal kids, living in average normal suburbia, until Rob begins to notice strange things about one of her daughters.

I confess I'm not a fan of domestic thrillers in general. This one however has the added benefit of evil twins, a hippy compound, genetic experimentation and two points-of-view/timelines. The dysfunctionality just isn't entertaining to me. It's too close to real life, so Sundial had me breathing a weary sigh. Cheating, arguing, sick kids, money, psychotic children and work problems aren't the type of horror I hoped to read about. One thing that can't be denied however is Catriona Ward's writing skill. Her prose inspires thought, makes you identify with the main characters and twists you up in her converging plotlines. The Last House on Needless Street was similarly great. Even though I didn't like the particular twist, I enjoyed reading it. Sundial is much the same. The less said about the plot the better. Trigger warning for animal cruelty. Thanks to Macmillan-Tor/Forge for my free egalley review edition.

I had been so looking forward to reading this book as I was a huge fan of The Last House on needless Street. but this book is filled with horrific depictions and some body mutations which made it so I couldn't finish it unfortunately.

4.5/5 stars rounded up to 5 for this review-

Sundial is story shrouded in velvety darkness, and as a reader, I had to peel back layer after layer of that blanket to discover what is hidden beneath.

In this case…Bones. 💀 Clocks. Secrets. Dead things. Dogs.

It all begins with Rob, a mother of two daughters who is struggling in an unhappy marriage and cannot seem to connect with her pre-teen daughter, Callie.

In Rob’s defense, Callie has a strange way of behaving…a way that reminds Callie of her own troubled past. When things take a sinister turn, Rob decides her daughter is in need of some time away to figure things out.

She decides to take Callie on a one-on-one trip to her old childhood home, called Sundial… It is located in a secluded area of the California desert, and is a place of unpleasant memories and disturbing vibes…what could go wrong?

Holy shit…this book was so eerie and unique. The writing has an ominous quality to it throughout. It is unsettling and completely addicting.

The story explores a nightmarish area of motherhood and had some really great twists and turns. I highly recommend it for people who enjoy dark psychological horror books. 🦴

The Arrowood fictional story was the only thing that stopped this from being a full 5 stars for me. It distracted from the main storyline. I felt frustrated every time one of these chapters popped up and had to force myself not to skip through it.

Anyway, this was still an excellent horror story. Get your copy when it’s published March 1st! Thank you @netgalley for this ARC to review. I won’t forget this one.

The cover and plot summary pulled me in.
I have no idea what the hell I just read. This was listed as horror. In a way I guess it was. I felt like I was watching a really bad and confusing horror movie. One with so many twists and turns that it made no sense. I did not like all of the dog torture and death. The story ended abruptly when it shouldn't have.

This book is just as shocking and twisted as The Last House on Needless Street, which I loved. The less you know about the plot going in, the better... but let's just say trigger warnings for everything. I read the majority of this book late at night while feeding my newborn daughter and it genuinely scared the shit out of me at parts. So happy to have found a new must read author with Catriona Ward!

Goodness. Gracious.

Reading a book by Catriona Ward is akin to hopping in a car with someone. You’re promised an awesome adventure at a fabulous vacation spot, but you have no idea where you’re going, and you’re blindfolded. You can’t see anything, especially not the road signs telling you where you’re headed, but you trust the driver, so you forever hold your peace. Sure, the road might be ultra-dark and twisty, and you’ll have questions, but I promise you, you’ll enjoy the final destination. You can take that to the bank!

If you read last year’s The Last on Needless Street, what I’m saying isn’t news to you. That book threw me for so many loops that I was too dizzy to stand, but then of course, in the end it was heartbreakingly wonderful. Sundial is no different.

In it, you’ll meet a family of four. You won’t understand their histories and their present motivations until much later, but you won’t trust them. Any. Of. Them. You’ll feel unsettled, and at times, you’ll wonder if any of the varying stories you’re being told are connected.

But then…Catriona Ward will work her magic and seamlessly sew everything together perfectly, and you’ll wonder why you were ever confused in the first place. There never could have been any other explanation. It’s just that believable.

Grab this one as soon as possible. Don’t dither or dilly-dally. Reading this should be the highest of priorities.

Rob grew up in a bizarre desert compound with her twin sister, Jack, and a series of dogs. Years later, she takes her oldest daughter, Callie, back to Sundial to tell Callie the secrets of her past and hopefully prevent future tragedies for either of her children.

I'm not quite sure I can say that I enjoyed this book. There were a lot of things I liked, especially the setting, but there were so many parts of this book that were upsetting in a way I don't enjoy. The situation with the dogs was kind of too much for me. That said, I did love the slow unraveling of Rob's story and how everything came together in the end. Cat Ward is an auto-read author for me after Last House on Needless Street so I knew there would be a payoff even if I was uncomfortable getting there. Sundial was well-written and creepy and atmospheric and 100% worth checking out, but definitely tread lightly if you're even slightly squeamish about animal stuff.

* review will be posted on IG @leavemetomybooks closer to pub date

Sundial was disturbing on many levels, but this total wimp was glued to its dark, creepy horror vibes. This is the type of book where it may be best to go in blind, but prepare yourself for some psychologically and physically abusive relationships, a weird hippie family conducting questionable experiments, and how the past can come back to haunt you.

When I started the book, I couldn't get over how terrible the characters were. At a point, I didn't care what type of horror came upon this family. However, things really sped up and evolved during the second half of the book. Mysteries were revealed, and the action kept coming.

I'm happy I decided to pick up a book totally outside my comfort zone. If anything, I'm grateful that I didn't grow up in a situation that resembled the unfortunate characters in Sundial. I also want to give every dog I see a big hug.