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Sundial Hardcover – March 1, 2022
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“DO NOT MISS THIS BOOK. Authentically terrifying.” ―Stephen King
WINNER of Best Hardcover Novel at the ITW Thriller Awards • Finalist for the Bram Stoker and Locus Awards • Shortlisted for the British Fantasy Award for Best Horror Novel • LibraryReads Top 10 Pick • A GoodReads Choice Award Finalist for Best Horror!
Sharp as a snakebite, Sundial is a gripping novel about the secrets we bury from the ones we love most, from Catriona Ward, the author of The Last House on Needless Street.
Rob has spent her life running from Sundial, the family’s ranch deep in the Mojave Desert, and her childhood memories.
But she’s worried about her daughter, Callie, who collects animal bones and whispers to imaginary friends. It reminds her of a darkness that runs in her family, and Rob knows it’s time to return.
Callie is terrified of her mother. Rob digs holes in the backyard late at night, and tells disturbing stories about growing up on the ranch. Soon Callie begins to fear that only one of them will leave Sundial alive...
“This book will haunt you.”―Alex Michaelides, New York Times bestselling author
"An unthinkable feat." ―The New York Times Book Review
- Print length304 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherTor Nightfire
- Publication dateMarch 1, 2022
- Dimensions6.37 x 1.1 x 9.58 inches
- ISBN-101250812682
- ISBN-13978-1250812681
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Editorial Reviews
Review
A LibraryReads Top 10 Pick • A GoodReads Choice Award Finalist for Best Horror • Starred review from Publishers Weekly!
“DO NOT MISS THIS BOOK. Authentically terrifying.” ―Stephen King
“Sundial is a heart-in-the-throat smash.” ―Joe Hill, New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman
“Ward is surely one of the most talented writers working in the thriller genre today. 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
"Ward coaxes Rob’s gruesome past open like a toxic flower. ...And yet at its core, Sundial is about resilience. …And that, in itself, is an unthinkable feat." ―The New York Times Book Review
“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
“Sundial is yet another example of Ward’s ability to create a profoundly unsettling scenario and drive it to a point of explosive terror. Dizzying, intimate, haunting.” ―Sarah Gailey, author of The Echo Wife
“Sundial serves up a deeply, deliciously disturbing family mystery.” ―ShelfAwareness
“As if we needed further evidence, Sundial confirms Catriona Ward as one of the brightest stars in horror fiction. As compelling and unique a voice for the 21st century as Shirley Jackson was for the 20th. She’s brilliant.” ―Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Road of Bones and Ararat
“Holy moly, Sundial plumbs the psychological depths and traps of toxic relationships, expertly mixing suspense, shocks, and menace. It's a wild, twisted family gothic unlike any you've read before, and one you won't soon forget.” ―Paul Tremblay, author of Survivor Song and A Head Full of Ghosts
“This novel is reminiscent of the best of Shirley Jackson and Joyce Carol Oates, and I cannot think of higher praise.” ―Thomas Olde Heuvelt, author of Hex and Echo
“There are two things you must know about Sundial. First, it's a great read, a genius piece of storytelling. But second, this is true horror, the horror of everyday life that we make ourselves blind to, horror that is brutal, truthful, terrifying. Ward knows horror.” ―Alma Katsu, author of The Fervor
"This is every bit as creepy, individual and gripping as The Last House on Needless Street. Bravo."―Ian Rankin, bestselling author of the Rebus thrillers
“No one is as expert as Catriona at pulling the rug out from under the reader's feet. It's eerily beautiful, haunting, wild, grotesque and darkly dazzling.” ―Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne
“Ward has done it again with Sundial. Elegantly horrifying, this tale of a family's darker-than-dark past drives the knife in deep and isn't afraid to twist. It's a desert-dust nightmare with a scorpion's sting, and I LOVED it.” ―Emma Stonex, author of The Lamplighters
“A deeply dark and unexpected tale about families, love, hate, the long shadow of the past, and the redemptive power of storytelling. Clever, poetic and immersive.” ―Araminta Hall, author of Imperfect Women
“Absolutely, stunningly, heartbreakingly wonderful. A wild beast of a book.” ―Virginia Feito, author of Mrs. March
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Tor Nightfire (March 1, 2022)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 304 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1250812682
- ISBN-13 : 978-1250812681
- Item Weight : 1.06 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.37 x 1.1 x 9.58 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #215,526 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #304 in Ghost Thrillers
- #5,521 in Psychological Thrillers (Books)
- #15,244 in Suspense Thrillers
- Customer Reviews:
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About the author

CATRIONA WARD was born in Washington, DC and grew up in the United States, Kenya, Madagascar, Yemen, and Morocco. She read English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford and is a graduate of the Creative Writing MA at the University of East Anglia.
'The Last House on Needless Street' (Viper Books, Tor Nightfire) was a Times Book of the Month, Observer Book of the Month, March Editor’s Pick on Open Book, a Between the Covers BBC2 book club selection, a Times bestseller, and is being developed for film by Andy Serkis’s production company, The Imaginarium.
'Little Eve' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2018) won the 2019 Shirley Jackson Award and the August Derleth Prize for Best Horror Novel at the 2019 British Fantasy Awards, making her the only woman to have won the prize twice, and was a Guardian best book of 2018. Her debut Rawblood (W&N, 2015) won Best Horror Novel at the 2016 British Fantasy Awards, was shortlisted for the Author’s Club Best First Novel Award and a WHSmith Fresh Talent title. Her short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies. She lives in London and Devon.
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Sundial has amazing prose and visionary word play.
Very different, very emotionally deep. This book is a hard description to give, it's very complex, very different. I don't know how to explain it without giving too much of it away. It's one of those books that you're either going to love or you're going to hate, there's really no in between and yet that is where I am in reviewing this book.
I absolutely loved this book and it makes me wonder what reality the book was trying to give me. It's such a hard book to explain, there is moments of pure anticipation, pure adrenaline running in you as the reader turning the pages, but yet then there are moments you're confused and there becomes a lackluster moments of mundane trivial descriptions or ongoing situations with the characters yet that is it's ultimate appeal in creating something strange and new. This book bled originality.
The whole book comes together in odd ways. I know I'm not making any sense with this review but that is how hard it is to describe this novel. It deals with aspects of good and evil or the bad nature, the bad genes of a person. The nature versus nurture reality, the alterations of those genes changing someone or at least trying to change someone.
Catriona Ward has a deep and dark and complex way of creating her characters. She is amazing at creating personalities, bringing personalities off the page into living beings. Each of the characters in the story are hard, or impersonal. They are deep and dark, each of the characters have a somewhat bad nature to them and somewhat good nature to them, but all of them have their flaws.
Even though the book is so odd and different and is something that stands out above and beyond other certain books you can't help but want to turn the page or want to know what happens next to these deviant, somewhat twisted, somewhat disturbing, somewhat odd lost souls.
In the end the conclusion of the story unfolds and all answers are on the front of the line of the story and just when you think you know what is happening or going on, a twist, a turn, and 360 in alteration of plot sends you spiraling down into another complex reality that has not made itself known until the next page is turned.
A thick mystery with tight exploration of human ideas and what if realities. In the end I loved this book. It came together in an unfolding narrative through the characters inside the book. From Rob to Callie weaved together through the past and the present. The ending is flooring and down right perfect in my viewpoint because in the end what really is the outcome. Will the race to arrive conclude or will the characters be forced down another path, that is all for your imagination to create.
Ward gave a sweet little tale of a complex plot. A novel with so many twists and turns and realities I never saw coming. That is what makes this book so different. I had no knowledge of where this story was going and what in reality was happening. Ward gave a perfect trip of confusion with the unfolding plot. You the reader had no real idea of what was taking place and why it was taking place and what the ultimate conclusion was going to be.
Would I Return to it Again: I want to know. I want a part 2. I want to adventure with these characters again and its unfolding realities. This is a hard book to describe and to bring to the front of what reality is taking place. I think multiple readings might be needed to fully understand the plot and narrative.
Would I Recommend: That is a touchy reality. Like I say this is a hard book to explain. And its a hard book to recommend because your going to have to enter this book with total blank slate within the thought on how a book can unfold, because this book unfolds in odd spiraling ways that might not make sense to a lot of readers. But in my viewpoint I enjoyed it and really loved the final show down and even the shocking ending held me with a giddy little smile on my face.
My Rating: 4 out of 5
Four Final Words: Mind Numbing, Complex Narrative.
It also contains a hundreds of pages worth of a flashback that ends up basically being the whole story. Because the flashback is so necessary to understand the weight of the current story, it needs to be present, however, it felt long and dragging in a lot of parts. The beginning of this book had be intrigued! It was eerie, unsettling, gross, everything I like in a horror! But as the flashback starts it loses that intriguing steam and the book only really picks back up again at the end.
I don't like reading anything about animal abuse or experiments done on animals at all so I'm biased against that, unfortunately and that also brings down my rating for this novel.
That being said, the beginning and the end are superb. I think it's written well, the style is unique and mostly narrative which I know many may not enjoy but I think it adds to the atmosphere of the story. The characters are really interesting to me and I wish I knew a little more about them, especially Callie and Annie. Irving is repulsive and I love hating him. And Rob is complex in a way that I believe her as a character and she seems like a real person.
I give the book 3⭐️! If it were a little faster paced and didn't focus so heavily on the animal torture, I would have enjoyed it more
This is, hands down, one of the most enthralling and addictive horror reads I've ever gotten my hands on. I plowed through this book in a matter of days, walking away only to work and sleep and sometimes shower and feed myself.
The story is modern, horrifying with a scientific element, and keeps you guessing till the last chapter. It is high-brow horror, a gothic tale that is mysterious and also unnerving. The plot will have you pondering the nature of goodness, how we are affected by trauma, and if we should try to fix our most broken parts.
Top reviews from other countries
Well this was my first Catriona Ward book and a very entertaining read!
The narrative is complex, so if you like easy books then this isn't for you. Personally I love switching back and forth in time, dual narratives and lots of interesting plot devices, so I felt fully immersed in the story.
I really enjoyed the author's writing. Her wording and descriptions were great and made me feel like I was right there in the desert. She also captured different characters really well, especially the weirdness of some. I loved the whole bizarre concept of Sundial and can imagine places like that existing in remote areas, albeit without the strange science experiments.
Speaking of science experiments gone wrong, that is definitely my bag! It also meant I was desperate to find out what was really going on, so that kept me powering through.
It lost a star for me on a few points:
1. There were some obvious plot holes. I can see it might've come from some late macro editing by the author, but her editor should've picked up on these. This is especially important when you're playing around with timelines, easy to miss.
2. It was longer than it needed to be. The Arrowhead sections seemed unnecessary.
3. It had some great twists, but the majority of them came too late in the book so you could see them coming. However, this could have been the author's intention.
Overall I found this really entertaining to read. It's not exactly pleasant, and in fact it's important to note trigger warnings for: domestic abuse, child abuse and animal cruelty. But even still, I wanted to keep going. Definitely a good slow burn horror.



















