Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - The Sanatorium

Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

11 reviews

leebeeloves's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Really interesting murder mystery. I didn’t know the bad guy until it was revealed and honestly hadn’t even considered the culprit for that role. I couldn’t put this one down — stayed up til the wee hours reading.

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jjames_mal's review

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This thriller follows our protagonist Elin Warner, a detective on forced leave from her job as she travels to a hotel (previous sanatorium) to meet her estranged brother and his fiancée. But then they get snowed in, and murders happen.

I just couldn’t get behind this book. Everything the main character does so is obviously a bad idea and then she is shocked when bad things happen. For how dark the motivation was, the villain’s whole way of doing things was nonsensical. Honestly I know this is the start of a detective series, but I kind of wish the aspects of police procedural were not in this book.

If you like your detective books to tackle serious issues but have cheesy detective tropes, you might like this one, but I won’t be continuing with this series.

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saraneyd's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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parkerknoll's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Incredible writing, suspense building, and pacing. Interesting mystery thriller that doesn’t use all the usual tropes

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scburhans's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Overall, a really good mystery/thriller! There was just a few things that bugged me enough to drop it from 5 stars to 4.
My biggest worry when starting this book was how Pearse was going to use the setting of the Sanatorium. Sanatoriums/Asylums are big staples in suspense and horror, so there are a lot of different ways for the setting to become tropey/unoriginal/uninteresting. I though that turning the sanatorium into a hotel added an interesting twist while adding a nice element of social horror as well - trying to (sometimes literally) whitewash the past. Similarly, I thought that most of the characters were really complex and compelling. There were a few things that confused me, but I'm assuming that's due to the cultural barrier going on here. The plot was paced well and engaging, and I think that Pearse added a lot of rich detail to her characters and world building. A also appreciated the little nods to actual sanatorium design as well as the rather colorful and often brutal histories of asylums around the world. For a debut book, I think it's really good!
I did have a few issues pertaining to the psychology of the suspects and perpetraitors. Some of their actions and ways they acted and reacted didn't make sense from a psychological perspective. They were common mistakes, but they still bugged me. Similarly, I had a few issues with details of the crime. I simply cannot find what type of respirator/mask the perpetraitor used anywhere on the internet. The closest thing I can find is a WWII era gas mask/respirator, but the tubing still connects to an outiside box, not the mask itself. I'm really curious as to if Pearse made that device up or if it's actually based on a real respirator that I can't seem to find. There were a lot of horrifying looking devices used back then that would have worked for a signature, so I find it a bit odd that she (seemlingly) chose to make something up instead. It's a small detail, but it still pulled me out of the story a bit.
Overall, a pretty good book! I'd defintely reccommend it to my friends and I'll probably read it's upcoming sequel.

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