Since Scandi Noir is one of my favourite genres, I tend to read a substantial amount of it. In Room 55's case this might be a disadvantage. It had all the makings of an atmospheric and chilling thriller, but instead there was little suspense and a cast of unlikable characters, particularly Lina.

My greatest gripe, however, was the writing style. I'm not sure if something might have gotten lost in translation or if this is just the writer's style. Awkward phrasing and abrupt switches from one scene or character to another made for uncomfortable reading. E.g., “Karin raised her eyebrows, chuckling a little at the noise.” “Anna made a sound of horror, which came out as a peculiar groan before she could stop herself.” There's a lot of unnecessary (and sometimes weird) description of characters' actions.

The revelation of who murdered Ronny was unconvincing and altogether not surprising. I would've liked to see the characters of Bengt and Detective Jarring better developed, as it seems they were merely standing on the sidelines instead of solving the case.The author could have done so much more with the setting, but sadly it falls flat.

I just love Nordic Noir and while Room 55 is not quite as exciting and landscape-ish as others set in Sweden, it's a nice and quick read for mystery lovers.

The chapters were short, which I enjoyed, but the various points-of-view were confusing. Sometimes the chapter title would be a character's name, but the chapter wouldn't be told from that character's viewpoint.

I felt like we didn't get enough background about her toxic family relationship and why she wanted to be a psychiatrist.

The plot fell apart at times, but I still think those who enjoy Swedish mysteries will like this one.

Thank you NetGalley and Saga Egmont for an e-copy of ROOM 55 to review.

I rate ROOM 55 three out of five stars.

The storyline jumps around so much that it feels like I’m reading incomplete chapters and uninvested in the story

I really enjoyed this story. Set in psychiatric hospital, its creepy, uncomfortable and unsettling. Great story, wpuld highly recommend xx

I received a complementary ARC of this book from NetGalley on behalf of the author and the publisher.
This book has short chapters which makes it a quick read. Each chapter is a different characters point of view or telling of the situation they are in. Anna is beyond thrilled to get her first job working at the famous Säter clinic in Sweden. She just graduated with her psychology degree and wants to hit the ground running. There are so many strange things going on at the notorious clinic that she can just turn a blind eye like she's being advised. I was expecting a more haunting thriller, parts were a little flat but all in all I enjoyed this book. I give this one a 3.5 and round it up to a 4 star.

Step cautiously into Room 55... It’s cold, it’s clinical, it’s hard to know what is real - and you’ll never quite know what’s coming next.

Helena Kubicek Boye has crafted a world where appearances are everything and truths are buried deep. Anna Varga arrives at her dream job at the remote Säter Clinic full of hope, only to discover that the walls themselves seem to whisper secrets.

Patients whisper about Room 55. Anonymous notes appear with chilling warnings. But who is behind these secret messages, and why? Every revelation is partial, every truth elusive, and the story teases you along a razor’s edge between curiosity and dread.

The author captures the psychological claustrophobia of the clinic with a deft, restrained hand, letting paranoia, obsession, and fear drip slowly into your mind, so that by the end, you’re left both thrilled and unsettled.

I look forward to more in this series. My thanks to NetGalley, SAGA Egmont and the author for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Good solid thriller set in a Swedish psychiatric facility.
A newly appointed doctor arrives and very quickly realises everything is not as it may first appear.
What secrets do the four walls keep and who is responsible. inmates or staff.
An entertaining read that I raced through.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an unbiased review.

Thank you NetGalley and Helena Boye for this ARC!

What a spooky read and kept me up at night! This is one book that if you enjoy your horror/thriller and a dark night pick this up!

Room 55 felt like reading a novelized film adaptation - flat, lifeless, and more outline than actual story. Anna Varga takes a position at Sweden's notorious Säter psychiatric clinic, where her predecessor has vanished under suspicious circumstances and she starts receiving mysterious notes and warnings about the infamous Room 55, but the execution never lives up to the premise. The ultra-short chapters (some barely a page) constantly switch between a dozen different points of view, making it impossible to build any momentum or investment, and the individuals Anna interacts with - colleagues, administrators, and patients are basically one-dimensional stock characters - no one is really fleshed out, and we know them mainly by their worst qualities. Despite all the setup about Room 55's dark secrets, the payoff feels disappointingly thin, and I was expecting something atmospheric and eerie, but this felt slapdash and oddly unengaging for a story set in a creepy psychiatric facility.

Having never read anything by this author before I was apprehensive about what to expect.

I found this to be a satisfying thriller with a tense atmosphere, created flawlessly by the multiple POVs and short sharp chapters.

The characters are adequately crafted but none of them stood out to me as extraordinary. The plot was intriguing but felt a little erratic in pacing for my preferences. There were also some storylines within the plot that felt unfinished. However, perhaps this was the author’s intention as it is advertised as book 1 in the series. Maybe there will be some follow up in book 2?

Overall this is an average read, and will probably entertain those new to the genre.

Unfortunately this book was not for me. The idea was phenomenal and I really wanted to enjoy this thriller. Psych ward thrillers are always my favorite.

I don’t think it’s the story itself- I do think it might have been a translation issue.

Young psychology graduate, Anna Varga, applies for a position at the Säter, a notorious clinic for forensic psychiatry which underwent a recent scandal. Still, it is prestigious & would be a great career step, so even when Anna arrives at the clinic to start her new post & learns that her predecessor disappeared, she carries on.

Anna is asked to work with a new patient, a man who committed a well-planned murder but claims to have no memory of doing so. Her work with him is intriguing but behind the clinic walls, something is terribly wrong. Where is the whispered about "Room 55", & who is sending Anna the anonymous notes?

Reading this book is a lot like catching sight of something out of the corner of your eye, but when you turn your head to look - nothing is there. There's the promise of a chilling thriller but it's buried under trivial detail, for example, if you removed the character of Milo from the book absolutely nothing would change in the storyline except for deleting several sex scenes. I have no problem with sex scenes if they add something to the narrative - these didn't.

TLDR: Somewhere in here is a decent thriller but it's hidden behind unimportant characters & unnecessary & out of nowhere sex scenes.

My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Saga Egmont, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Room 55 by Helena Kubicek Boye  is the first in the Säter Clinic thriller series which center around a psychiatric prison in Sweden.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Sager Egmont, and the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.




Series Information: (Contains spoilers from this book)
The Säter Institute, hidden deep in a Swedish forest, is a notorious clinic for forensic psychiatry, housing the country's most violent offenders, those who can't be housed in normal prisons.  The chief physician and head of the clinic at Säter, Sten Bjurberg, was one of Sweden’s leading psychiatrists, often called to do interviews regarding Sweden's worst criminals.




My Synopsis:    (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)
Anna Varga accepted a position at the prestigious Säter Institute, hoping for a career breakthrough, and an escape from her past in Stockholm.  Anna's old friend Lina can't say enough about Säter, and was the one who encouraged her to apply.   Anna will be the first CBT therapist at the clinic, and her supervisor will be Karin Vinterberg.

Cognitive Beahvioural Therapy deals with more of the emotions and thoughts behind the behaviour of the client.  The management of the institute are not a fan of CBT, but the facility has recently garnered a bad reputation, and they are intent on doin anything they can to improve its perception.

From the moment Anna arrives, she feels its chill, and realizes something is very wrong at this facility.  Even her friend Lina seems "off".  Anna starts getting anonymous messages warning her of strange occurrences, and missing women.  There is a rumour about Room 55, but there doesn't seem to be any such room.

A journalist contacts her, and so does retired detective Sven Järring.  But staff make sure she knows that she should just do her job and keep her head down.   Then there are references to The Others.  who are they?

When a resident dies under strange circumstances, things start to spiral.

 

My Opinions:
First, the formatting of the ebook I received was atrocious.  No chapter titles, therefore no table of contents.  Everything runs together, from one setting/character to the next, and even paragraphs are questionable.  I'm assuming this will be better when the actual book comes out, but it's frustrating.  I think part of the problem is NetGalley's use of .lcl files.  Anyway, I'll try to review the book, and not the format. Okay then, I'm done ranting.

This was an atmospheric tale, and any psychiatric facility set in a deep forest is going to be creepy.  However, it didn't come across as dark as it might.  It somehow lacked the chill factor. I was a little disappointed with this.

The characters were good though.  I loved Anna, with her determination to make things right, to go wherever the mystery took her, and not worry about her job.  I had an idea about Room 55 from the start, and was proven correct.  However, the story about Cecilia and her twin boys was a surprise.  There were also a lot of characters, and although a couple were identified near the beginning as being "bad", there were a lot of others that were questionable, so it kept me guessing.

The author is a psychologist, and it is evident throughout the story, but often her portrayal of the mystery lacked something.

Overall, the story was good, but not great.  I'll probably read the next one when it comes out though.

This was the first book I’ve read by Boye. I loved how this chilling story played with the unsettling terrain of the human mind, identity, and the blurring lines between reality and delusion. The story was very atmospheric and complex with an interesting ending, perhaps more of a mystery novel than a thriller. I love a good mental hospital setting for a story. This was right up my alley, psych wards, institutional secrets, and just enough paranoia to keep me flipping pages.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley.

Absolutely loved this book, a gripping thriller that kept me guessing until the very end. I would definitely read more books from this author

I had high hopes for this, particularly based on the setting, but it didn’t hit the mark. There were too many character points of view which made the story hard to follow. I enjoyed the use of short chapters to create suspense and there were a few twists, but the overall reveal felt obvious. The ending felt very rushed and abrupt. This was a disappointing read for me…

Thank you to NetGalley & Saga Egmont for the ARC.

I actually enjoyed this book. It took a few times to read some chapters and I had to be in the mood to read it, but when I sat down and took the time to soak it in, it was pretty okay, The characters were decent. I did find there to be a lot of characters and I admit, I really didn't get attached to the characters or feel too much for them, and I know that does matter, but at the same time, they did add to the plot of the story and drive the direction of the novel. I did like how not all of them were good. They each had a goal and a personality, whether they were a nice person, a user, flirty and dirty, or just "off".

Plot was pretty good. The book follows the main character Anna who just gotten a new job, I believe out of college as a psychologist at this psychiatric hospital, I think rural...it pays good and such, but the place is just off from the beginning, especially finding out why the person she replaced disappeared or just "left". Then there was her receiving messages about this room 55.

The ending wasn't disappointing and I am glad that I stuck with it. I'll round this up to 4 stars from a 3.5-3.75.

This book starts off slow but gradually picks up pace. Just stick with it. You will be glad you did.

This book was pretty good, I would definitely recommend

~This was given by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review………..

What an intriguing story. I love a good mental hospital setting for a story. If you like books centered around mental hospitals and a good mystery, you'll love this book!