This was my first read by this author, and now I am hooked! The story was enthralling and kept me on the edge of my seat. The premise of this novel is genius, and the setting of a vast desert stands out compared to many other horror stories. The modified and experimented dogs reminded me a lot of the zombie dogs from resident evil so I felt a lot of nostalgia reading this, which adde to my enjoyment. Aside that, the psychological elements and relationship dynamics between the main characters was incredible! This story has a deeply human core that keeps you invested above the creepiness. I can't wait for this to be released later this year! In the meantime I will be gladly adding Ward's previous releases to my TBR.

“The Last House on Needless Street”, by Carriona Ward was on of my favorite books of 2021. When “Sundial” became available on Netgalley, I needed to read it. “Sundial” is a completely unique story from “The House on Needless Street” Ward creates flawed characters and shows how these humans can be the worst monsters. These two novels show her versatility as a storyteller. Ward is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

“Sundial” is a dark creepy psychological thriller featuring an extremely dysfunctional family. I do not want to go into the plot. It is best to go into this book blind.

Ward throws the reader into an unsettling plot with highly flawed characters. Rob and Irving are stuck in a hateful and loveless marriage. They have two daughters who are raised in anger and resentment. Callie, her older daughter, is my favorite. As soon as Callie starts behavior, Rob knows how to manage the darkness. I loved the extremely complex mother daughter relationship between Rob and Callie. As the story unfolds, revealed secrets explain Rob’s unstable life and Callie’s behavior.

Ward incorporates two perspectives into this book, and they really helped move the plot forward. The story keeps the reader guessing. As with “The House on Needless Street”, the final chapters bring the book together.

5 stars to Sundial by Catriona Ward. I was provided an early e-arc by NetGalley.
Super brief synopsis: Rob finds something disturbing in her oldest daughters room and takes her back to her childhood home that she has been avoiding to try to fix her new problems.
My thoughts: I absolutely love Ward's writing style. I like the general sense of unease that she writes and I really enjoy not fully being able to grasp what is happening and being in the dark with a lot of things. She inserts clues throughout the novel so you can slowly piece together what is happening, but there are still some shocking moments. What a wild ride - Catriona Ward is quickly becoming an all time favorite author!

I picked "Sundial" up knowing nothing other than it was Catariona Ward's follow-up to "The Last House on Needless Street." But, for me, this ended up being so much more than Needless Street.
The novel follows a woman named Rob, who's married with two children. Her family is dysfunctional and crumbling as her relationship with her husband teeters on hostile and the behavior of her oldest child, Callie, becomes more concerning. Rob fears Callie is quickly becoming dangerous and soon takes her to her family's desert home, Sundial. Sundial holds a dark history for Rob, but she's forced to face it as she recounts her own childhood and how it impacts them today to Callie.
I hesitate to say too much more about the plot. The elusiveness is part of what makes this book so great as Ward slowly unravels the plot around the reader, immersing them in Rob's past and present. It's a slow, heavy build that's well worth it. I devoured this book and think it far succeeds "Needless Street."
Of note: There is quite a bit of dealing with dogs, the death of dogs and other animals. It's not overly gratuitous, but it's also not pleasant.
Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for sharing this advance copy with me in exchange for my honest review.
4.25/5

This was such a fast paced and disturbing read. I found the family dynamics fascinating and the sibling bonds particularly interesting. This is a book full of characters doing bad things for what they think are the right reasons and a propulsive narrative style that switches point of view between Rob (the mother) and Callie (her daughter), while also shifting between past and present timelines. The plot gets more and more dark as the story progresses and while I did find the ending a little bit predictable, overall I really enjoyed this book. I would definitely recommend it for fans of Gillian Flynn's 'Sharp Objects' or anyone who enjoys a dark domestic thriller.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Beautiful and thought provoking, Sundial is one of those books that will linger with you long after you finish. It is rife with the struggles of trauma, parenthood, and the age old argument of nature vs. nurture.

Rob is a mother of two, married to a man who flaunts his infidelity while also gleefully terrifying Rob at any sign that she has had enough. We soon learn of Rob’s untraditional upbringing as part of a commune in the desert at “Sundial”, her childhood home. The stresses of motherhood are amplified once Rob starts seeing signs in her eldest, Callie. She fears that Callie is capable of hurting others without remorse. This leads Rob to take Callie to Sundial, which is where Rob plans to reveal her past in hopes of “fixing” Callie.

Catriona Ward has written a twisted gothic tale about a seemingly typical family that, once Rob starts unveiling her backstory, is anything but. The reader may connect the dots before Ward reveals them, but it doesn’t make them any less of a revelation when it is spelled out. The journey to Sundial’s climax is exciting and heartbreaking and tense. The twists never seem to be what you would expect. Ward writes the type of horror that sticks with you long after it ends. It is incredible how easy it is to fall into Ward’s story and not come up until you finish.

Wow. Just wow. The Last House on Needless Street was one of my favorite novels from last year, so I was really excited what would the writer come up with next, and Ward's newest one, Sundial didn't disappoint.
It's a domestic thriller/psycho-horror novel written with two, very different POV. Ward is a master of creating exciting character voices and believable, damaged protagonists—the empathy is always there.
Sundial certainly pulls no punches, but despite the violence and the dark turn of events, this book has heart. Highly recommend it.

Don’t mind me, just reeling from the emotional trauma this book caused me. Ward is a master at messing with your head. Time to be honest: It’s so hard NOT to compare this to The Last House on Needless Street, which I absolutely loved. I didn’t enjoy this one as much but it’s a solid psychological thriller. There was an A+ twist in this one that I didn’t see coming and overall a couple well done surprises. Normally I love a book within a book but I could have done without Rob’s fictional story. I might not to reread to understand what the point of that was because I know Ward wouldn’t put that for no reason. Don’t miss this one if you’re in the market for a psychological tailspin about a dysfunctional, toxic family.

I normally don’t pay attention to trigger warnings but I’m extremely sensitive to animal cruelty and there was an abundance of that in this book… I actually cried at the explicit mentioning of it and it’s very centric to the plot. Animal lovers may want to steer clear if you’re especially wary of that in horror/thrillers.

I’m thinking this is a 3.5 for me.

Catriona Ward is quickly becoming the queen of atmospheric, psychological thrillers. After reading The Last House on Needless Street and being left wowed I wanted to know if it was a fluke or she was the real deal and a new author to add to my MUST READ-AS SOON AS THEY COME OUT list. I saw Sundial as an ARC and requested a copy and was ecstatic when I was approved. She is so adept at setting the perfect tones for her books. It’s ominous and dark and you know nothing is as it seems but with Callie? Irving? Rob? Annie? Jack? Mia? Falcon? Who is the dangerous one or is it something or someone else? Her narrators are unreliable but in the best way possible.

The Last House on Needless Street was good but Sundial was unbelievably good. I was fully immersed in the story and as dark as it got, I couldn’t look away. I had to know how it all ended and the ending? It was not what I expected at all. Nothing was what I expected from about midway through. The twists kept coming almost making me feel like I was on a rollercoaster. I cannot recommend this book enough if you are looking for an immersive read that will keep you guessing and chill you to your core.

I have received this ARC from the publishers through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I want to preface this by saying that I have never read any books by Catriona Ward, making this my first time reading from this author. I was a little nervous going into this, afraid that it would not live up to the hype that her previous books have received.

With that being said, I absolutely loved this book. I completed it in under 24 hours because I could not put it down. I think that anyone who wants to read it should dive into it knowing as little as possible, so I will keep all character traits and plot points very vague. What I found the most intriguing about this book was that I could not tell which characters were morally good or bad until the very end. Every chapter added a shocking new detail that added to the overall mystery of the plot, which made me pick up the book whenever I was able to.

I have not had much luck with the thriller/horror genre lately, which led me to believe that maybe this genre just wasn’t for me; this book definitely changed my mind! I would love to pick up more Catriona Ward books in the future!

this book had me addicted from the first page. sundial is a gripping story about how you never truly know a person even if that person is you.

trigger warnings are in order for this book and they are: domestic violence, animal abuse/death & child abuse.

catriona ward's writing was so beautiful and i couldn't put it down.

i don't want to write about the plot because i feel it's best to go into this book blind (well with the exception of reading the brief synopsis and the trigger warnings i listed above) the twists at the ending is well worth waiting for.
although i loved this book i have a bone (pun intended) to pick with it, if i have to read the words 'sickly sick' again i might lose my mind. it almost made me not finish the book but i pushed forward hoping that the payoff would be worth my nausousness; and it was.

i don't know how i feel about how the character's mental illnesses were dealt with and as someone who suffers with a personality disorder catriona did describe what some of us feel on the inside by showing it from another's perspective. like i said i am on the fence about a lot of it but when push comes to shove i have seen worse.

the last thing i wanna say is i hate the ending. but not in the "i hate this and i wish i never read it/i hate this and it was a waste of time" i hated it in the was i hate that it was so abrupt. i wish there were more to it. i was left with so many unanswered questions. that's a pet peeve of mine. i get it that we as the reader gets to make our own assumptions as to what happens but i have way to much anxiety for that. i need to be told what happens or i am left there with my mouth open silently screaming because i will never know how it ended for the characters i just spent so long getting to know, hating, loving, rooting for them, crying with them, and seeing myself in them, it's not how i like books to end. i think because life is so unpredictable i like my escapism to have a solid ending being good or bad. i need that as a reader. and sundial will forever be left a mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
Sundial was an absolutely wild ride with twists and turns that I did not see coming at all. The story follows Rob, a mother to two daughters. When she thinks that one of her daughters has tried to kill the other, she takes Callie to her childhood home, Sundial. Sundial is where it all started and Rob thinks she must finally tell Callie the whole truth now that she’s tried to kill her sister and has a room full of bones.
What a story this was. I genuinely never knew what was going to happen next. I made predictions over and over and every prediction I had was completely wrong. Ward really kept me at the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next and how the story was going to play out. I really liked how the story jumped between the past and the present. We mostly follow Rob’s point of view, in both the past and the present. But every once in a while we got a chapter from Callie, and every single one of them was creepy and chilling, filled with ghosts.
I definitely don’t think that I can say I actually liked any of these characters. But I was quickly invested in their stories. Ward has written an engaging and compelling story that was very difficult to put down. The story was well paced and suspenseful. Sharing just enough secrets to let me guess at what might happen next, but never enough for me to guess correctly.
Overall, I’m very excited to read more of Ward’s writing. This was a well written story that has characters I wanted to root for, even if I didn’t actually like them. The twists and turns were completely unpredictable but still were tied back to the plot bringing the story full circle. I will definitely be recommending this one in the future.

Yowza! I feel like this book scooped out my dark insides and laid them bare for everyone to see. Catriona Ward is on fire! She really knows how to get under your skin, and thoroughly creep you out.

Rob has become increasingly concerned about her oldest daughter, Callie. Callie is obsessed with serial killers and animal bones, and lately her behavior is getting stranger. Rob's nuclear family aspirations have led to the house and lawn and two kids, but it's all in danger now. In order to protect her family, Rob will return home to the desert, to Sundial. But things in the desert have always been dangerous, and dark. And there are more things at work here than Rob or Callie could possibly know....

I raced through this book at breakneck speed, because it had me so tense, I felt like I would explode! Ward is excellent with suspense, making the dread fairly creep up your spine. I particularly love that this book richly mines female familial relationships. Sundial has some doozies: sisters, mothers and daughters of multiple generations. I think horror is the perfect space to explore those more in depth and Ward does that with so much panache. Her characters are truly messed up people. They have redeeming qualities, but they are the sum of their flaws and fears and hopes, same as real people, so Ward is obviously very talented at crafting characters that are true to life. I really would like to say as little about the book itself as possible, because I don't want to give anything away. Sundial is a creeptastic, mind-melting fever dream of a novel, and another hit for the new high-priestess of horror, Catriona Ward. Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Nightfire for the chance to review this advance copy.

“You can only do three things with danger: run away from it, fight it, or make friends with it.”

Rob just wants to be normal. Whatever that looks like. She finally has a husband and two little girls she adores. But looks can be deceiving. When something frightening happens, all the nasty little secrets begin to come out. Finding the bones of animals in her daughter, Callie’s, room, all of her past memories come rushing to the surface. How could she have even thought her life would be normal? Despite her nasty husband, she takes Callie and flees to her family home in the Mojave Desert. Sundial. It’s time for the truth to come out.

Rob and her sister, Jack, grew up here. Surrounded by mystery and fear. Dogs and laboratories and dead things. Something is wrong with them all. But what? And can they get away?

I thought that Ward’s last book, The Last House on Needless Street, was wickedly twisted. I was wrong. This is a deeply disturbing psychological thriller that will have you wide-eyed and biting your fingernails! We have a new star in the Horror genre and I am thrilled! Next, please!


NetGalley/ March 1st, 2022 by Tor Nightfire

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


I went into this one with high hopes as I was blow away with her spine tingling page turner The Last House on Needless Street. I was hoping for a HUGE payoff and a jaw dropping read. This one fell a little short for me. I can't fault her writing or her imagination. They are both stellar. But for whatever reason, this one did not blow me away. Having said that, I do think this would make an interesting dark movie.

Rob grew up in Sundial, deep in the dessert. All she wanted was a normal life, to fit in, have friends, get married and have children. She did those things but not everything is normal. Her daughter, Callie collects tiny bones and talks to imaginary friends. Rob fears for her daughter. She knows something is not right. She worries about her. She decides it is time to take her daughter to Sundial. Just the two of them. Who said you can never go home again?

As Rob and Callie journey to Sundial, readers are given a glimpse into Rob's past as we are shown their present. Things are dark, strange, full of intense characters. I just wished I had been wowed by this book. For part of the book, I was bored. Yes, I said it bored and I thought this is going to be a 2-star read. With The Last House on Needless Street, I was shocked, stunned and surprised. It was dark and creepy. I loved it! This for me was strange and left me thinking "what did I just read?" It's strange and weird and I couldn't help but think, this feels like a book, Rob Zombie would like to make into a movie.

Others are enjoying this more than I did. I'm out in outlier alley waving from the sideline encouraging you to read other reviews as well. Although this didn't wow me, I did enjoy it, especially the last half. I will be reading more of her work in the future, this one for me was good not great.

***Some things happen in this book to various animals which may be triggers for some.

Thank you to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a weird book. At first I couldn't figure out why the main character was in the relationship that she was. Then you have her children... Which leads to a trip to Sundial where eventually in a past/present telling the author very slowly reveals what the heck is going on. The reader is also occasionally given insight to one of the children's thoughts. Her thoughts were very surprising; not something I would have expected at all. As the story progresses, her thoughts aren't so surprising but more of a morbid curiosity.

I can't say that this a great book. It made up for that by keeping me fully engaged. I was the curious cat, I just had to know where the author was taking these characters. I can't say that this is a terrible book. There is a lot going on here - a lot. I found it to be rather original even if some of the topics are not. The author managed to create a very twisted world with characters that are not particularly good people. The book is filled with the awful & the weird & somehow, for me, I just couldn't stop reading.

I would have given this odd tale a full 5 stars if not for the ending. I wanted to know what the result was of the potential next bad thing now that the big bad thing had come to it's climax & conclusion - or had it? Leaving the ending open for the reader to guess, really wasn't my cuppa tea. It didn't seem like it would take a lot to tell this part of the story. Perhaps the author is planning to do another book but this time from the point of view of another character?

Knowing the end, I would like to read this again.

This is an excellent, well written book, very disturbing and full of dread. lots of twists. I was afraid to read it esp because of the animal abuse and afraid while I was reading it but also enthralled.

I was absolutely blown away by Sundial! I was very much looking forward to this title after reading The Last House on Needless Street, and it exceeded all expectations. The reader is pulled right into the story, and the unreliable narrators keep you guessing up until the very end. Sundial is a heavy read and does touch on a number of topics that could be considered triggers. However, this content is necessary to the story and isn’t thrown in for shock value, so I felt that these subjects were handled appropriately. Much like with Needless Street, the ending was one that I did not see coming and I was completely satisfied with the conclusion. I’ll be on the lookout for anything else Ward writes.

Uhhhh...... yeah, they got me with this one. I'm creeped out, I got cold chills reading this at one point because it was so fucking creepy. There are A LOT of different plots happening throughout, and it keeps the story very interesting without ever becoming overwhelming. We get two POVs - one of Callie and one of our MC, Callie's mom, Rob. We also have some past/present happening, where we're told about Rob's childhood as she tells it to Callie. These sections are interspersed throughout the story, and really add to the creep factor. It felt like we'd get to something that obviously was going to be BIG, and then the story would have to pause for something.

Lots of moments in this book where I was like wait, they're doing what... and then just tense silence as I sat there and tried to comprehend what I had just read.

The ending left me SO MAD. I actually read it, clicked to the next page and screeched and flipped several pages back to confirm I didn't miss anything. HOW DARE THEY.

This is my first by Catriona Ward, but now I'm obviously going to be getting another one of her books!

The sundial is a book rich in prose and character development, but not much else. The depiction of the dysfunctional family is incredibly intriguing and often times disturbing, but it is overwritten to the point of being trite and underwhelming. After about halfway through the novel, I only ever really felt bored or extremely uncomfortable with it’s dealings with dogs and other animals.