Rob lives in perpetual fear of her eldest daughter, Callie, whose unsettling fascination with tiny bones and whispered conversations with imaginary friends hint at a nascent darkness. This ominous presence reminds Rob of her own hidden past and the family she desperately tried to escape. When Callie's behavior escalates, posing a potential threat to her younger sister Annie, Rob sees only one desperate solution: a return to Sundial, her desolate childhood home deep within the Mojave Desert. This isolated, sun-baked landscape becomes the crucible where Rob intends to confront Callie's disturbing tendencies, believing she must make an unthinkable choice to protect her family. However, Callie harbors her own fears, increasingly wary of her mother's strange gazes and the unsettling secrets Rob begins to reveal. As they journey deeper into the desert's heart and their shared, fractured past, both mother and daughter are haunted by the terrifying possibility that only one of them will emerge from Sundial alive, trapped in a gothic tale of family trauma and escalating dread.
Critical Reception
"Praised by literary giants like Stephen King and Ian Rankin, 'Sundial' is hailed as a gripping, individual, and twisted gothic masterpiece that solidifies Catriona Ward's status as a master of psychological horror."