Sundial

By: Catriona Ward

Narrated by: Katherine Fenton

Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

“DO NOT MISS THIS BOOK. Authentically terrifying.” —Stephen King

A LibraryReads Top 10 Pick!
STARRED review from Publishers Weekly!
Anticipated and Recommended by Bustle, USA Today, CNN, i09, The Nerd Daily, LitReactor, GoodReads, LitHub, and more!

Sundial is a new, twisty psychological horror novel from Catriona Ward, internationally bestselling author of The Last House on Needless Street.

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.

"A story where nothing is what it seems—a thrilling hall of mirrors full of deeply disturbing twists. This book will haunt you." —Alex Michaelides, #1 New York Times bestselling author

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Nightfire

©2022 Catriona Ward (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

A LibraryReads Top 10 Pick!

STARRED review from Publishers Weekly!

Anticipated and Recommended by Bustle, USA Today, CNN, i09, The Nerd Daily, LitReactor, GoodReads, LitHub, and more!

“Sundial is a heart-in-the-throat smash.” —Joe Hill, New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman

“Masterful...[A] must-read for fans of gothic literature and taut psychological thrillers.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Sundial is as brilliant and moving as you would expect from a Catriona Ward book.” —Sarah Pinborough, New York Times bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes

Excellent story

I very much enjoyed this book. The performance was excellent and the story was quite intriguing. I looked forward to returning to it every time I had to step away from listening to it. Honestly, I went into this book knowing nothing about it or the author, having only seen it pop up on a “Best of Horror” list for 2022. I was excited about how good it was.

Great Story

The author once again, nails the ending. Her books are so much fun to try and guess what's going on and then you're wrong.

So different

This is my second book by Catronia Ward. I loved Needless Street, and I really loved Sundial too.
The story is grim and tense, and so deliciously twisted. Worth the credit!

Enchanting

I was smitten by this book…..the story, the setting and the characters. Written from multiple perspectives, the adolescent voices were believable!

Interesting storytelling style

The changing of perspectives and timelines made for a bread crumbing of information that was a good time. The reader did well with the different characters voices also.

I really liked it but…

But the end was a bit confusing. It was really imaginative though always keeping you guessing till the very end. The story teller was especially great, I was able to see each character pop! Overall it was a great listen.

Really liked this one

Hhhm, how do I describe this story? I guess you could call it sci-fi thriller. It’s not really horror, though there are some elements of the supernatural to it. I thought the narration was really good. The writing was excellent too. It’s a unique story that hadn’t been told yet, at least not in this way. Spoiler: there are a couple descriptions of experiments done to dogs. They weren’t overly gruesome, just cruel. But overall I really liked this story and will now seek out other things written by this author.

Holy moly! Brace yourself for crazy ride!

I was hooked the entire time—excellent narration and captivating story. I’d think I’d know where things were going, and then something else would be revealed that shattered everything I thought was going on. Very well done!

With that being said, I would recommend looking up content/trigger warnings beforehand because there’s a lot of heavy content in this book.

What a rollercoaster !

Well written. Twists and turns. Psychological chiller. I was bummed because we never got the answer about the contact lenses . I could not put the book down.

Nature vs Nurture

This book was disturbing, gut-wrenching and horrific, but somehow still somewhat enjoyable and will, for me, provoke many different and difficult questions for days to come.

There were many slow areas and I found myself looking at how much time was left, but the last quarter really took off and I couldn't stop listening.

No spoilers, but a warning: it has a lot of graphic details which include human and animal related testing and abuse. But if you're able to stick it out, you will be satisfied with the reasoning. At least, I was.

There is a story within the story (Arrow Wood) and it feels as though I've missed some significant connection, but haven't figured it out yet. Perhaps with more contemplation I'll make the connections I feel are there just under the surface...