Sundial by Catriona Ward

Sundial Synopsis

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.

Hardcover 302 Pages ♥ Published March 2022 ♥ Published by Tor Nightfire

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Thoughts I had while reading Sundial

(Fifty-Seven) Thoughts I had while reading Sundial by Catriona Ward. Spoilers sweetie, some of these thoughts could potentially spoil things for you, so skip on down to my Final Thoughts if you would like to avoid that.

1. I was today years old when I discovered this is my first Catriona Ward novel.
2. Wtf is a decision tree? 
3. Calm down it’s just chicken pox. 
4. Like I don’t have kids, but should she not ask them wtf their problem is? 
5. Rob and Irving have a fucked up relationship. Claire is fucked up. Everyone is fucked all the way up. What does Rob stand for anyway?
6. For the record, dissociation is not fun. Even when it’s a “welcome break”.
7. Ah, so Annie got chickenpox because Irving banged the neighbor, not the lab assistant. Irving likes to fuck around and come home with other women’s words on his tongue like a gd weirdo. I mean, if you want to trust Rob. 
8. What is too much Rob? This lady is weird af. Everyone in this book so far is sketch af. Including the children. 
9. How many affairs has Irving had? And why is this one the straw? 
10. Hold up, now I’m reading a story within a story? 
11. Could Claire have given her sister diabetes meds? I mean, sure Rob is unreliable af and Irving is a jackass but that doesn’t seem right. 
12. I forgot about the maggots on the stove. 
13. Yup. Claire weird af. 
14. Who the fuck is Jack anyway? I mean, outside of Rob’s writing. 
15. Did Rob kill Jack? Is Claire even Rob’s actual kid? Is Jack Claire’s mom? 
16. Oh dual POV from fucked up Callie. And yes, it took me this long for it to register that this kids name is not in fact Claire. (14%)
17. Is Pale Callie Jack?
18. Imaginary friend who may or may not be a ghost there Rob, if that’s even your real name. 
19. So Mia and Falcon must have been Rob’s parents. 
20. Well damn, a serial killing parent you say. Interesting. Interesting af. 
21. Pale Callie is a mind reading ghost. 
22. There’s something odd about this Burt and Lina Grainger thing, and not just the murder-suicide. 
23. Alright, flashback time. Perhaps some answers about dear Jack. Like how and when she died. (30%)
24. Twins. Interesting. Although, Jack is much older than I thought she was going to be. Clearly, she is not Pale Callie. But this twin thing.. 
25. And the warrior gene thing. 
26. This household is weird af. 
27. Oh Jack you don’t go anywhere because you are a science experiment. 
28. Well, Mia did say Rob could bond with the coyote. Awfully rude of them really. 
29. Poor jackrabbit. 
30. And what blood type is Lily?
31. Calm down Callie, she’s looking for that notebook. 
32. Or maybe not. But that seems like a Irving sized grave. Not a Callie sized one. 
33. I was wondering why Jack was the one always telling the stories of their mother. How long has Jack known? 
34. This household is weird af.  Kinda feel bad for Mia tho. 
35. Rob’s taking the fact that she just found out her sister has been lying about their mother their entire lives and that they are adopted fairly well. 
36. Is Jack high on the fungus?
37. This story is dragging along. Like nothing has actually happened. (57%)
38. So Irving is the Chevy guy. 
39. Is Rob Jack?
40. What is this promise involving Iriving ?
41. What a weird twisted revenge marriage these two have going on. 
42. Why is Irving so willing to go to Sundial, after all, they apparently took from him? 
43. Yes, Rob, Jack is forever upstaging you. You literally just showed up after two years with the man she tried to run away with or perhaps got kidnapped depending on who is telling the story. Heaven forbid the girl faint. 
44. Maybe you should have listened to Mia there Rob because this is not love. 
45. There is no such thing as normal Rob. 
46. Irving is a creep. (66%)
47. Will the real Rob please stand up? 
48. Ever hear of a condom Irving?
49. Pretty sure she would have done it sooner there Rob. Plus she definitely knew. 
50. Weird flex tho, calling your sister’s kid what you had planned to name your own. Weirder still that if both of Irving’s offspring lived they’d be half-sister cousins with Twins as their mom. (70%)
51. I knew there was something suspicious about the Grainger’s. 
52. Yup, Science experiments. 
53. Of course you are not from fucking Nebraska. 
54. Well, I wasn’t expecting Rob to just runaway again that’s for sure. 
55. You tell ‘em Mia. 
56. Why shouldn’t Irving have left Annie with Hannah? Does Annie need the click too?
57. Damn Annie.(95%)

Final Thoughts on Sundial by Catriona Ward

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Sundial considering fuck all happens. The story of Sundial, which turns out to be the name of an old family home, is mostly told in flashback form with details being revealed fairly slowly. I liked that Ward kept me guessing, there is nothing worse than figuring out all the twists and turns in a novel before you get to the final show down.

Sundial by Catriona Ward Rating

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