Review: Sundial by Catriona Ward

Sundial by Catriona Ward
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an ARC via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this up until the halfway point. Then it kind of dragged until the end where it picked back up, then it just kind of ended without a resolution.  I'm not a huge fan of books that are open ended, but that was clearly a choice the author made to leave things ambiguous and undone.  I would have preferred things to be a bit more wrapped up.  If you have read any of my other reviews, you know I also am not a big fan of alternating timelines, in this case the timeline alternates between Rob (the mother) then and now, and Callie (Rob's oldest daughter), as well as the story within the story that Rob was writing really took me out of the story and made the pace very slow for me.  I think this book had some really interesting concepts but the execution was a bit flawed.  Every time I started to get invested in the story, it would switch timelines and perspectives and throw me out of the story and I would have a hard time getting invested for several chapters.

This book has alot of trigger warnings, so from that perspective horror fans and psychological thriller fans may really enjoy it.  Other readers will want to stay far away from this book.  This book has animal experimentation, domestic violence, emotional abuse, drug use, miscarriage, and child abuse.

Thrillers are always hard to review because you don't want to give anything away without spoiling the book.   They are also very personal when it comes to what a person enjoys or doesn't.  I prefer much faster paced, plot driven thrillers, so the pacing of this obviously didn't work well for me.   This is mostly told from Rob's perspective both then and now, but I was more interested in her daughter Callie.  I found Callie's chapters to be the most gripping and I kept reading as I wanted to get back to her story.  I didn't find Rob to be all that likable, but again I think that was a deliberate choice by the author and her personality starts to come together and make as we find out more about her backstory and upbringing.   As we learn more about Rob, Callie also starts to make more sense.  It just takes a long time to get there.  I like what the author did with the relationship dynamics between Rob and her sister Jack as well as Rob's daughters Callie and Annie.  What you think is happening on the surface is not what it seems, and those interactions and reveals made for and interesting read.  I thought the twist was clever and unexpected, but it was overshadowed by what felt like and unfinished ending.

Overall, this was pretty good, I think a lot of people are going to love this.  This type of thriller doesn't meet all of my personal preferences, but I think the writing was good.  The setting was well described, and the characters were well despite being unlikable.  Based on the trigger warnings I gave above I'd stay away from this book if any of those things are deal breakers for you.  

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