The Sanatorium

Reese's Book Club (A Novel)

By: Sarah Pearse

Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden

Reese's Book Club Pick | A New York Times best seller!

“An eerie, atmospheric novel that had me completely on the edge of my seat.” (Reese Witherspoon)

“This spine-tingling, atmospheric thriller has it all…and twists you’ll never see coming.” (Richard Osman, New York Times bestselling author of The Thursday Murder Club)

Sarah Pearse's next book, The Retreat, is forthcoming.

You won't want to leave...until you can't.

Half-hidden by forest and overshadowed by threatening peaks, Le Sommet has always been a sinister place. Long plagued by troubling rumors, the former abandoned sanatorium has since been renovated into a five-star minimalist hotel.

An imposing, isolated getaway spot high up in the Swiss Alps is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But Elin's taken time off from her job as a detective, so when her estranged brother, Isaac, and his fiancée, Laure, invite her to celebrate their engagement at the hotel, Elin really has no reason not to accept.

Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge - there's something about the hotel that makes her nervous. And when they wake the following morning to discover Laure is missing, Elin must trust her instincts if they hope to find her. With the storm closing off all access to the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.

Elin is under pressure to find Laure, 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 are all in....

©2021 Sarah Pearse (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“CHILLING! The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse is an eerie, atmospheric novel that had me completely on the edge of my seat. Let’s set the mood.... You’re in a remote location - at a hotel - and there’s a snowstorm. The winds are howling, the snow is pelting in every direction, there’s a missing person, and a dead body shows up!” (Reese Witherspoon)

“When guests at a five-star resort in the Alps disappear mid-blizzard, vacation’s over for detective Elin Warner. It’s The Shining but with a full house.” (People)

“Creepy, deeply claustrophobic, mind-numbing, teasing, twists and turns galore, this book is a towering example of a masterful hand at work. If only Hitchcock were still around to film it.” (David Baldacci)

A little long

It's a good story, but takes a while to really get going. It just seems a bit long.

Slow start

This one started slow for me, but once the pieces of the story began to weave together I was hooked!

Keeps you on your toes!

This book will keep you guessing until the end and give you chills! Such a great story and performance!

I can’t

Man . I’ve tried this hook FOUR TIMES . And every time I’m just over it by chapter seven . The flow of the book is awful . Like whose this? Whose that? Wait who did that? Maybe it’s me . But judging by the other reviews it’s not .

Great Thriller

I had a hard time at the beginning following along, then it pucked up and was a great read. Great twist in the plot, enjoyed reading it.

Fabulous!!!!! Twists and Turns

Okay, so this book was fantastic!!!! Sucks you in from the beginning and then keeps you guessing all the way up until the very end. There are so many great twists and turns throughout the book. Really great writing and wonderful performance. Would highly recommended to anyone who enjoys thriller/murder mystery books. Loved!!!!

Gripping!

Terrific narration truly brought this story to life! I finished this in two days, which is an absolute record for me, and I wish it would have been hours longer.

Alright

The story was decently good however there was a few things I had some issues with.

1. The extreme obsession and mentioning of Sam and his death . Every 5 minutes Sam would come up. While I wasn’t bothered by it at first after 2 hours into the book it got extremely tiresome.

2. Overly used phrases. I can’t even begin to count the many times “and then she sees it” was used.

3. The story is about a detective and obviously detectives tend to see and figure out things some of us can’t, however at times I couldn’t understand how the detective got from point A to B. Not enough clues or information was said in order for the reader to make the connection and understand how the detective figured things out.

Other than those 3 things the story was alright, full of mystery and a major plot twist. The narrator was AMAZING! She nailed every bit of the story, I’m no expert on accents but I think they were amazing as well ultimately it was the narrator that kept me hooked.

Started out intrigued, ended disappointed

The book was fine. I mostly enjoyed the story until the end. An unnecessary twist that kind of ruined the whole thing for me. Ellen seemed weak as a main character, and I would have liked to see more from her. As the story crescendos, It starts to get repetitive and clumsy.

Got off to a slow start

I promise the ending is worth the wait. Each chapter was better than the last.