Movies, Shows, & Books: BLOG TOUR: Sundial by Catriona Ward

Thursday, February 24, 2022

BLOG TOUR: Sundial by Catriona Ward

Welcome to the Official Blog Tour for Sundial by Award-winning and International Bestselling Author Catriona Ward. Today, on our tour stop, we have a sneak peek with an excusive excerpt AND a tour-wide giveaway to share. So... Be sure to check it out and pre-order your copy now! Follow the tour, HERE.

Genre:

Adult

Psychological Thriller/Horror

Publish Date:

March 1, 2022

Publisher:

Tor Nightfire

Synopsis:

Sundial is a new, twisty psychological horror novel from Catriona Ward, internationally bestselling author of The Last House on Needless Street.

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.

*Excerpt*

ROB

Pt. 3

Callie is talking high and feverish in the kitchen. “And they caught him,” she says, “because of the gas station surveillance footage. That’s where he bought the cement.”

“Where did you hear that, sweetie?” Irving says with an edge in his voice. I almost feel sorry for him. Callie likes to talk about murder at breakfast. “What have you been reading?”

“Just stuff,” says Callie. “Just around. The woman was acquitted. It’s difficult to prove. They had injected him with air, just air! It causes a pulmonary em-bo-lism. Emblamism? No, embolism.”

I join Irving at the coffee maker. “Annie has chicken pox,” I say quietly. “I don’t understand how it’s possible. When was she exposed? And she’s vaccinated.”

“It’s not a hundred percent effective.” Irving’s eyes are sunk deep in dark pouches, gleaming like secrets. Last night was a bad one.

“Trust us to be in the unlucky percent,” I say.

He smiles tightly and spoons oatmeal into Callie’s bowl. Cartoon deer run around the inner rim, just above the mealy grounds. He adds four slices of strawberry and begins to pour on that sickly syrup Callie likes. I place a warning hand on his shoulder. Not too much. Callie’s body seems to refuse to tell her when she’s full. If she is not gently checked, she will eat until she is in agony, until she throws up. I can’t handle two sick children today.

Irving shrugs me off like a horse flicking away a fly and keeps pouring syrup. Irving loves sweet things but cannot have them. He stuffs his daughter with the food he longs to eat. But he’s not the one who stays up with her at night.

Callie sits at the table, watching us. She saw me trying to stop him pouring her too much syrup, I know she did. Unease bubbles up. I can never tell what Callie is thinking.

Praise for Sundial

“Sundial is a heart-in-the-throat smash.” ―Joe Hill, New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman

“Ward is surely one of the most talented writers working in the thriller genre today. This book will haunt you.” ―Alex Michaelides, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Masterful...[A] must-read for fans of gothic literature and taut psychological thrillers.” ―Publishers Weekly, starred review

“As if we needed further evidence, Sundial confirms Catriona Ward as one of the brightest stars in horror fiction. As compelling and unique a voice for the 21st century as Shirley Jackson was for the 20th. She’s brilliant.” ―Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Road of Bones and Ararat

“Holy moly, Sundial plumbs the psychological depths and traps of toxic relationships, expertly mixing suspense, shocks, and menace. It's a wild, twisted family gothic unlike any you've read before, and one you won't soon forget.” ―Paul Tremblay, author of Survivor Song and A Head Full of Ghosts

“This novel is reminiscent of the best of Shirley Jackson and Joyce Carol Oates, and I cannot think of higher praise.” ―Thomas Olde Heuvelt, author of Hex and Echo

“There are two things you must know about Sundial. First, it's a great read, a genius piece of storytelling. But second, this is true horror, the horror of everyday life that we make ourselves blind to, horror that is brutal, truthful, terrifying. Catriona Ward knows horror.” ―Alma Katsu, author of The Fervor

“Catriona Ward has done it again with Sundial. Elegantly horrifying, this tale of a family's darker-than-dark past drives the knife in deep and isn't afraid to twist. It's a desert-dust nightmare with a scorpion's sting, and I LOVED it.” ―Emma Stonex, author of The Lamplighters

“It's a cracker, even better than The Last House on Needless Street. It was dark, and unsettling, and creepy and enthralling.” ―Lisa Hall, bestselling author of The Party

“A deeply dark and unexpected tale about families, love, hate, the long shadow of the past, and the redemptive power of storytelling. Clever, poetic and immersive.” ―Araminta Hall, author of Imperfect Women

“Absolutely, stunningly, heartbreakingly wonderful. A wild beast of a book.” ―Virginia Feito, author of Mrs. March

~~~~~

**About the Author**

Photo Content from Catriona Ward

Award-winning and International Bestselling Author Catriona Ward was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in the United States, Kenya, Madagascar, Yemen, and Morocco. She studied English at the University of Oxford and later earned her master’s degree in creative writing at the University of East Anglia. Ward won the August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel for her debut, The Girl from Rawblood, and again for Little Eve, making her the first woman to win the prize twice. Little Eve also won the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel, and will be published by Nightfire.

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