I read this book quickly and I enjoyed seeing the crime be reinvestigated and interviewed, good build up of pace and tension too.

A good mystery told from the perspective of criminology student Helgi with flashbacks from characters who were present in the sanatorium at the time of two suspicious deaths.
I enjoyed the multiple aspects of storytelling but the story overall didn’t blow me away. I didn’t like the very ending of the book. Whilst I guess the narrative of Helgi’s relationship was peppered throughout the book, the last page, for me, was a bit random and frustrating.

A fairly quick read but a tense and atmospheric thriller with unsolved murder cases at a sanatorium being revisited 25 years later by a criminologist with his own issues.

All the witnesses are reinterviewed and have their own reasons to be reticent.

The excitement and tension builds and I greatly enjoyed the ride.

Only six employees were occupying one wing in what was once a tuberculosis hospital. But the population of the Akureyri Sanatorium unexpectedly reduced even further.

When a nurse, Yrsa was found brutally murdered it would seem that with a handful of suspects, the murderer would easily be rooted out. But despite a few false starts (with the initial arrest of the caretaker) and the apparent suicide of one of the doctors, the trail goes cold.

So it is only 2 decades later, when a young criminologist with an interest in murder mysteries decides to investigate after joining the police force - from which the earlier detective on the case is about to retire - that the case is revisited. But even if the mystery does get solved, what other old tensions and long-held secrets will get stirred up in the process...?

This is a interesting piece of storytelling and the atmospheric description of events around the old sanatorium brings it alive in the reader's imagination.

The cover and marketing for this book suggest that it will lean more towards cosy crime - perhaps with a historic bent - than the dark Scandi-style police procedurals than Jonasson is known for. This is misleading, as Death at the Sanatorium hews closely to the style and plotting of his previous books.

Overall it moves at pace, but I found the decision to leave the reader guessing whether main character Helgi was a domestic abuser an exceedingly odd one, to say the least. Despite guessing what the twist would be, it left me unable to sympathise or even like him which spoiled my enjoyment of the book.

I enjoyed this but wasn’t the best of his books. Quite simple and I felt like there could have been a bit more set back in time in the sanatorium to give you a better understanding. I do get why there isn’t though as it’s the way the story is told. Apart from that, it was a fast read and it does keep you engaged. I will always read anything he writes.