Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Sundial by Catriona Ward

172 reviews

jesssicawho's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Another 5-star Catriona Ward novel. She has become a must-read, instant-buy author for me. 

This story was particularly haunting and emotional for me. The theme of a mother's boundless love for her daughter resonated. But, you know, with horror and generational trauma because it's Catriona Ward.

Definitely read the TWs for this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, and Toxic relationship

lebishop13's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is very possibly the most terrifying book I've ever read. It's definitely going to keep me thinking for a looooong time. Read it, so we can think about it together. 

From the start, Rob's relationship with her husband, her family, and the world around her is bizarre and kind of skewed. You can't quite put your finger on what is so unsettling. Every time you find something else out, you have to just keep asking yourself, "but why?!"

And then the pieces start coming together. And you can't look away. But are they coming together? The two narrators are so at odds with each other, you really don't know who to trust. 

I can picture this as movie with a really strong color palette that changes as the plot progresses or depending on whose POV you're in.

There's also some really great unspoken commentary on the ethics of science which was the cherry on top of this thriller. 

Read this if you like thrillers with the house/setting as a character, along with unreliable narrators, and a dash of ethics thrown in. 

TW: abuse - child, spouse, animal

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Miscarriage, Death, Death of parent, Addiction, and Self harm

jet_nebula's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Infidelity, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Violence, Domestic abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Pregnancy and Self harm

Minor: Child death

marselise's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Animal death, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Gore and Infidelity

bittersquirrel's review

challenging dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Domestic abuse

kwoz1008's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Murder, Death, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse

bookish_af's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Medical trauma, Confinement, Murder, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Pregnancy, Bullying, Child death, and Medical content

belacqua's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

A chilling story about what we're willing to do to protect ourselves and those we love from trauma.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Child abuse

selkelite's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

A good fun read, somewhat marred by the comparison to Needless Street, Catriona’s previous and far better outing. 

Having read a couple of her other novels, it’s interesting to note just how obsessed she is with siblings, especially siblings who swap places in the plot and hide deep dark secrets about their relationship with each other. I’m not sure the ‘twists’ here were entirely successful — but I did feel the characters strongly as whole people, which is impressive when the plot is quite so outlandish as it is here. 

Side note: this book needs an enormous trigger warning for animal cruelty and animal death.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Domestic abuse

a_novel_craving's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Grief, Animal death, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Death, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, and Self harm