In Sarah Pearse’s exciting debut, Elin Warner a detective on extended leave travels from England with her boyfriend, Will, to a new and trendy hotel in the isolated Swiss Alps to visit her brother, Isaac, and his fiancée, Laure. The hotel, a former sanatorium with a dubious history, is set high in the mountains, up winding roads with sheer drop offs and reached by funicular. There are avalanche warnings when storms kick up and then when Elin and Will check-in, the sky is already bruised and windy in preparation for an oncoming snowstorm.

With the four set for a wintery vacation to celebrate the engagement, emotions are off. There is a tenseness between the siblings; something unnerving harkening back to their childhood and when Laure goes missing after the first night and a few droplets of blood are found on the carpet in Isaac’s hotel room, Elin’s detective skills kick in.

She finds out that before the grand opening, the hotel already suffered from misfortune. The lead architect mysteriously disappeared before the hotel was finished and many residents of the surrounding village actively protested the renovation and re-opening of the building. As predicted the impending storm arrives and traps guests and staff at the hotel, cutting them off from police and rescue services. Out of her jurisdiction and out of practice, Elin is on the case solo as bodies start to pile up.

Pearse offers no bloat to any scene or character. Every ounce of story is filled with thrilling suspense and unpredictable shocks. The Sanatorium will whet the appetite for readers craving a sleek and twisty mystery with the locked room appeal of an Agatha Christie whodunnit.

I had higher hopes than what I got out of The Sanatorium, and I think the biggest pitfall was the sense of the author trying too hard to make it all work in a believable and thrilling manner. The location and overall setting were fantastic, and a great start to this story, but adding in the protagonist of Detective Warner and her history made it feel as though Pearse was attempting to add depth to a mystery that already had a solid foundation. The wordiness/page length is also a bit much for my taste, but I can definitely see this appealing to many a reader of thriller/suspense who are only in it for the basic story of a mystery to solve.

I have seen a lot of lack luster reviews for this novel and I am really not sure why- it’s quite good. I would say if you're looking for a good solid mystery to keep you excited on a cold winter day, this would be a really good option. It’s interesting and moody and the setting is really cool!

The Sanatorium is a thrill ride of a read. Elin and her boyfriend travel high up into the Alps to celebrate her brother's new engagement, however the celebration quickly goes down hill when a storm rolls in and an avalanche isolates the hotel from civilization. When one person turns up murdered, Elin has to face her fears in order to understand the horrific murder and stop more from happening.

An intriguingly atmospheric thriller...but one ultimately flawed by the characters' lack of development. Wonderful premise, but the novel fails to catch fire.

***Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
I could not get through this book. I tried and the atmosphere was right to pull me in, but there were too many other things bringing this book down.

This book was not for me, but others may enjoy it. Didn't care much for the characters. Thought it had potential, but now sorry I wasted my time on it. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Viking for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

If you like a creepy atmospheric thriller with a murder mystery, then you’ll love this one. Pearse certainly brought the setting to life and there was never a moment where I didn’t feel the eerie, unnerving sense that something was terribly wrong with the luxury hotel Elin and her boyfriend find themselves at. The mystery itself was just alright. There were certainly clues that something was not right with the character who ended up being the villain. It was an entertaining read for sure, but there were just some off-notes in character behavior that didn’t make sense and jarred the story at times.

I think this will appeal to readers of atmospheric thrillers, but it wasn’t my favorite. It tried to do too much and came up short on a few.

Decent thriller , but did not wow me . It would have been a great Criminal Minds episode though. Elin Warner and her fiancee are invited to Le Sommet, a hotel , which was a former sanatarium in the Alps of Switzerland. The invitation was from her brother and his fiance. A massive snow storm comes and strands them, dead bodies are found with rubber masks from the sanatarium, her brother's fiancee disappears and more bodies keep showing up with violent graphic deaths. I found it ok but just when you think the kills are for one reason, then it turns into another. I was a bit lost. A bit of a wait for answers. Was ok but not my fave.

Nice creepy book! Perfect to read at night and scare yourself like I did!! I loved the location and the ideas of turning a massive old historic sanatorium into hotel.

This was a tough one for me. On the one hand its a very atmospheric thriller with some great description and good dramatic tension. On the other its a not so brilliantly executed mystery with one of the most inept investigators I've ever seen who spends of the book having her job mansplained to her by her incredibly horrible brother and significant other.

Elin was a rising star in the London police before a botched investigation left her with PTSD and the fear that she may never be able to work again. When her estranged brother invites her and her boyfriend to his fiancees new ski lodge in the Swiss Alps she hopes that this may be the chance to come to terms not just with her fears but with a tragedy from her past. Then people start dying and an avalanche leaves the lodge cut off from everyone, trapped with a murderer enacting a terrifying revenge.

The setting really is marvelous. The hotel is a remodeled sanatorium that treated TB patients hundreds of years ago and the super sensitive Elin finds the entire place sterile and horribly frightening. Author Sarah Pearse's descriptions are excellent, much of my initial delighted fear was invoked entirely on the images she conjured in my head of the stark mountains, endless snow and this huge, strange building echoing with horrifying memories of death and pain.

What I had a hard time with was the notion that Elin was ever a competent enough cop to rise so far in the ranks because frankly she's utterly awful at her job. The blind blundering around she does in the course of her investigation as the body count continues to rise and time runs out is truly staggering.

The worst thing though is the way men and women are portrayed. I am well aware how colored my reading life has become these days. I don't know if its good or bad or simply inevitable to see everything I read through the eyes of a woman in 2020. Every single time a man explains a woman's job to her, hits on her with thinly veiled harassing language and sexual aggression, does something "for her own good" or treats as anything less than an equal I just cringe. And then I get kind of angry.

Both the male characters in this book are all kinds of awful. Elin's boyfriend is the poster boy for "a nice guy." On the outside he's the perfect supportive boyfriend. Kind, loving and attentive and sympathetic to his girlfriend's issues, willing to wait for her to sort herself out. But it doesn't take long for him to reveal himself as a pandering douche who belittles the severe trauma Elin's been through (someone tried to kill her AND her mother just fucking died) as something she just needs to get over already, keeps remarking on how "changed" she is and how much he wishes she'd go back to the way she was, repeatedly questions her ability to do the job she's trained to do to the point of demanding he be allowed to do it for her (he's an architect or something) and demanding that she commit to moving in with him or they'll break up. Its infuriating every time they interact particularly because almost all their scenes involve Elin apologizing for being victimized in horrible ways.

Her brother is a straight up sociopath who spent most of their childhood abusing her and her younger brother before abandoning Elin without a word and leaving her to care for their mother as she slowly died from cancer, he couldn't be bothered to come to the funeral giving the excuse that he couldn't get off work. He's manipulative and horribly verbally abusive from the moment he joins the story and treats Elin like absolute crap. He's literally entirely unlikable. But rather than have him ever acknowledge any of his past actions or his general rottenness as a human being instead we're told that its really Elin who's just been misjudging everything he's ever done and really she's to blame for everything. Its awful but its also totally nonsensical because we've literally been seeing him be a horrible human being for the whole book. There's nothing to misjudge or misinterpret!

The mystery itself is kind of eh. Its not necessarily bad its just kind of all out of left field and one of those stories where the reader has no way to make any connections and the solution or reason isn't really arrived at, it just kind of happens.

So a pretty solid premise and setting ends up getting squashed under the weight of awful characters and a pretty hapless detective. Bummer.

A police detective goes to meet her estranged brother and his fiancee at a Swiss ski resort to celebrate their engagement. But, when one coverts an old abandoned sanatorium into a place of leisure, one shouldn't be surprised when the sins of yesterday refuse to stay buried. Especially when new bodies begin to appear that will also require burying....if there's anyone left alive to do the burying, that is.

I have to say, this book really surprised me. It wasn't what I thought it was going to be when I picked it up to begin with. There's an old rule in murder-mystery stories, whoever is the least suspected suspect is the murderer. I am happy to say that the author subverted that rule here. Through clever writing, good plot, and organically-flowing character and story development; I was kept entertained and constantly guessing wrongly all the way to the big reveal.

That being said, I must say that the best part of this story for me was the setting. Staging a locked-room mystery across the campus of an entire mountain resort was absolutely spectacular. The posh cushy aspect of the resort mixing with the old arcane barbaric elements left over from the sanatorium all set against the cold inhospitable barren wastes of the surrounding snow-filled mountainside.


Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of this title from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

ps. But seriously, that damn epilogue though. I was shook. Absolutely fantastic.

Thank you NetGalley for my copy of The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearce.
The disturbing sequence of events that took place in this turn of the century sanatorium come into focus in present times when it is remodeled into a 5 star hotel. The author takes you on a dark thrilling ride through the alluring snow capped Alps and contrasts the beauty with blood stained scenes. Obviously someone is angered by the guests’ presence and goes on a killing spree. The first chapter explodes with a murder scene with more to come leaving you intrigued to help Elin, a former detective, who uses her prior experience to help uncover the deaths of 2 employees. She is dealing with a haunting past of her own that flicks back and forth.
It is captivating the way the scenes are played out with intricate details unfolding and the ever presence of the horrifying past in this building. Don’t read it at night because it is sure to haunt you.

I read a lot of horror and thrillers and I liked this book. The only thing for me was that I felt I have read this story line before, so unfortunately it wasn't anything special for me. I think a first time reader for something sanatorium or asylum based would really enjoy this. It definitely had it's creepy moments.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher/author for allowing me to read the ARC of this.

I'm very ambivalent about this book. On the one hand, the setting, pacing, and underlying concepts are tremendous, creating the strong level of tension required for a good thriller. I loved the creepiness of the ultra-modern hotel in an old sanatorium on an isolated mountain. Sadly, the book is marred by a protagonist who, despite being a trained police detective, is continually taking actions that make little sense and would instantly disqualify her from any police force on the planet. Add a few glaring continuity problems (how is she calling on a phone she destroyed in the last scene?) and a somewhat obvious ending, and the overall effect is a bit disappointing. Read it for the atmosphere, not the plot.

A hotel built on the grounds of an old TB Sanatorium. What could go wrong? In this book, a lot of unsolved murders and a traumatized police woman. Isolated by an avalanche, she is the only person able to solve these murders. But wait ,the book has an unsettling ending which makes one wonder if there is a sequel planned?

The setting of this mystery/suspense is like no other. Set in a historic sanatorium converted into a luxury hotel high in the Swiss Alps during an epic blizzard, it’s a stark and atmospheric novel that conveys the classic Gothic feeling of claustrophobia and fear perfectly. However, the ending was very predictable and the unveiling of the villain was the opposite of suspenseful. A fun read, but easy to predict.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Viking for the eARC.
I'm in two minds about this book; on the one hand I enjoyed it, on the other I found the protagonist, Elin Warner, quite irritating. Her brother Isaac has invited her and her partner to spend a week in a newly renovated hotel in the Swiss Alps, to celebrate his engagement to his partner Laure. Laura and Elin used to be good friends as little girls.
As soon as they arrive in a heavy snowstorm, Elin gets panicky with a strong sense of foreboding. As the storm worsens, the body of one of the chambermaids is found, masked and mutilated. the Then Laure disappears...
It's a well written book, suspenseful and claustrophobic, but I found parts of it unbelievable, especially when it described Elin's constant state of mind and the actions she took despite her fearfulness. She was quite selfish, in my opinion.
But still, it's a good mystery who h I think most people will really enjoy.

This book is so unbelievably good. What does a missing person in the present have to do with a missing person in the task and an old sanitorium? Add in a snowstorm and get prepared to solve a mystery. I highly recommend this book it’s probably the best book I’ve read this year.