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A review by estuaryaerosmith
Sundial by Catriona Ward
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!
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!