She almost got it, too: a husband, two kids, a nice.

First published in The Tuam Herald on 08 06 22. Sundial is a new, twisty psychological horror novel from Catriona Ward, author of The Last House on Needless Street.

Perfectly made for reading while a shower of rain pitter-patters on your window, but perhaps not while sipping a pina colada by the pool. The property remains a sanctuary for Rob Cussen, who was raised there by her father. But over time, and with a series of horrific events, it comes to stand all but abandoned.

In its heyday, it was also a research lab. Sundial is never less than ominous, but is tinged with humour and not a little pathos. In the middle of the Mojave Desert, beyond the town of Bones, lies a family home called Sundial. Sundial is a little slower and more of a slow burn horror with lots of tension leading up to crazy twist. Catriona Ward is not your typical horror author. The book is grotesque from the outset, as we meet Rob and her husband, Irving, who inhabit a horror story of a marriage. This is Catriona Ward follow up to the blockbuster the Last House on Needless Street which I loved and rated 5 stars. Sundial by Catriona Ward is a horror novel. Ward is a skilled storyteller, and the characters are very well realised. Sundial by Catriona Ward is a family dysfunction horror. The story moves to unexpected places, involving animal experimentation, rituals and rites and child-like means of escape, and constantly keeps the reader on the edge of their seat.

In the context of her upbringing, Rob begins to tell the story of her unusual childhood to her daughter, whose own demons have followed them to the ranch. However, it’s not until she and Callie arrive at Sundial, Rob’s family compound in the middle of the desert, that the true horror unfolds. There is an undercurrent of foreboding that strikes up almost immediately, as Rob’s strained and toxic relationship with her husband is revealed and a wariness of her older daughter Callie is implied. Beginning in an upper-middle class suburb, Rob’s daughter has just come down with chickenpox before their next-door neighbour’s annual pool party. Sundial by Catriona Ward is one of those books that gets under your skin.

Synopsis of sundial catriona ward