Reviews

Sundial by Catriona Ward

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estuaryaerosmith's review against another edition

3.0

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!

straylight's review against another edition

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4.0

This book is a bit of a slow burner, I think. In the first half of the book, the characters are introduced, and something feels off. Very off. Their personalities just seem... uncomfortable. But as the story progresses, it slowly unfolds, explaining bit by bit as to what's going on -- and changing that discomfort into something decidedly darker.

I enjoyed the overall story arc, and was pleasantly caught off guard by a couple parts the author cleverly worked in. I was also a bit confused about some of it... I'm still not clear why the author chose to include bits and pieces of a story being written by the main character. It just didn't seem to have a lot of bearing on the rest of the book -- but perhaps I'm missing something?

In general, I found it to be a satisfying novel, full of quirks that made it original enough to be enjoyable.

schmendez's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

hollysunshine's review against another edition

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5.0

The perfect combo of Horror and Psychological Thriller! I’m not usually a fan of horror, but I enjoy this author’s work, so I have it a shot. I’m glad I did!

sarahwarrengillreads's review against another edition

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4.0

Oh this book was twisted. I’m still trying to figure out exactly what happened.

I would like to point out a few TW: child, spousal, and general familial abuse, animal cruelty, and general difficult subject matters.

At times I found this book hard to read.

But it is admirable how the author takes horrific themes and spins them into a page turning story.

The follows main character Rob who seems to be leading a perfectly normal life, wife, mother of two girls, school teacher.
But nothing is exactly how it seems, husband Irving is cheating, her youngest daughter has the chicken pox and her oldest daughter has a dark streak and Rob isn’t sure what to do about it other than take her to her childhood home, Sundial, and spend some alone time with her, try to explain her past in hopes to help Callie.

Things get extremely dark in this novel so it’s not for the faint of heart readers. This book gets into your head, you’ll be going back and forth between the two conflicting narrators wondering what the hell to believe as they will seem so unreliable.

This is a really unique story and I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.