'SUNDIAL'......ANOTHER WORLD CLASS CHILLER FROM OUR NEW FAVORITE AUTHOR.....

         

          Our reaction to "Sundial" mirrors the reaction we had to "The Last House On Needless Street", this author's previous excursion in thrills and horror. (check out our rave review posted on 7/5/21)

             Wow. Simply wow. Once again, blown away by Catriona Ward's ability to take you on the darkest journeys imaginable. As in "Needless Street",  the author excels at practically world-building her own nightmare universe from which there's no escape. The feeling of dread here becomes so palpable, you can sense early on that few of these characters are going to get out of this alive.

               Housewife Rob seemingly leads a typical suburban family life with her professor husband Irving and her two young daughters, 12 year old Callie and 9 year old Annie. But it's a marriage gone toxic to its very core. Irving's given to physically abusing Rob when the moment strikes him. Callie's succumbing to dark thoughts and impulses, which may have led her to an attempt on Annie's life.

             While Annie's recovering from Chicken Pox, Rob impulsively decides on a rescue mission to restore her daughter's sanity as well as her own. To Irving's ominous displeasure, she takes Callie away to visit Sundial, the sprawling, now abandoned Mojave Desert ranch where Rob grew up with her twin sister, Jack.

            And here at Sundial a place haunted with terrible secrets and memories,  the novel plunges deeply into unheard of realms of human cruelty and family dysfunction. As Rob struggles with her tortured past and Callie falls further into her disturbing imaginary world, Sundial's darkest twists and most disgusting horrors are revealed, one by one.......

            ........which we wouldn't dream of discussing in detail since that would spoil the demented funhouse ride this book takes you on.

            Reading Catriona Ward's first book gave us the same kind of Wow Factor thrill we had when we picked up Stephen King's "Carrie' many years ago. We became a King fan for life and the exact same thing has happened again......which means you'll find BQ first in line for every Ward book from now on. Without a doubt a 5 star stunner. (*****) an up-all-night FIND OF FINDS.