Sundial, by Catriona Ward
I received an advance e-copy of this book for an honest review. Thank you to Tor Nightfire, NetGalley, and Catriona Ward for this ARC in exchange for my ~opinions~.
Sundial is due for publication on March 1, 2022.
What better way to start off 2022 than with a highly anticipated ~Advanced Review Copy~, am I right?
Catriona Ward’s previous book, The Last House on Needless Street, was extremely buzzy last year. It’s actually on deck for me to read ASAP (I picked it for my horror book club read this month!)
That being said, I haven’t read it yet, so I’m kind of reading her books in reverse order from most people, haha—this was my first experience with Ward's writing and I had no idea what to expect. Boy oh boy. Let’s just say I am v excited to read and discuss Needless Street, and am v happy to have snagged an advance copy of this one.
So, here we go:
Sundial, by Catriona Ward
Plot:
“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?”
It is hard to say much about the plot of this one without giving too much away, but…
Our main character is a woman named Rob. She’s married to Irving, an English professor, and they have two daughters–Callie, 12, and Annie, 9. They live in the suburbs and from the outside, have an idyllic life. But beneath the surface, Rob is hiding secrets—specifically, about her relationship with her husband, and her past growing up at Sundial, her childhood home in the Mojave Desert.
Rob’s upbringing in Sundial was unconventional, to say the least. Sundial is the home to some disturbing secrets. All Rob ever wanted was a “normal” life, and she thought she nearly achieved that—until things start to get complicated at home. Rob starts to worry about her oldest daughter, Callie, whom she discovers is collecting tiny animal bones, and who talks to friends no one else can see. A tenuous situation finally comes to a head after a near-tragedy, and Rob decides she finally has to confront the darkness in Callie, and thus the darkness in her own past. To do this, she brings Callie back to Sundial, where she sets a plan in motion to fix the things that are broken—at any cost.
Meanwhile, Callie starts to worry about her mother, who she notices acting differently—erratic and suspicious. Callie starts to wonder whether her mother really plans for both of them to return home from Sundial…
TWs for: Abuse (psychological, physical) both spousal and child, animal abuse, graphic depictions/ gore, self harm, suicidal ideation, drug use
Thoughts (no spoilers):
“Kids are mirrors, reflecting back everything that happens to them. You’ve got to make sure they’re surrounded by good things.”
This book was absolutely BANANAS, in the best way. Psychological horror + family dysfunction + weird science? Sign me up.
I went into it not knowing very much about the plot—and I’d recommend doing it that way, because the less you know the better. This is the sort of psychological horror that I absolutely love: there’s constant tension, and nothing is quite as it appears. Every time I felt like I knew where the story was going, I was hit with a twist. It’s definitely the sort of book where you’re never quite sure who the villain really is, what is reality vs fantasy, and you don’t really see the ending coming (phewww, that ending). All of these elements add up to a recipe for success, for me personally.
The book is told in dual timelines (one timeline is the present day, and the other describes Rob’s past as a kid/teenager growing up in Sundial), and also dual perspectives (most of the story is told via Rob, but we also get some chapters from Callie’s point of view). I found Callie’s chapters particularly unsettling—I always love a spooky child character, and Callie definitely provided that creep factor for me. Like, I never was really sure what was real, what was just in her head, or what to expect from this kid.
As I said, Rob’s chapters were where the meat of the story took place, and they do not disappoint. Reading her perspective felt kind of like walking through fun house mirrors—twisty, turny, terrifying, and every time you turn a corner you never end up quite where you expect. The writing throughout was seamless and compelling; I had a hard time putting the book down once I got going.
I will say this: when we first start getting introduced to the secrets at Sundial, I wasn’t super sure whether at first whether I loved that direction of things. Again, I cannot say very much here without spoiling the plot, but you’ll get it if you read the book. I’m glad I stuck it out, because even though the story at times is really kind of whacky and unbelivable, in the end the plot for me was satisfiying.
A lot of the story focuses on family dynamics and dysfunction. There was sooo much going on here that I found fascinating. It’s a story about sibling rivalry, but also unconditional sibling love. It’s a story about parenthood too, and the lengths that people will go to protect their kids. It’s also a story about how that level of unconditional love can lead to terrifying consequences.
I can’t say much else without giving things away, but I cannot stop thinking about all the moving parts between the different family members. It was really interesting to me reading about Rob’s past and her present–seeing how much Rob tried to get away from her past, but there are so many similarities between Rob’s dynamic with her daughters and Rob’s past with her family at Sundial. Ain’t it always the way, though?
It is interesting, also, to think about the story in terms of the Nature vs Nurture debate. Again, can’t say more than that without spoiling, but would love to discuss with anyone who ends up reading this one.
Anway, this book is not for the faint of heart. Definitely a lot of triggering content here, so be forewarned. I would say especially if you are sensitive to horror content involving animals (dogs in particular, in this case), go in knowing this is gonna be a rocky one for you. I would say that this isn’t gratuitous because it’s really central to the entire plot, but it is still difficult at times to get through.
The only thing I didn’t really like about this book were the “book within a book” chapters. I didn’t enjoy reading them and I didn’t really feel like they added anything to the plot—these sections felt disjointed from the rest of the story and they could have been removed entirely, in my opinion.
Overall though, I enjoyed this! Definitely a book of constant tension, darkness, dysfunction, and creep-factor. I’m looking forward to reading more by this author.