Catriona Ward is a gifted writer and storyteller. Like The Last House on Needless Street, this story is told from shifting points of view and is filled with twists, turns, and surprising reveals. I wasn't sure which narrator to trust until the very end. The prose is lovely, and a lot of the characterization worked for me, but some of the science at the heart of this novel took me out of the story. If you like a novel that keeps you guessing, this one might be for you. But if you are picky about
how scientific concepts are used in your fiction, or if you are averse to animal cruelty, domestic violence, or child abuse in your novels, you may want to skip this one.

Enjoyment: 4.5
Total rating: 4.79

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

Rob has left her past behind and worked hard to get a suburban life as a mom and wife. Just when Rob feels she has the everyday life she craved, she starts noticing darkness in her oldest daughter, similar to the one in the family she left behind.

Rob decides to take Callie back to Sundial, her childhood home, knowing she has a hard choice to make.

Callie has noticed her mom looking at her strangely and speaking of past secrets. Callie is worried about this trip and her mom; She fears that only one of them will leave Sundial alive.

I am mesmerized by Ward's prose. She has a way of bringing us into a dark world and softening the blows with a lyrical narrative. I don't know what it is about the way she tells her stories, but it feels like walking into darkness and, at the same time, like someone you love is making you feel safe by holding your hand. On top of that, Ward isn't afraid to be original, fresh and bring her unique ideas and new takes to her stories. I will leave it at "her mind is a beautiful place, and I love visiting it through her novels" to avoid spoilers.

Sundial isn't an exception; I was surprised by its direction in the best way possible. I really admire Ward's willingness to go uncharted places. Vague, Vague - I know. I will commit to saying this, though: I find the characters in Sundial extremely interesting, they are all flawed to the point of being unlikeable, yet I couldn't help but be invested in them. Well, except for Irving, towards whom I feel nothing but despise.

Ultimately, Sundial is a novel about unconditional love, its moral "grayness," and what we are willing to sacrifice for it. (the way I read it, at least)

I am looking forward to reading more of Ward's books; she is definitely one of my fave authors. It doesn't hurt that ALL her books' covers are stunning!

Disclaimer: In exchange for an honest review, I am thankful to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley for providing a copy of Sundial.

Liked it. Didn’t love it. (But man, did I ever want to!)
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SUNDIAL is a little hard for me to review. Partially because I’m still processing it…and partly because I feel disappointed that it didn’t sink its teeth into me like #thelasthouseonneedlessstreet did.
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While SUNDIAL is fantastically written, I never felt fully invested in the plot and some of the twists made me scratch my head a bit. However, I did really enjoy the ambiguous ending 👌🏼
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Either way I definitely recommend giving it a shot, especially if you enjoyed her previous books.
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Thank you to @netgalley and @tornightfire for my #arc 💚

A doozy of a book. Thoroughly enjoyed the tension in both the present day storyline and in the flashback scenes. I could have done without the story within a story element - uses the same names as characters in the book but couldn't really tell who was a metaphor for who. This bit was confusing.

I think its just me but this is the second Catrioma Ward novel I have read this year and this one was another disappointment for me amid the hype. I feel Ward tries to be over the top with her unusual use of metaphor and simile. I think the intent is to engage the readers in a way that adds to the creepiness of the story but I just found myself weirded out and turned off on multiple occasions. I know a lot of people like Ward, so I think she just isnt for me.

Well, Catriona Ward has done it again! I was so excited to see how Ward would follow up after last years release, THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREET. I think anyone who was blown away by that book was anxiously awaiting the release of SUNDIAL and was likely thinking the same thing as me: could this really be as twisty and shocking? Well it can and it was.

SUNDIAL just elevated the horror genre for me and still has me thinking through those plot twists and every creepy detail that unfolded in these pages. I closed this book and was left in awe at how Ward crafted this story. I should also mention that I inhaled this book in 24 hours - I could not put it down!

Similar to Ward’s previous novels, there were so many layers to the story and it was told from multiple perspectives which I really enjoyed. Ward has a way of sprinkling in details throughout that leaves you questioning everything and only adds to build the suspense through to the end.

I’m purposely leaving out specific details around the plot because I think it’s better to jump into this one without knowing what is going to happen. If you loved THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREET, or even if you didn’t but love horror in general, I highly recommend reading SUNDIAL.

Catriona Ward has quickly become a new favorite for many of us and I cannot wait to see what twisted and terrifying book she releases next!

Catriona Ward’s last novel The Last House on Needless Street was one of the anchors of the new Tor Imprint, Nightfire. The buzz around this book made it one of the most anticipated novels of last year. Her follow-up, Sundial, came out earlier this month, and like The Last House on Needless Street, there are some good and bad qualities to the novel.

The story starts with Rob, a woman who grew up in the desert on Sundial, a compound that raised and experimented on dogs. She now has a husband and two girls. The oldest one, Callie, is starting to do strange things, and once she hurts her sister, Annie, Rob takes Callie out to the desert compound to be away from her sister. This set-up is interesting because we do not know what the ultimate purpose of this trip is, just that it is happening under strange circumstances, and the tone for outcome feels very bleak.

What happens to Sundial is that it gets too deep into the backstory of Rob growing up at Sundial with her sister, Jack, and the story of her escape. She tells the story of the dogs, the experiments, and all of the things that her and Jack do as the only two kids on the compound, surrounded by dogs, their parents, and researcher interns from the local university. The telling of this childhood is interesting, but the story of the present and what Rob plans to do with Callie is way more interesting than the backstory. The long long sections of her childhood makes the middle part noticeably difficult to get through. I wanted to skip ahead and get back to the present, with the fighting between Rob and Irving, her husband, and what she planned to do with her child.

There is a third set of chapters, between the past and the present. These are a that Rob is writing, a story about girls in an isolated school. This creates a thread of metaphor with these sections, but it is so thin because these chapters are so sparse and scattered that we cannot really tie them to the actual story. They are more of a distraction and unnecessary than a benefit to telling this story. I would most likely skip those sections if I were ever to read this book again.

Even with all of these complaints, I do like this book. I like the original story, and I like these unlikable characters. I will also say that I will point people to this novel before The Last House on Needless Street. This story is much better than her first novel, but I still see that there are things about the way that she structures her novels that I do not like. Overall, Sundial is better than her last novel, but it is still not as good as it could be.

I received this novel as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Domestic-y thrillers aren't my thing, so unfortunately this wasn't for me. But I see the resemblance to The Push and I think there are definitely people out there who will absolutely love this.

"It's possible to feel the horror of something and to accept it all at the same time. How else could we cope with being alive?"

Just like Ward's previous book, I don't want to give too much information. I think you should go in without knowing anything if possible.

I continue to be blown away by the cleverness of Ward's writing and here unending twists. I'm honestly torn if I love Sundial or Last House on Needless Street more. I *think* I enjoyed the overall story of Last House better but I was immediately hooked with Sundial.

Thanks to Tor Nightfire and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3 1/2 stars.
This book is unsettling, disturbing and had me thinking about it long after finishing it. I think any type of psychological horror should leave these kinds of feelings with the reader because whether it be the ugliness of man or a supernatural phenomena life can be horrifying. Told through two perspectives this story of family, nature and trauma is a road through the worst of man and where good intentions don't always work out.

Rob starts out a typical perfect housewife but the further we read a sense of wrongness overtakes what we know. Throughout a good portion of the book we get her back story of living in the desert with her family and the work they do. I know some found it tedious but I didn't, for me it flowed and gave great enlightenment to the events of present day. I will say that the inclusion of the extra story within a story element did not work for me the way I think it was intended but by the end it did make more sense.

Rob's troubled daughter Cassie feels more interesting compared to her mother because of her behavior and unique way of speaking. We are told that something is wrong with her but what is it? What is going to happen next? This story does a good job of not being entirely predictable with it's twists and the desert setting truly adds to the sense of menace and otherworldliness. This story has many layers and themes and I think it would be interesting to reread.

Finally please know the content warnings because I didn't and have to admit I might not have picked this up if I had seen them. That being said as disturbed as I was it was still manageable but if even the idea of animal abuse troubles you then this might not work out for you.

CW: animal abuse, animal research, physical abuse, portrayal of a miscarriage, child abuse, scenes of violence

I didn't get a chance to read Last House on Needless Street before the ending was spoiled for me, so I'm glad I was able to go into this one fresh. There are so many layers, a story within a story within a story, but they all work well together. The twists and turns were wild, and the writing was so good. It was a little slow paced for me for the first half of the book, and I was confused about some of the characters in Rob's 'then' POV, but it all came together and finished really great.

Catriona Ward is quickly making a name for herself in the horror genre! While I didn’t enjoy this one as much as THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREET, it was still creepily twisty. Ward writes great twists and so many jaw dropping scenes.

You can't outrun your past...

Rob left her family years ago, and didn't look back. She craved a "normal" life, which she feels she has achieved with her husband and two beautiful daughters. That is, however, until an all-too-familiar darkness begins to surface in her oldest daughter, Callie. Callie's strange behaviours, such as collecting animal bones and speaking to invisible "friends" become increasingly disturbing to Rob. She decides to take Callie to her childhood home, Sundial, an isolated property in the Mojave Desert. When they arrive at Sundial, Callie begins to worry about Rob's strange behaviour as she recounts her harrowing past.
This psychological horror novel dug its claws into me and didn't let go until the very end. I clung to every word and only stopped reading when I absolutely had no choice. I gasped at some of the revelations and secrets that came to light throughout the story and even held my breath multiple times out of complete horror and shock. I read the eARC and listened to the audiobook. The narrator did an amazing job of holding my attention and bringing the characters to life. I loved the way she made some of the characters' behaviours, thoughts and emotions chill me to the bone. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a chilling and disturbing horror novel!

WOW, what a read! The plot was intense, powerful and thrilling and held me captive all the way through! The characters fairly leaped off the page, and the tension was palpable. If you are looking for a twisted read that you just CAN’T put down, then this is DEFINITELY the book for you!

*I received a complimentary ARC of this book in order to read and provide a voluntary, unbiased and honest review, should I choose to do so. #Sundial #NetGalley

Wow! This book was soooooooo good. It was crazy dark and twisty and I couldn't finish it fast enough.. Thank you to @netgalley for my ARC copy.
All of the characters are so captivating and horrifying that you don't know who to root for. It was the dazzling horror novel that I was thrown into and crawled back out! I knew that I would love this one because of her previous dark novel.
I recommended this one to all friends and book clubs.
Well done to Catriona Ward.

Catriona Ward's The Last House on Needless Street was one of my favorite novels last year and so I went into Sundial with high expectations and it managed to meet most all of them. Following the Cussen family - consisting of Rob, her husband Irving, and their two daughters Annie and Callie - Sundial paints a gruesome and alarming portrait of a dysfunctional family with devastating secrets. Rob grew up in the desert at a place called Sundial, where experimentation, ghost dogs, and other disturbing happenings were the norm, but now that she's married with children and wanting to settle down into a comfortable life, her past is running to catch up to her. She travels back to Sundial with her daughter Callie to put her fears and suspicions to rest and from there, Catriona Ward spins one of the most memorable and disturbing tales I've read in a long while. Sundial is a book you don't want to miss, especially if you want your family drama to come with a desert's worth of secrets.

👻 Well this was a strange trip, and had some of my favorite things in terms of thrillers: 

♥️ What I loved:
😱 Horror elements
🌀 Twisted 
👀 Multiple POV 
✌️ Dual timeline 
😳 Ending I did NOT see coming, which I almost always do! So this was refreshing!

🏡 Rob is living the typical suburbia life with her husband and two daughters, but when one of those daughters begins to exhibit some concerning behavior, Rob takes Callie on a trip to her childhood home in the Mojave desert to spend some time together— it’s here we begin to unravel some dark history in Rob’s past. 

🦴 I was invested in the story and loved this twisted psychological family drama with horror elements. Told from both Rob and Callie’s perspectives, I found both narrators to be interesting and I appreciated how the author used the slow burn to create tension even when you weren’t sure yet why you should be fearful. The only part I didn’t love was the stories Rob is writing. They didn’t seem to be necessary to the plot, and these pieces seemed to cause the pace to lose some of the momentum.

Overall I enjoyed it, would definitely recommend it and am looking forward to more reads from this author. 

Be warned, some content can be potentially disturbing for some, so if you are a hard pass on violence, animal cruelty and maggots, this may not be for you. (there’s a lot of maggots) 🤮

Thanks to @netgalley @tornightfire and @catward66 for the digital copy

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this advance reader copy.


Description from NetGalley:
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.

This book is my first from this author, and I already have lined up another one from her. It is fast paced from the get go. We get two points of view plus a set of flashbacks that really are like half the book. I feel for Rob and Callie throughout the entire book. This is not for everyone. There is animal and child abuse in the flashbacks and spousal abuse in the present. I feel like I can't fully describe my emotional journey in the book because it would give away a lot; however, once the mom and daughter duo get to Sundial I couldn’t put it down. I had theories that were turned on their heads and some were validated. It was an amazing ride.

Overall: 4.5/5

Yes, yes, yes! I had read Ward’s previously novel The Last House on Needless Street, and was super impressed by the whole story, plot twist, and writing in general (immediate 5 stars). I went into Sundial a little hesitantly, worried that it wouldn’t live up. But I ended up completely devouring it and love it even better than Needless (which I didn’t think would be possible!).

Sundial, encompassing a mysterious past for the MC (Rob) and her current family drama (domestic abuse, not connecting with her child, ect), is thoroughly creepy and keeps readers guessing what will happen next. With a heavy dash of what seems to be supernatural and horror elements, this thriller is so much more than your typical ‘whodunit’ and I highly suggest this to any fans of both thrillers and horror.

Reading other reviews, I see that Ward has a few other books published – so I’m gonna go look into that and add those to my TBR ASAP. And consider Ward a new auto-buy author for her future work.

This review is in the current issue of Rue Morgue Magazine:

On the heels of all the buzz from The Last House on Needless Street, Tor Nightfire releases another book from Catriona Ward, Sundial.

Sundial begins as most domestic psychological thrillers do with a broken marriage and a dysfunctional family. Ward peels back the layers slowly, dropping subtle clues as to when and where the relationship between Rob and Irving first show signs of self-destructing. For readers, neither character is sympathetic. Rob seems cold and solitary, sipping on her hot lemon water or sucking on cinnamon candy as “her only indulgence”. Irving is pretentious, a philanderer and prone to violence. Ward deeply questions the role of women in her duties as both a wife and a mother in situations that are threatening to her mental health or physical safety. Fans of the book Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage will instantly feel at home here.

After a particularly startling discovery, Rob decides to take their troubled oldest child, Callie, to her childhood home called Sundial in the desert. It is here that the book introduces a story within the story and the domestic psychological thriller transitions into family Gothic horror. The sudden change is the equivalent of a race car pumping the brakes for a nice, leisurely Sunday drive.

Ward arranges the flashback narrative in such a way, pertinent information is metered out at an intentional almost frustratingly slow pace, priming readers for climactic events without revealing too much. However, there will likely be some criticism over how the story within the story completely requires settling into a new tone and atmosphere for quite a long time instead of the short, dual, present day POV chapters in the first half.

There is a lot going on in Sundial: Domestic violence, sibling rivalry, nature vs. nurture, animal experimentation and so on. This plot carries with it heavy, intricately plotted puzzle pieces dumping the entire box out right there in the middle of the book, asking the reader to hang in there while all the pieces are painstakingly put together. The end result is mildly satisfying but maybe a bit too burdensome resulting in a mixed bag of emotions. Enjoyable and entertaining but prepare to put in some effort.