THE SANATORIUM by Sarah Pearse
Pamela Dorman Books; 2/2/21
CBTB Rating: 4.5/5
The Verdict: a gripping locked room mystery with Gothic touches
As I write this review, I’m in a bit of a reading slump, and I blame it entirely on how much I loved Sarah Pearse’s atmospheric, sinister mystery THE SANATORIUM. This debut novel blends elements of Gothic suspense with a locked room mystery set in the Swiss Alps, and the result is an irresistible, just-one-more-page thriller perfect for your next wintry read. Selected as Reese Witherspoon’s February book club pick, Pearse’s debut novel delivers all the atmosphere, chilling intrigue, and hair-raising suspense that I hoped for and more. Following a woman who has recently taken a leave of absence from her work as a detective, THE SANATORIUM pits an unwitting group of individuals against a shadowy killer who appears to be at work in a high-end, minimalist hotel nestled in the Swiss Alps. When a snowstorm cuts off access to and from the hotel, it’s up to protagonist Elin to investigate a series of disturbing occurrences within the hotel, and get to the bottom of the case before anyone else gets hurt. What begins as a slow-burning suspense story gradually builds to a thriller that will have you up all night turning its pages. Sarah Pearse’s atmospheric, detail-oriented writing brings this sinister story to life, immersing readers in the beautiful-yet-unsettling world of sanatorium-turned-hotel Le Sommet—and all the deadly secrets hidden within its walls. Enter the world of THE SANATORIUM: you won’t want to leave, which is lucky, because you just might not be able to. THE SANATORIUM is a superb debut mystery novel, and I’m already looking forward to seeing what this author writes next.
Plot Details:
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. .
Elin Warner never expected to make the trip to Le Sommet, a high-end, minimalist hotel nestled in the Swiss Alps. But when Elin’s estranged brother Isaac invites her to the hotel to celebrate his engagement, she can hardly say no. After all, what plausible excuse could she really make to explain her absence? Currently on leave from her job as a detective after a traumatic experience with her latest case, Elin feels she has no choice but to make the trip to Switzerland with her boyfriend. But when Elin arrives at Le Sommet, things quickly go from bad to worse. Elin’s anxiety is exacerbated by the hotel’s remote location and stark, sinister architecture, and she can’t shake the feeling that someone in the hotel is watching her. The group hasn’t been at the hotel long when they get word that a dangerous winter storm is bearing down on the mountain. And when Isaac’s fiancé goes missing in the night, things get deadlier still. Elin will have to rely on her wits and expertise as an investigator to solve the mystery of Isaac’s missing fiancé—and she’ll have to do it before anyone else can get hurt. Because there’s a killer on the loose in the luxurious hotel, and they are out for blood. THE SANATORIUM is a deliciously readable, just-one-more-page mystery, and it delivers on all the hype that it has received this month. I was completely immersed in the sinister world of THE SANATORIUM, and I’m betting you will be, too.
THE SANATORIUM is a wildly engaging blend of Gothic suspense and locked room mystery. First, let’s talk about this book’s Gothic elements. Central to any good Gothic novel is a setting that is more than just the backdrop for a story—it’s a character unto itself, an integral part of the story’s development. There’s no better way to describe Le Sommet, the luxurious and seriously unsettling hotel in which this story takes place, than that. Le Sommet is a place with a long history, one shrouded in mystery and controversy. Once a sanatorium, where people suffering from tuberculosis were sent for treatment, the building was abandoned as treatments for the disease progressed. The building then sat forgotten for years, until a prestigious hotelier and his architect friend set out to renovate it and turn it into a luxurious hotel. As readers learn in THE SANATORIUM’s gripping prologue, this project was met with significant controversy, with protestors arguing against the renovation project. From the beginning, Le Sommet has been marked by tragedy and darkness. In the present day, as readers follow protagonist Elin as she settles into the hotel, Le Sommet is described as a stunning blend of modern, minimalist design that honors the building’s original architecture while also elevating it into the five-star hotel that it is today, a crowning jewel in the portfolio of the hotelier who owns it. But the past is never far away at Le Sommet. Mementos from the building’s time as a sanatorium are sprinkled throughout the hotel; it’s not every day that you stay in a hotel that includes display cases filled with medical devices as part of its décor, and Elin immediately finds these touches a little bit odd at best, and downright scary at worst. Le Sommet is more than a backdrop to this story—it is a significant character in the novel in its own right, and one of my favorite qualities of THE SANATORIUM was the author’s detailed, immersive writing about the building itself, and about the majestic landscape that surrounds it. (Think: rooms decorated in a sparse, modern style, featuring huge glass windows gazing out over stunning mountains covered in snow.) Nestled in the Swiss Alps, only accessible by a long, narrow, twisty road, the nearest village over an hour away, Le Sommet is the perfect setting for a locked room mystery. With travel impossible right now, I loved being transported to the stunning—and highly creepy—world that Sarah Pearse crafts in THE SANATORIUM.
It is within the beautiful-yet-sinister walls of Le Sommet that Sarah Pearse weaves her debut’s irresistible “locked room”-style mystery—and what a gripping mystery it is. As Elin and her boyfriend settle into Le Sommet, tensions begin to rise between Elin and her brother, Isaac, and his fiancé, Laure. Readers are drawn into the complex dynamics that exist between this group, and quickly sense that there are many secrets hidden not only in their individual pasts, but in their past relationships with one another, too. When Laure suddenly disappears one evening without warning, the group is confused. As time passes, their confusion turns to concern, and then to panic. Where could Laure have gone? Did she leave of her own free will, or has something happened to her? To make matters worse, the group gets word that a winter storm is bearing down on the hotel. Time is running out to find Laure before the hotel is buried in snow. And then another woman goes missing. With all access to the hotel cut off, and local police unable to reach the stranded group, Elin is called upon to use her expertise as a detective to lead the investigation. I absolutely love a “locked room” premise (it’s one of my favorite crime fiction tropes!), and THE SANATORIUM delivers all the shifting suspicion and red herrings that readers expect from this beloved crime fiction tradition. The increasing desperation of the group’s situation plays out in short, ever more suspenseful chapters, the main narrative punctuated by chapters following a masked killer who, wearing a gas mask from the hotel’s previous life as a sanatorium, appears to be stalking the hotel grounds. The snowstorm has made it impossible for anyone to enter or exit the hotel, and the building has been searched thoroughly… so who among them is behind the killer’s terrifying mask? Readers will be on the edge of their seats to find out.
THE SANATORIUM is an atmospheric, immersive mystery perfect for your winter to-read list. As the stakes are raised for its characters, this slow-burning suspense novel builds in intensity, ultimately delivering a truly riveting, deliciously sinister story for readers to devour. I went into THE SANATORIUM with high hopes, and my expectations were more than met. I loved this book and all its creepy, unsettling details (its killer’s penchant for wearing old-timey gas masks was a particular favorite scary element for me!), and I would highly recommend it for readers looking for a delicious blend of Gothic suspense and locked room mystery this winter.
Book Details:
Publisher : Pamela Dorman Books (February 2, 2021)
Language : English
Hardcover : 400 pages
ISBN-10 : 0593296672
ISBN-13 : 978-0593296677
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