Book Bites: 3 Sentence Intro About What This Story Is

Detective Elin Warner and her boyfriend, Will, get invited to an engagement party for Elin’s estranged brother, Isaac and his fiancée, Laure, at the newly reformed sanatorium to luxury hotel, Le Sommet. When Laure goes missing and the hotel goes on lock down due to an unexpected avalanche, Elin must use her detective skills to try to solve the mystery before another person goes missing. But the situation proves more difficult than Elin originally believed, as Elin must face the resurfacing trauma and unpleasant feelings she’d been reluctant to deal with in order to solve the case.

*Content includes some graphic/gory scenes

*As usual, to see the official book teaser/summary of this, go to anywhere books are found and read up more about what this book is about.

This concludes this year’s spooky stories! I mean I’m still going to be reading thrillers and paranormal books throughout the year anyway. So keep tuning in for future book reviews and other great content!

2021’s Supernatural Spectacular Celebration Continues with The Sanatorium: A Novel

This concludes this year’s spooky stories! I mean I’m still going to be reading thrillers and paranormal books throughout the year anyway. So keep tuning in for future book reviews and other great content!

Check out 2021’s Supernatural Spectacular Celebration book selections to cozy up to under the full moon!

1. Son of Beauty, God of Death by Sera Trevor
2. Time of the Hunter’s Moon by Victoria Holt
3. Malorie: A Bird Box Novel by Josh Malerman
4. The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

Now on to My Commentary (**May Contain Spoilers: Read at Your Own Risk)

The debut novel by Sarah Pearse is a solid, vacation thriller set against the gorgeous, towering Swiss mountains!

Elin Warner has faced some serious traumas in her lifetime which ultimately resulted in her leave of absence from work and the strain in her relationships with friends and family. When her estranged brother unexpectedly invites her to an engagement party at the controversial new luxury hotel, constructed on the grounds of an old abandoned sanatorium, amidst the scenic snowy Swiss mountains, the whole event feels off to Elin from the start. Then people start going missing. And people start turning up dead. Oh yeah and they’re stuck inside because of the bad weather in the area. And the police can’t really send someone to help them because of dangerous weather conditions. What a wonderful engagement party, right?

First of all, Elin’s poor brother, Isaac and his fiancée, Laure’s, disastrous engagement party! Probably just thinking about having some champagne and nice reunions at this fancy hotel. Wow, how shitty everything became so fast. I felt really bad for them. But silver lining, it makes for an interesting start to the story.

In my mind, The Sanatorium: A Novel is the love child of Stephen King’s The Shining with Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, incorporating the setting of the colossal minimalist mountaintop hotel with the “lock-room” or “impossible crime” mystery that has you continuously wondering who the murderer is among the guests. Or have the ghosts of the sanatorium come out to play, upset that the grounds have been disturbed? I would categorize this as a gothic thriller. So if you’re a fan of either or both of these novels or gothic thrillers in general (which you know I’m a sucker for), you’ll like what Sarah Pearse has crafted in The Sanatorium.

My favorite part was the central theme of reconstruction that was weaved throughout the book. Not only did Pearse physically highlight the literal reconstruction of the old sanatorium into the modernized luxury hotel, each character, especially Elin, had to reconstruct themselves and their lives. They had to tear down old beliefs, habits, traumas, and inner demons to rebuild and elevate their lives. I loved how Pearse illustrated this theme, paralleling aspects of the character with the architectural elements of the building. Mesh of the old, traditional with the new, modern. Serving as a reminder that we don’t necessarily need to erase the old parts of us. We can honor the memory of the past but also find a way to harmonious blend the new around these old parts. To be inspired by the past but have a refreshed view, style, structure, and personality.

One of the defining traits of this book you’ll read (which you will because I know you’ll go out and read this book right after you read this review, right?!), is the eloquent prose that brings Le Sommet Hotel to life – both its stunning elegant design with the disconcerting history and the chilly sanatorium artifacts that were displayed around the hotel – enriches the atmosphere of this mysterious hotel and the Swiss background. Ooooo I wanted to vacation here! And I’m a sucker for a winter atmosphere. The chilliness is perfect to get you in the mood for a good murder mystery story.

I also loved how short each chapter was! I can have a bit of an attention problem if chapters in books get too lengthy so I do appreciate a quick chapter. It adds to the suspense when I’m speeding through the chapters and hungry for more. Because in the background, you know I’m here playing amateur sleuth and trying to solve the mystery too. Great thriller novel! Plenty of clues to get your mind contemplating who the real killer might be.

I will say this though – and I’m not sure if this is a critique necessarily as the plot was written well. It kept me on the edge of my seat and eager to know who’s behind the disappearances and murders. All the suspects and possible motives were well-constructed. However, there were too many moments where I was duped into thinking the real killer has finally been revealed! One moment, I was like “Oh! It’s this person!” but then later was explained, “Well, it wasn’t exactly them”. Then it’s this person! But not exactly. After the first few suspects seemingly being confirmed to be the real criminal mastermind (but not being the real criminal mastermind), the twists became kind of predictable. And I was sitting there reading, waiting because it seemed to drag before the real killer was revealed.

Again, it doesn’t detract from the story. She made all the tangled-ropes-going-in-every-which-way work and gave a clear explanation of how each crime ultimately tied together to the main motive and antagonist. I guess I would have preferred less suspects “revealed” because it felt like, “Yes! All clues add up to them! OMG I didn’t think it was them!” then “Psych! Not exactly this person.”

Overall, I loved this book! Great debut novel, Sarah Pearse! I’d like to check out her future works.

Final Thoughts

Thinking about vacationing to the Swiss Alps? Think again. You might be stuck in a huge mountaintop hotel…with a killer inside. Just kidding! Visit Switzerland. I want to! That is, no killers on the vacation itinerary please – don’t include that bonus package for me.

Check out this book if it piques your interest. Hope you enjoy it as your next read or a re-read!

And remember, “Every story is worth the read. Someone (some poor, overworked, ink-stains-on-the-clothes lovely soul) took the time to write it.”