Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Sundial by Catriona Ward

21 reviews

ellekiriel's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

bxnnny's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

another crazy ass book by catriona ward that i will be thinking about for a long time. if you've read the last house on needless street, you know how nutty her writing is, but it's such a ride. this book goes back and forth between the past and the present, slowly piecing everything together. it becomes pretty clear at a certain point the major, key details but how it all came to be might not be what you expect. i couldn't tear myself away from this one, i was just truly enthralled in this story. the ending will leave you much like how you might have felt at the end of inception. please keep in mind there are A LOT of heavy trigger warnings in this (mainly animal cruelty/abuse/death and domestic abuse but there's many more so please check them all). i likely wouldn't have read this if i didn't already know catriona ward's writing previously to prepare myself mentally or hadn't been so interested in the story to be willing to push through.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

kermit_the_wrong's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Never really *got there*. It had potential but just fizzled out somewhere along the way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Infertility, Sexual content, and Abandonment

rosemarygrace1211's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

breacommelafromage's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Considerably less problematic than THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREET but this just didn’t do anything for me. I wanted to give this author a second chance and this book was so highly recommended by readers and authors I respect but I think I just have to say Catriona Ward isn’t my cup of tea and stop trying with her. 

The writing is bland and the plot and characters just really are that deep or interesting ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Gaslighting

vixenreader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book will hit hard for anyone who has a sibling (especially sisters) and suffers from generational trauma. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

Minor: Gaslighting

If you are afraid of dogs, this book will prove to be quite triggering. Plus no one likes when the dog dies.

daire's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Self harm, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

mfallon3491's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

travelseatsreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I was beyond excited to read Sundial as The Last House On Needless Street was one of my favourite reads of 2021. Like with TLHONS I went into Sundial completely blind and I think it definitely paid off.

Ward has an innate ability to completely engulf the reader within her writing and immediately the darkness and unease begins to claw  it's way out of the pages from the very first chapter. There are so many layers within this story that it would be easy for a reader to get lost among them but Catriona harrowingly and flawlessly ensures every single enmeshed strand has a place and a purpose.

The story is told with alternating POV's and dual timelines which works perfectly to ensure the reader is left hanging on every word waiting for that gnawing tension to subside (spoiler alert, it doesn't).

I can't write this review without mentioning trigger warnings as frankly this book in itself is almost one. There are large sections to do with animal deaths and experiments on dogs. To be honest, this is normally a hard no for me and I will often DNF a book with animal abuse but to be fair none of it appeared gratuitous or overly descriptive so while it took me aback it wasn't overly distressing. There are also many mentions of multiple forms of abuse (adult, child, physical and emotional), mental illness, pregnancy, infant death,  self harm and suicidality.

Overall, Sundial is an engrossing, dark, sinister and twisted psychological horror meets thriller which will send shivers up your spine and leave you haunted for some time to come.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Murder

jadereads_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction and Suicide attempt

Minor: Infidelity