Sundial by Catriona Ward is a family dysfunction horror. This is Catriona Ward follow up to the blockbuster the Last House on Needless Street which I loved and rated 5 stars. Sundial is a little slower and more of a slow burn horror with lots of tension leading up to crazy twist. This novel has two main perspectives Rob the mother to two young girls Callie and Annie, Callie is the other perspective we view. The twist come all at the end and for the most part they’re good and make sense to the narrative. They’re two narratives one in the present which was super tense and one in the past takes a really long long time to get going, I felt it was overly long and took a while to get interesting. Most of the twist are in the past but it takes so long to get there. The theme of Sundial is control, heredity, and obedience which is layered throughout this piece. The horror is intense situations, creepy visions, and brief moments of gore.

The Plot Synopsis: Rob is convinced her husband Irving is having an affair because Annie their daughter got chicken pox. She’s sure it is the next door neighbor. Callie the other daughter is being extremely difficult, Callie is different and not Rob’s favorite child. Callie has a mischievous imaginary friend who she call Pale Callie and an imaginary dog that she keep one of her bones on her at all times, Callie has a thing for bones and death. Annie is found throwing up after she has an overdose of her father diabetic medicine. Rob freaks out and takes Callie to her childhood home to keep her youngest daughter safe, but Rob has a secret that might kill her and her daughter to tell.

What I Liked: The tension is created on page one and does not go away. The twist are good and really save this sometimes slow burn novel. There’s twist upon twist. I loved the story line that is formed in the present so much. Callie is a great character and her imaginary friend are creepy but do serve a purpose at the end which I really liked. The final twist was a great one that really works with the theme of control, heredity and obedience. I liked the family dynamic of the past.

What I Disliked: How slow the past backstory was. the simple fix would of have it be have the story more layered in past and present, since the sisters in the past reflect the sister’s in the present. Rob and Irving were both bad parents, there’s a change in the way one character see’s another because one charter hits another but earlier the other character hit the same character, so there should be no switch in loyalty.

Recommendations: Catriona Ward is a fantastic writer I didn’t like this as much as The Last House on Needless Street, but she still delivers a creepy horror that you will have no idea where it is heading. I recommend this novel, for horror lovers that love psychological horror. Be prepared for some slow moment with the story about the past but it has a huge pay off in a series of twist. I rated Sundial by Catriona Ward 4 out of 5 stars.