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.

4 Stars

One-Liner: Twisted and triggering

Rob only wished to lead a normal life with a normal family. She gets it somehow, though the normality is nothing more than an illusion. Life with a narcissistic husband is never easy. But things could’ve been better if Callie, the elder daughter, didn’t start talking to imaginary friends and collecting tiny bones.
Fear pushes Rob back to Sundial, her childhood home in the Mojave Desert. She wants Callie to know who she actually is and why it is important for them to become normal. However, Rob discovers new secrets in Sundial and is torn between having to choose between her two daughters.
Callie is worried about her mother’s instability and her father’s ‘bad-monkeying’ ways. She doesn’t know what to say or do as Rob talks about the past. She is equally worried about her little sister, Annie.
Irving, Rob’s husband, is getting restless. He has a powerful hold on Rob. But what if she breaks through?
Can Rob and Callie’s stay at Sundial be a chance to close the door to the past and move on to a better future? Can broken people still have a normal life?

My Observations:

• The blurb calls the story wild, twisted, and dark. I agree with it. I kept wondering if there was even a single ‘normal’ character in the book.
• This quote, “Kids are mirrors, reflecting back everything that happens to them. You’ve got to make sure they’re surrounded by good things,” sums up the book in many ways.
• This is my first read by the author, and I admit I’m intrigued by the characters she creates. It’s so hard to like them, but I wanted to know what happened.
• The book has a lot of triggers, so proceed with caution. From animals to humans, bad things happen way too causally in the story. I can see why it’s classified as horror. The actions are no doubt horrifying.
• The beginning is slow but starts with a bang. We are pulled into the web of secrets, cruelty, and hatred from the first page. The slow pace makes the dark stuff even worse. Luckily, it picks up pace after 50%, or I maybe got used to the writing and could read faster.
• There’s a story within the story in the book, which TBH didn’t keep me interested. I read the first two bits with curiosity but started to skim through these bits afterward. I can kind of understand why these chapters were included. But take them out, and the book will still be the same.
• The climax was my favorite. I was waiting for it to happen. The ending left me in two minds. It’s perfect for the story (which is more important). You can’t, after all, neatly tie up everything and a cute little bow. However, the HEA fan in me wanted something more hopeful. Oh, well!
• There are a couple of subtle hints to guess the twists, making them more believable. I prefer such twists rather than the ones that come out of nowhere and nullify whatever happened until that point.

To sum up, Sundial is a dark tale of twisted minds where evil is a natural part of almost everyone’s lives. Oh, I enjoyed Callie’s POV more than Rob’s.
Thank you, NetGalley and Tor Nightfire, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.
*****

P.S: Read this book only when you’re in the right frame of mind. It’s not mind-blowing or terrifying but can push things over the edge if you are not prepared for the triggers.

After reading The Last House on Needless Street last year and it being one of my favorite books of 2021, I was so thankful to received an e-arc of this book. Although the plot immediately had me hooked, I think that my interest tapered off because of too many moving parts. I expected more of a thriller with this novel and was ultimately a little disappointed. I think overall it had a lot of potential to be awesome. 3.5 stars.

Sundial by Catriona Ward was horrifying, thrilling and impossible to put down. This is the first book I've read by her so I'm excited to go back and read The Last House on Needless Street! What a truly amazing writer, I can't wait to see what's next! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this digital arc.

This is the next Goodreads horror winner of 2022. This is the most twisted, bizarre horror novel I've read in a long time and I devoured every word. I slowly consumed this novel to make it last. SO GOOD!

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️(5 stars)

My thoughts: HOLY MOLY.

I LOVED Needless Street, so this one was inevitably going to be compared to that, in my mind at least. It met EVERY expectation I had for it.

Not kidding, Catriona Ward is now an auto-buy author for me.

This was a bit easier to understand than Needless Street, but OH THE TWISTS!! Absolutely loved it.

Sundial will be released on March 1st.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I will freely admit I requested this bc of the cover aesthetics and because Nightfire was offering it to NetGalley readers as part of the spring previews. I was not expecting how deeply I got sucked in, and her wonderful kind of fucked up and twists that were in store here. On the surface, this is a story of a mom possibly having to make a terrible choice between two of her daughters. What this really is is a fucked up story about experimentation, family bonds, the things we hide from our kids and our spouses, and some really fucked up nature vs nurture stuff. My only issue with it is that a solid 45% is told via flashback, but the alternating POVs, desert gothic, and sheer depths of the fucked up ness makes up for it. Will be up front about the fact that there’s animal experimentation here (specifically on dogs and other mammals), if that is an auto-nope for you. But I’m definitely interested in her other works from this, and will be seeing if there’s anything at the library. Pick it up when it comes out in March, and get ready for some scary ass shit.

TW- Psycological/emotional abuse, domestic abuse, animal abuse

Sundial is a psychological horror full of tension from page one. It follows Rob and one of her daughters, Callie.

Rob takes Callie to her old house in the desert, Sundial, after noticing unsettling behavior from her. There she tells her back story, and with each chapter, it gets more and more unsettling. Having a dual timeline made the story feel more suspenseful, as we’re learning and understanding along with Callie.

The characters in this are terrible, though most have somewhat understandable motivations. Except for Irving. He has no development and no real reason for him to be terrible, he just is.

I never knew where the story was going to go, and it kept me at the edge of my seat the entire time.

Sundial was thrilling and unnerving, with plot twists through the very end.

This will not be for everyone and I highly recommend checking out the trigger warnings since I’m sure I missed some.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me access to an ARC.

This book was meh. After reading, and liking, Needless Street I was looking forward to more by this author. I don't know how I feel about reading her next work.

This book had an interesting premise, but then went off the rails in what seems like an attempt to appeal to the masses. I'm so tired of author's attempting to write screenplays that they think will work well on Netflix instead of writing actual stories. This book had too many storylines that were just confusing and slow to be resolved. Throw in way too much blood, gore, and abuse...with some last minute high speed drama...and this is what you end up with. I found the whole thing unsatisfying.

Catriona Ward has done it again! This multi-layered novel unsettles the reader with its characters, development and slow burn. The information is parsed out like drops of water to one dying of thirst. The “Russian Nesting Dolls” signature of the author is evident in this novel as it reveals, bit by bit, the horrors and secrets within. With a final, unforeseen twist, it leaves one final question for the reader to answer on their own.

Ward delivers genuine Horror with Sundial- the type of straight-up-twisty-sad-but also fun horror that has been kind of replaced by the over encompassing "psychological thriller". A lot of care goes into building that horror within this story- but even more into the eloquent writing that puts that horror into the characters themselves, and that character study is detailed and again, deeply upsetting- in the best way. Loved it.

I will start out by saying that horror is not my usual genre but after reading The Last House on Needless Street I knew I wanted to read another book by this author. I'm not sure if this is normal for the genre but so much weird stuff goes on and your head spins but by the end things all come together, in ways you didn't imagine. Events start off right away and immediately you are questioning everything and everyone but as the story unfolds more and more is revealed until the end when it all falls together. The pacing and the crazy unreliability of the characters keep the story moving and your mind guessing. I will definitely read more from the author.

I will say that this book does have some animal cruelty issues so definitely not for everyone.

Another good effort by Ms. Ward. I found my mind wandering a bit during this read. It was a bit exhausting for me trying to keep up with the various plot-twists and big reveals. I do wonder if perhaps less is more on that front.

I know that many changes are still to be made before publication, but many of the British spellings of words (centre, favourite, etc.) will hopefully be changed to reflect the characters residing in the American Southwest.

Look forward to reading more from Ms. Ward. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher.

If The Push was too icky for you, I don't recommend this book. Some important trigger warnings - cannibalism, miscarriage, abuse (emotional, physical), drug use, animal cruelty... Really just the works.

All that aside, here we have a gothic horror tale told from a mother and daughter's PoVs, often delving into the past and fantasy worlds. We see experiments performed on dogs to rid them of bad genes, a trip to the desert with questionable motives, and betrayal after betrayal between two sisters. This book leaves you questioning everything with each chapter, and don't get me started on the ending. MIND BLOWN. The writing was poignant and compelling, though I'm still a little confused about certain sequences. Ultimately this is a great book for horror fans, and possibly even for thriller stans who can handle some gore.

*Thank you to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review*

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I liked how it used two characters perspectives and moved through time without being confusing. It made me want to read more of Catriona's books!

Well... that was interesting.

Rob lives a normal suburban life with her husband and two daughters. Until one day she finds that her oldest daughter, Callie, has given her youngest, Annie, a bottle of her father's diabetes medicine. Wanting to keep both of her children safe, she whisks Callie away to her childhood home in the Mojave Desert, Sundial. In doing so, she must confront her twisted past and dig up memories best left buried. Told through Rob, Callie, and Rob's fictional universe, Arrowood's, points of view, we learn the ins and outs of this toxic and dysfunctional family. Will Rob be able to get through to Callie before it's too late?

Catriona Ward does a wonderful job of keeping the book suspenseful. With that being said, I didn't really engage with this book until after the halfway mark. I believe that drawing out the suspense of the story made it a little bland and confusing at first. However, the twists and turns definitely weren't predictable and that is something I truly appreciated. Once they get to Sundial and you get to learn about Rob's past is when the story really picked up for me. Though again, it seemed to be a little drawn out in some places just for the sake of length.

This wasn't my favorite read of all time but it was definitely a unique story. It was suspenseful and made me want to know the ending.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advanced copy to review!

This was the first book written by Catrina Ward and I was surprised by the way it drew me in. Lots of twists and turns in the story line that had me changing my opinion of who was "good" and who was "bad". Near the end it got a little repetitive but the overall quality of character formation and plot made it a riveting read. I would recommend this book and a look at others by this author.

Thank you NetGalley and Catriona Ward for the opportunity to read and review this book.