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Sundial by Catriona Ward

 

Title: Sundial

Author: Catriona Ward

Genre: Horror

Published: 3/1/22 by TOR Nightfire

I received a copy for review from the publisher through Netgalley.

Rob is a wife and mother of two. It seems like such a normal life until you look a little bit closer. Her daughter Callie is showing troubling signs like collecting animal bones and talking to imaginary friends. Rob takes Callie to Sundial, where she grew up with her family, to face the past.

A great sense of mystery and foreboding fills every chapter of this novel. The characters are not likable, but they are fascinating. The Mohave Desert setting of Sundial provides an atmosphere of death and isolation. Hot days and cold nights leave the desert feeling as inhospitable as the eerie events involved in the story. This book started slow, but finished strong. It took a while to get into  the story, but then it got more compelling as the story went on. I recommend Sundial to fans of psychological horror stories featuring characters with complicated pasts and relationships with each other.

Content Warning: death and abuse to animals and humans, mental illness, drug abuse.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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