Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Sundial by Catriona Ward

67 reviews

jrocbutterfly's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This book passes a little slowly at the beginning but does not take long to Amp up to a full throttle roller coaster. Told from 2 perpecrives, one of Rob and one of her daughter Callie. Sundial is a terrifying tale of the question, does human experience or true nature make a person evil. Or is it a little bit of both. Ward keeps you guessing through the whole book on what is true, what you truly know, and what really happened. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Addiction, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Animal death

Minor: Child death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abortion, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

lionfish_22's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gaslighting, Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Gore, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

kingkiller99's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Murder

elbauer002's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Blood, Murder, Animal death, Death, and Pregnancy

ehoustonmyatt's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Violence, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Drug use, Addiction, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Animal death, Miscarriage, Blood, Confinement, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

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

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

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