The Sanatorium: Brilliant Premise, Poor and Underw

When I first read the summary of the Sanatorium, I was pretty intrigued. I have always been a lover of locked-in mysteries. The plot of the Sanatorium promised to one hell of a locked-in mystery.
The Sanatorium’s plot mainly revolves around Elin, a London-based police officer under severe PTSD and on leave. Her boyfriend Will and she get invited to Le Sommet, a beautiful resort hidden under the mesmerizingly beautiful Swiss Alps. Elin’s brother Isaac is the one who invites them to this resort to celebrate his engagement with his fiancé Laure.
Right after she gets to Le Sommet, she senses something about the resort is not right. From the resort’s past to the questionable behavior of its staff, Le Sommet is not the straightforward minimalist resort it pretends to be. Soon after, some mishaps occur over there that force Elin, Will, Isaac to get stuck in Le Sommet.
Now, saying anything more than the above will spoil the entire book for you. Before talking about all the things that I hated about this book, let me tell you what I liked.
• The Sanatorium has a beautiful setting. The gorgeous views of the Swiss alps, along with the minimalistic yet beautiful design of the resort, helps you picture the location quite easily.
• There are a lot of twists in the book. (Although most of them are underwhelming). For anyone who loves to read books with a large number of twists, the Sanatorium will not disappoint you.
Sadly the positive aspects of the Sanatorium for me stops at the above two points. Now, the time has come to conjure the negative points about the book. So, here it goes.
• The main character of the book, Elin, is disappointing and exhausting. Creating a detective who is absolutely inept at their job is one of the worse decisions a writer can make for their book. Sadly, Sarah Pearse did that. Elin has zero confidence in herself, constantly wrong, a complete push-over, compromises a lot. She is one of the weakest female characters that I have ever read in any crime novel.
• All the male characters in the Sanatorium are abhorrent. From Will to Elin’s brother, Isaac, they are all condescending and controlling. Other male characters apart from the said two are also quite horrible. You will come to know about them while reading the book.
• Things go downhill for the Sanatorium quite quickly. As soon as you get to chapter five or six, you realize this book will have difficulty regaining your fondness.
• The ending of the Sanatorium is underwhelming and far-fetched.
The Sanatorium could have been a much better book if it concentrated on the resort's history. Instead, it went running to dead ends that mostly had no consequence to the main story. I had a difficult time finishing this book, and that is why I would rate it 4/10.

1 person found this helpful

Exciting Read

This dark, suspenseful and chilling work is surprisingly Sarah Pearse’s debut novel. The Sanatorium is a crime mystery vividly set against the backdrop of the Swiss Alps, in a wonderfully eerie setting. Its sharp prose builds suspense through a series of twists that are crying out for a screen adaptation just for the sake of those beautiful natural wonders. Loved the beginning of the book. the way things were unfolding quickly led me to hope for a fantastic ending. However, it didn't go down as expected. Towards the end, it felt dragged and predictable. Given that it's Sarah's debut, I would definitely give her another chance with her next book. 3.5 stars from me.