Book Review: The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

 

Book: The Sanatorium 

Author: Sarah Pearse 

Pages: 400

Read on: Kindle 

Read in: 4 hours 

Plot Summary: Half-hidden by forest and overshadowed by threatening peaks, Le Sommet has always been a sinister place. Long plagued by troubling rumors, the former abandoned sanatorium has since been renovated into a five-star minimalist hotel.

An imposing, isolated getaway spot high up in the Swiss Alps is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But Elin’s taken time off from her job as a detective, so when her estranged brother, Isaac, and his fiancée, Laure, invite her to celebrate their engagement at the hotel, Elin really has no reason not to accept.

Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge–there’s something about the hotel that makes her nervous. And when they wake the following morning to discover Laure is missing, Elin must trust her instincts if they hope to find her. With the storm closing off all access to the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.

Elin is under pressure to find Laure, but no one has realized yet that another woman has gone missing. And she’s the only one who could have warned them just how much danger they are all in.

Things I Liked:

1. The premise of this book seemed really interesting. A creepy sanatorium-turned-into-a-posh-hotel, an unknown killer, multiple murders and a cop with PTSD on the hunt. What is not to like? I was expecting an atmospheric, taut and pacy book. 

2. The setting of the story pretty much makes this book. A posh hotel up high in the Swiss Alps. A posh hotel with a mysterious and scary past. An avalanche and some guests getting trapped along with staff members at the hotel. In some ways, the setting was very similar to Ruth Ware's One By One.  

3. The book starts off really well. Elin and her boyfriend- Will's- arrival at the hotel. Elin's highly strained relationship with her brother- Issac, whose engagement party she has come to attend. Flashes from Elin's past about the death of her youngest brother and how she suspected Isaac of killing him. So, the first 30-40% of the book is really atmospheric and taut. I wish the author had kept up the momentum for the rest of the book as well! 

4. The killer's identity is fairly well concealed and not very easy to guess, which is a win, I guess. More on this later. 

5. The ending has a nice little eerie twist, not unexpected but eerie nonetheless. 

Things I Didn't Like:

1. Oh boy! Where do I even start? This book has been hyped up by every crime book blogger of any influence! Not just that, this is the February pick by Reese Witherspoon's Book Club! Reese even did stories claiming she loved this book. *eye roll* Anyway, so, it is extra disappointing when an over-hyped book like this turns out to be a damp squib! This book was such a disappointment! It was not atmospheric at all. There was no consistent or even escalating sense of impending doom or edge-of-the-seat excitement. The book is almost ponderous and dull! There is no rising sense of urgency as the death toll rises!   

2. The murders themselves are very lacklustre! The author has shown the killer almost killing two of his/her victims and those chapters are very badly written. I hope the author does a better job of writing murder scenes in her next book. 

3. The motive for the murders is a bit.. how do I put it.. out there! I mean, the motive for the first murder makes sense, but then onwards, the rest of the murders are for no really good reason. Also, the killer's identity will come as a bit of a surprise, not thanks to any skill of the author, but because there are zero breadcrumbs or indicators given throughout the book. Like I said, the motive for the murders and the identity of the killer is very, very bizarre. This need not have been a spree killing at all! 

4. Also, because the killer's motive and the killer himself/herself is so out of the left field that the poor PTSD detective does no detecting at all! I don't know why she needed to be there in the book! It could've been anyone from the hotel staff or a guest who could've done what Elin did. 

5. Elin's tragic childhood and her obsession with her youngest brother's death and her suspicion of her brother Isaac were sub-plots that were weak, under-developed and, ergo, really boring! These were just time wasters and all the chapters or paragraphs referring to these events should've been edited out of the book! 

6. I could not connect with Elin at all. She is so under-developed. Actually, each and every character in the book is under-developed. There is not even superficial level detail or characteristics about any of them that will make you as a reader connect with them! All you will know about Elin is- she has PTSD from an encounter with a killer, she has repressed memories of her youngest brother's death, she thinks her other brother is a sociopath and she has a lukewarm relationship with her boyfriend. Anyway, she is a dull character. 

Rating: 2/5 

Avoid!