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birtch's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Rape
jesscalea's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Gripping, short chapters to spur you on, unexpected ending
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Child death, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Medical trauma
Minor: Physical abuse, Rape, and Emotional abuse
blackbeeomalley's review
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Medical trauma, and Murder
Minor: Rape
maddysbooks_'s review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
this book was so slow moving for me and took me forever to finish. i was very close to dnfing it multiple times, but pushed through and was not very happy with the way everything turned out.
there were multiple storylines that came together in the end in a very haphazard way and were only very loosely connected.
i thought the big reveal at the end did not make much sense and it seemed like there wasn’t much thought put into the killers motives for doing what they did.
i also hated almost every single one of the characters. the main character herself was unlikable and i found her to be extremely dramatic. and all the rest of the characters around her were just as unlikable, especially her brother and her boyfriend.
i had really high hopes for this book, especially cause it had the reese witherspoon stamp of approval, but i was really disappointed.
there were multiple storylines that came together in the end in a very haphazard way and were only very loosely connected.
i thought the big reveal at the end did not make much sense and it seemed like there wasn’t much thought put into the killers motives for doing what they did.
i also hated almost every single one of the characters. the main character herself was unlikable and i found her to be extremely dramatic. and all the rest of the characters around her were just as unlikable, especially her brother and her boyfriend.
i had really high hopes for this book, especially cause it had the reese witherspoon stamp of approval, but i was really disappointed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma and Murder
Moderate: Rape and Child death
venusect's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
' So I liked this book at first, but after some thought into what just happened I realized it's a mess! There are a bunch lose ends and the motivation didn't really connect to the history of the hotel much. All of the characters were just poorly written and I feel like many details were just added in for the hell of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Medical trauma, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Rape and Violence
paronomaniac's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Holy moly, this book was a lunchbox letdown.
To start, it was unnecessarily long. A good edit could have cut 15-20% of the text and still maintained the story. The entire chapter on the protagonist using the Find My Phone app could have been two paragraphs, tops.
The story was also convoluted, and there were too many sub-plots. And the red herrings weren’t so much red herrings as the protagonist jumping to wrong conclusions, over and over again.
Worst of all, the villain’s motives were clichéd and out-of-the-blue.
The themes of trauma, guilt and complicated family were good and added depth to the characters. And there were other good themes and ideas in the book, but overall they were too disparate to come together into a cohesive story.
To start, it was unnecessarily long. A good edit could have cut 15-20% of the text and still maintained the story. The entire chapter on the protagonist using the Find My Phone app could have been two paragraphs, tops.
The story was also convoluted, and there were too many sub-plots. And the red herrings weren’t so much red herrings as the protagonist jumping to wrong conclusions, over and over again.
Worst of all, the villain’s motives were clichéd and out-of-the-blue.
The themes of trauma, guilt and complicated family were good and added depth to the characters. And there were other good themes and ideas in the book, but overall they were too disparate to come together into a cohesive story.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Minor: Rape, Blood, and Abortion
starrysteph's review
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This was a huge miss - especially considering the concept. I was prepared for atmospheric horror in isolation, and I got a boring, lengthy read.
The setting is a Sanatorium with a dark history (now converted into a modern hotel), hidden deep in the snowy mountains with shoddy cell service and avalanches barring escape. Sounds terrifying, right? Not here.
The pacing was maddeningly slow, the character development was nonexistent, and the men were walking red flags. The reason this is two stars instead of one is because I did appreciate some of the descriptive writing & as mentioned above, thought the concept was excellent.
Our main character, a detective dealing with lifelong panic attacks (starting with the death of her little brother as a child and amplified after a botched case), is shockingly inept. She does ... well .. just about everything wrong during her "investigation". And she is on the verge of tears throughout most of it, doubting herself and whining about her situation. I did not believe Elin was ever a detective (more like a casual true crime podcast listener).
Onto the mystery itself, which was painfully drawn out and filled with common tropes.
No spoilers, but the killer reveal and motivation was baffling. Totally far fetched - and the "clues" were ridiculous. Then, there's a tacked-on epilogue with a cliffhanger clearly intended to leave readers craving more Elin (it didn't work).
This should have been a super high stakes read, and the setting should have been actually utilized (why wasn't the Sanatorium given any characterization?). It's too bad.
CW: murder, death, medical trauma, child death, rape, panic attacks, abortion, kidnapping, confinement, force institutionalization, psychosis, mental illness, torture
The setting is a Sanatorium with a dark history (now converted into a modern hotel), hidden deep in the snowy mountains with shoddy cell service and avalanches barring escape. Sounds terrifying, right? Not here.
The pacing was maddeningly slow, the character development was nonexistent, and the men were walking red flags. The reason this is two stars instead of one is because I did appreciate some of the descriptive writing & as mentioned above, thought the concept was excellent.
Our main character, a detective dealing with lifelong panic attacks (starting with the death of her little brother as a child and amplified after a botched case), is shockingly inept. She does ... well .. just about everything wrong during her "investigation". And she is on the verge of tears throughout most of it, doubting herself and whining about her situation. I did not believe Elin was ever a detective (more like a casual true crime podcast listener).
Onto the mystery itself, which was painfully drawn out and filled with common tropes.
No spoilers, but the killer reveal and motivation was baffling. Totally far fetched - and the "clues" were ridiculous. Then, there's a tacked-on epilogue with a cliffhanger clearly intended to leave readers craving more Elin (it didn't work).
This should have been a super high stakes read, and the setting should have been actually utilized (why wasn't the Sanatorium given any characterization?). It's too bad.
CW: murder, death, medical trauma, child death, rape, panic attacks, abortion, kidnapping, confinement, force institutionalization, psychosis, mental illness, torture
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Torture, Violence, Blood, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Minor: Car accident
selenatothemax's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Murder, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Blood, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis
pinkelfish's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
i was really, really hoping i would like this. however, it felt like the whole thing just dragged on.
the characters weren’t likable or even really fleshed out. i didn’t feel like i had any reason to connect to them. elin has this trauma from a case that is barely discussed (she almost drowned i think? like the killer in that case tried to drown her or something when she went after them alone). not to mention everything with her brother sam. nothing felt fleshed out, it all seemed to be surface level.
spoilers ahead!!!
the ending was shocking, to say the least, but in a terrible way. i had a suspicion that it was cecile but her motive…it just didn’t feel right. like it made me truly feel very uncomfortable because her motive just felt like it came out of nowhere? it just left a terrible taste in my mouth and i almost didn’t even care to finish the book, even though i only had 20 pages left.
and the epilogue? you give the most clichéd reason for sam’s death, and what actually happened, just to have the brother be weird and freaky? and somehow he pushed her into the pool, even though the video footage showed it was his fiancee? lol, okay.
i don’t think i’d recommend this to anybody. when the sequel comes out i’ll probably just read a plot summary because i don’t care to waste my time.
the characters weren’t likable or even really fleshed out. i didn’t feel like i had any reason to connect to them. elin has this trauma from a case that is barely discussed (she almost drowned i think? like the killer in that case tried to drown her or something when she went after them alone). not to mention everything with her brother sam. nothing felt fleshed out, it all seemed to be surface level.
spoilers ahead!!!
the ending was shocking, to say the least, but in a terrible way. i had a suspicion that it was cecile but her motive…it just didn’t feel right. like it made me truly feel very uncomfortable because her motive just felt like it came out of nowhere? it just left a terrible taste in my mouth and i almost didn’t even care to finish the book, even though i only had 20 pages left.
and the epilogue? you give the most clichéd reason for sam’s death, and what actually happened, just to have the brother be weird and freaky? and somehow he pushed her into the pool, even though the video footage showed it was his fiancee? lol, okay.
i don’t think i’d recommend this to anybody. when the sequel comes out i’ll probably just read a plot summary because i don’t care to waste my time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Medical trauma, Murder, and Gore
panthalassa's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Child death, Death, Medical trauma, Grief, and Gore
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Abortion and Infertility