I enjoy crime and ‘The Sanatorium’ was an interesting breathe of fresh air with its premise and setting. Murder and intrigue in Switzerland, the setup is great - what’s lacking for me though are the characters. The main protagonist is a police woman with PTSD and her actions/internal monologue don’t really match with this for me. Further, I didn’t find myself rooting for any other character, an issue when it comes to wanting them to survive this ordeal! For me, it’s a so-so crime novel - go for it if you’re in the mood for something in a different setting but don’t expect to be blown away.

There were lots of interesting aspects of this book and it starts with an intriguing premise.

Set in the mountains in Switzerland there are lots of atmospheric storms, avalanches and wintry weather to help set the scene - and to create a group of people cut off from the rest of the world.

The book tells the story of a new hotel built on the site of an old sanatorium. But there are clearly horrors from the past that haven't yet left the building.

Elin, the main character, is visiting with her partner, and she has her own demons with her.

The author does a good job of creating tension and horror, and there are genuine twists towards the end where readers will likely be in the dark as to what's actually going on. I thought the very end, when Elin is apparently carefree and relaxed after escaping the horrors of the hotel, was very good.

But I did think that at times there is too much description and parts of the plot could be told in fewer words. I also felt that it sometimes felt predictable - once you know the building was an old sanatorium it's kind of obvious that bad things will have happened that are going to return to haunt the present.

But I would recommend the book as it's generally well-written and interesting.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book and did feel on a bit of a cliff hanger as to who was the murderer. Just about guessed everyone and was still pleasantly surprised at the reveal!

I can't lie, at first I was a bit apprehensive as to whether I would like this book but it didn't take long for me to get hooked. There were twists and turns at every corner which left me on the edge of my seat. Literally!
Whilst I was at work I couldn't stop thinking about the mystery that presented itself. Even whilst not reading the book I was still trying to solve the mystery!
Some of the characters were a bit frustrating but that helped them play their part. Well written and full of suspense. I would recommend this to anyone who isn't spooked to easily.

Not an easy book for me to review as, although well-written and containing many of the ingredients necessary for an excellent read, if I’m honest I didn’t really engage with it that much. The beautiful and atmospheric setting of a clifftop hotel in the Swiss Alps is well conveyed, it is well-researched and some of the descriptions are on point, rendering detail such as nuanced facial expressions and the clinical architecture of the hotel. However, I didn’t find it at all immersive and could not identify with any of the characters who, for me, were barely brought to life by the single-tone third person narration. The plot was nonetheless interesting and there were plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing all the way to the end.

This was a creepy story set in the mountains and a hotel where there used to be an old sanitarium.
After travelling to the hotel for am engagement party, things start to go wrong and a body is found, when much of the hotel has been evacuated due to an avalanche.
I enjoyed this book and the writing style. It was certainly quite spooky in parts and gripping.
There were a few questions raised when thinking back on the story, but it was a good read.

Beware of The Sanatorium! It's creepy, macabre and disturbing. I've never booked a hotel because of its architecture but it seems some people do. The minimalistic lines of a completely modernised and refurbished former sanatorium set in the Swiss Alps seems to attract that sort of punter. Certainly it's not the food but definitely the remoteness might have its attractions. With a building snow storm and steamy outdoor pools, seeing the wood for the trees becomes increasingly difficult. It isn't long before mutilated bodies are found and Elin, the detective on R and R, is the only one qualified to handle the crime scene. She has to do it alone as the hotel becomes totally cut off because of an avalanche.
The book certainly grips and horrifies, maybe more so because of who the perpetrators are although we only find this out towards the end. I still cannot quite link the way the victims died with the rationale of the murderer.

An atmospheric eerie thriller, set in a remote hotel high in the mountains. The mountain is cut off by an avalanche, a hotel guest goes missing, and the search is afoot! This book has had lots of praise on Twitter and social media generally and I can see why, a nailbiting, page-turning, keep you up all night mystery!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read it, hope I can sleep after finishing it

A Sanatorium with a sinister past has recently been converted into an hotel.. Elin Warner is on a break from her job as a detective sergeant and reluctantly travels to this isolated hotel, high up in the Swiss Alps, to celebrate her estranged brother's engagement, During her stay, an avalanche cuts off access, her brother’s fiancée disappears and a woman is murdered, which Elin puts all her efforts into solving.
The Sanatorium is an enjoyable thriller, very eerie and atmospheric. Good descriptions of the hotel and it’s very remote setting with good characterisation.

Really enjoyed this book.

This is my first book by this author and will not be my last, This book grabbed me from the start.
I enjoyed the writing of the story it was like you where living through the words in this book like you was there, A Chilling thriller that will keep you turning the pages.
Elin and her hubby head to a remote hotel in the alps to meet her brother to celebrate her brothers engagement it is the last place she wants to be. But this hotel holds secrets and as the story goes alone they are revealed.


Thank you to Net Galley for an advance copy of this book.

Reading The Sanitorium was a disappointing experience. From the prologue onwards it was difficult to imagine an assailant approaching, wearing an old-fashioned gas mask contraption.
The concept of turning a derelict sanitorium into an exclusive hotel was interesting enough, but the descriptions of the interiors seemed as unlikely to appeal to anyone in the same way they didn’t to Elin, the central character. Elin’s journey from damaged detective unable to return to work after a traumatic case to successfully solved the murders in the hotel – on her own and as ineptly and rashly as her methods were, was too incredible to buy into.
This is a well written debut, but the plot was unlikely and thin in places. I’m sorry to say I did not enjoy it.
With thanks to Random House UK and Netgalley

This story had all the elements that I need in a great story.

Perfect location: An old sanatorium which has now been turned into a luxury spa. There was opposition from a lot of people about reinventing the place. It's located high in the Swiss mountains, which lends to the fact that it can get very isolated in bad weather.

Mystery: from the start we get the strange person in the gas mask, this is creepy and I really loved this element. It made me question is it real or not? Then we have the dead bodies popping up and people disappearing, great suspense as we don't know who or what is behind this.

Characters: Elin is a flawed character, she obviously has a backstory that has led to where she is now. The same goes for her brother. We learn throughout that things aren't all sibling love between these two. But why?

With all this said, I just felt that I couldn't connect with the story enough to take full enjoyment from it. To me there was a bit too much going on. I did feel that I'd missed a book somewhere, even though this is a debut, as it kept on going on about Elin's previous case. I do understand this is to build her character up and to get a background into her and Isacc's relationship, but it took away then from what was happening in the Sanatorium, which I wanted to be the main purpose.

I'm still giving this a 3.5 rating because I did enjoy all the aspects. Just maybe could have concentrated on one storyline.

Plus, the epilogue!?! Is there a sequel?


Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an early digital copy.

Elin is a police detective on extended leave after a gruelling case when she and boyfriend Will go to visit the Sanatorium, a beautifully designed building that has been changed into an up market hotel in the Alps. Elin is here to celebrate her brother’s engagement party. All the staff there become very afraid as the weather traps everyone in the sanatorium and a serial killer is on the loose.
Elin has to solve the case as there is no one who can get there to help so only the phone and internet can help her along with the long suffering Will. The past use of the building as a sanatorium is the key to the mystery.
The situation Sarah Pearse describes is stifling and frightening. It is amazing that this is her first novel as it is such an assured piece of storytelling and even frightening in parts.
The atmosphere she creates is amazingly described; you can see yourself there and feeling very afraid. The plot is so clever and the motives come as a complete surprise. I can even see this being turned into a screenplay one day.
Pearse cleverly leaves a teaser for another story involving Elin in the future. I really hope that she writes it one day.

From the get-go, this book was thrilling. Set in the mountains, it’s a thriller that has you on edge until the end.

Thoroughly enjoyed this; the link between past and present was easily presented.

The star of this book, (which is not a ghost story, as I'd assumed), is definitely the titular Sanatorium. Set high on the Swiss Alps, it is indeed a former asylum, now restored as a top-class hotel, and where police officer Elin, who is currently on leave and suffering from PTSD, and her boyfriend pitch up to celebrate her estranged brother, Isaac's engagement. I couldn't help but picture the Outlook Hotel from the Shining. Things soon turn bad as a snowstorm descends, and Isaac's fiancée goes missing. When a body is discovered, Elin chooses to investigate an increasingly murky mystery. There's plenty of gruesome finds for fans of Thomas Harris or Kathy Reichs.

I am a fan of both thrillers and mysteries novels, and The Sanatorium nicely draws a picture of cold, wild places , while at the same time there's a claustrophobic feel to the place, as the story progresses. I enjoyed the overall atmosphere of the book, but did find it hard to empathise with Elin sometimes. Her past, both from childhood and more recently, play a big part of the story arc, but some elements appear, then aren't fully explored, which I found frustrating.

One particular note, I'm not a fan of books written in the present tense, which this book is. Somehow the flow doesn't work for me.

However, the ending is well done, and sets up nicely for a sequel.

Overall, as a thriller, this is a fine story, albeit slightly uneven and patchy in places. But worth your time and money.

This was an ARC, provided by NetGalley, which did include a few typos which I'm sure will be corrected before publication.

This is a brilliant psychological thriller with so many twists and turns it keeps the reader guessing to the end. Sinister and threatening, you wonder if anyone is going to survive their visit to the sanatorium.

This book started well with a very atmospheric setting. Unfortunately it didn't keep me gripped.
There was plenty going on, a little too much for the book to flow, with the storm, disappearances ,lies, and murder all intertwined with Elin's angst of which she had a lot of personal issues. Losing her mother, the death of her younger brother, the hostile feelings towards her other brother, stress from an incident at work, career decisions and her relationship with Will.
Full of self doubts, flashbacks and a lot of things she couldn't quite grasp Elin was not the most reassuring of detectives but to give her credit she kept on going. There does seem to be a tendency for authors to give their detectives a troubled personal life but poor Elin seemed to have more than her fair share which was a distraction from the investigation.

High up on the Swiss Alps, a sanatorium turned high-end hotel welcomes Elin and her boyfriend Will as they arrive to celebrate Elin's brother's engagement. But tensions between Elin and her brother Isaac heighten when a snowstorm descends, and Laure - Isaac's fiancée - goes missing. When a body is discovered, Elin's left to investigate while the pool of suspects remain trapped in the hotel together.

I love thrillers and mysteries novels that play along the trope of people trapped in a solitary place together so it has to be one of them, and The Sanatorium did this really well with the added element of the snowstorm to darken the mood, and the creepy past of the sanatorium to heighten the tension and atmosphere.

Elin as a character is one we've all seen before - there is nothing really new about her. She has a past that messed her up, and is something she can't let go of, and she has recent traumas that has increased her anxiety and overall vulnerability. She doesn't come across as a strong character, and at times appears weak and vulnerable. However, I did love seeing the change come across Elin when she switched into police officer/detective mode.

One gripe I had about this book and Elin in particular is I'm pretty sure for the majority of the book all she consumed was a tiny bit of coffee and she maybe had 3 hours sleep at most. I honestly don't know how she kept going. I needed a Gillian Anderson/The Fall detective eating a burger while going through notes moment because god if anyone needed a burger, it was Elin!

I felt gripped by this book, and the story had substance to it though the build up at the start was a bit long. It's not till 50% into the book that the first suspicious body is found, and Elin's investigation really starts.

The murders in this book were also on the gruesome side as well, and there were definitely some that made me feel a bit sick reading how the person was killed. When the masks and dismemberment were added on top of that, it added to the tension and the race against time element to the story.

The ending/reveal wasn't too much of a surprise but I wasn't a fan of the reasons why.

I think for anyone looking for an atmospheric thriller/mystery book with a unique setting, this is perfect.

Not bad at all. This is an atmospheric thriller set in an ex sanatorium which has been turned into a luxury hotel. Elin and her boyfriend Will are visiting her brother Isaac for his engagement celebrations. However when Isaac's fiancé goes missing and then a body is discovered detective Elin is forced to step in - with the local police out of reach due to an avalanche. Elin is battling her own demons - suspicion of Isaac's involvement in their younger brother's death years earlier, self doubt after a difficult case and also pressure in her relationship. Can she work out the difference between real clues and her own projected problems?

This was a creepy read with its isolated location, sanatorium setting and distinctly horror tinged murderer. Yet more could have been made of the setting, I lost all sense of how many people were actually at the hotel as all the characters named seemed to be involved. The ending does set up a potential sequel with a layer of menace

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse is a tense, taut, and twisty novel.

PUBLISHER'S BLURB: "An imposing, isolated hotel, high up in the Swiss Alps, is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But she's taken time off from her job as a detective, so when she receives an invitation out of the blue to celebrate her estranged brother’s recent engagement, she has no choice but to accept.

Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge. Though it’s beautiful, something about the hotel, recently converted from an abandoned sanatorium, makes her nervous – as does her brother, Isaac.

And when they wake the following morning to discover his fiancée Laure has vanished without a trace, Elin’s unease grows. With the storm cutting off access to and from the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.

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’re all in . . ."

As an author I am intensely jealous of Sarah Pearse's talent for describing settings! The claustrophobic nature of the snow, mountains, and the threat of an avalanche is heavy throughout. I could imagine the weather, temperature, and its beauty.

The setting of a previous sanatorium as a hotel is genius and integral to the plot. It eventually makes for disturbing revelations that must be told.

Elin Warner is a character who made me feel compromised. I wanted to like her because of how flawed she is but sometimes I felt like she needed a good shake! That's not a negative. It makes the character more real. I enjoyed how she needed answers in her personal life and what was happening in the hotel.

The Agatha Christie type mystery of having many suspects in a restricted space is elevated to a different level. Nothing about this choice of plot felt contrived or cliched.

I definitely recommend this novel if you enjoy a thriller that makes you feel like you're in the place where it's set. It's the perfect read for snuggling up by the fire while the characters endure the cold.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my early copy of this novel which is released on 18th February 2021.