Published By: Viper
Pages: 352
Released On: 10/03/2022
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.
*****
Thanks to Viper for an advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I haven’t read Catriona’s previous book – The Last House on Needless Street – so didn’t have any expectations from this book, other than that she’s a voice to be reckoned with.
Sundial is tantalising and eery and creepy right from the off. No-one is quite who you think they are and you start to question the trustworthiness of the narrators. It’s full of twists and turns at neck-breaking speed.
It makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up as you want to know what happens, but you want to cover your eyes. It’s not comfortable, it keeps you on edge, and you’re keeping one eye over your shoulder, waiting for someone to appear.
It’s mainly set in one or two settings with only 2-4 characters, but instead of it being static or repetitive, it’s claustrophobic and haunting.
I do believe Catriona will be a go-to author in the not-so-distant future; as Laura Purcell is my go-to for gothic fiction, J.K Rowling for intellectual children’s books, and Hilary Mantel for historical stories, Catriona will be the one for mind-bending thrillers.
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