The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse review: A chilling but sometimes predictable thriller

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse may be a novel that you keep picking up to consider reading. Here’s my honest review to see if it’s worthwhile.

Something that I will admit is that I read a lot of crime thrillers and watch a lot of crime dramas. I also love true crime. I’ve immersed myself into the crime genre that much that it’s rare for a story to be unpredictable. That could be the reason I found The Sanatorium on the predictable side when it came to who the killer was.

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse was released in February 2021. It’s the first novel in the Detective Elin Warner series, with the second novel set to be released in 2022. The second novel is called The Retreat, and I’ll certainly buy it to check out the next part of the story.

A twisty connection to the past

The story starts with Elin and her boyfriend going on a trip to a hotel that used to be a sanatorium. This is important. As you’d expect, there is a connection to the past within the story.

It’s not a supernatural story, though. This isn’t a story that brings up too much of the past or any ghosts. You won’t get a huge discussion about what the hotel used to be. However, keep it in your mind, as the reasonings behind the murders are connected to this past.

This is where the story isn’t all that predictable. If you think that it’s going to be former patient, think again. That’s what I did enjoy about the story.

No way away from the murderer

Something that I did love about the story is the way that there was no way out. The hotel is at the top of a snowy mountain, and there ends up being an avalanche. This means that the road to the hotel is blocked off, making it impossible for Elin and some of the others to getaway.

It adds that extra thrilling element. With no way of the police getting to the hotel, it adds a layer of fear.

It also gives Elin time to investigate. After all, she’s not a detective from the local town. She needs to work with the local police and get permission to do things, but with the location out of reach, it’s hard for people not to give her permission—and sometimes, it’s best to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission.

The Sanatorium is somewhat predictable

While the story isn’t linked to the past of the hotel directly, there is a connection. You’ll work that out pretty quickly. And I worked out who the killer was almost immediately. Again, though, this could be that I’ve just read so many thrillers. There have only really been The Silent Patient and Thou Shalt Not Kilt recently that I didn’t guess.

The very end of the book had me relistening to the epilogue though. Yes, I listened to this book on Audible. I’ll admit that the pronunciation of the name Margot annoys me in the book. There are a few other pronunciations that make me cringe. However, overall, it’s a good reading of the novel.

The epilogue is told from a different point of view. It’s not clear whose POV it is, and that’s what I like about it. Is it someone we’ve met within the novel already or is it someone who has always been off at the side? I think this is something to come up in The Retreat, and that’s what has me excited about the second novel.

Not many likable characters

There is something that I don’t like about the book. It’s the lack of likable characters. Elin is flawed from trauma, and I love her. I love that we have this flawed character who does second-guess herself. I just wish that she’d developed a lot more confidence by the end of the novel considering she had to work out the murder and the reasons behind it by herself.

Her brother Isaac isn’t all that likable, but that comes from trauma. We also get the character from Elin’s POV, which can certainly set the tone for some characters. She doesn’t trust Isaac and she doesn’t really like him based on things she thinks she remembers from her past. However, by the end, he’s tolerable and I would like to get to know him more.

The character I absolutely can’t stand is Will. There’s something about him that makes me cringe. It’s the way he talks to Elin and pushes off her thoughts and reaction to trauma. Elin clearly wants to be with him even at the end, but I spent the whole book screaming at her to dump the guy. The Retreat is going to need to make him redeemable if Pearse wants to keep him around and have us root for Elin and Will together.

Overall, I give the novel 3 stars out of 5.

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse is available on Amazon via Audible, Kindle, and with two-day shipping with Amazon Prime.