Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - The Sanatorium

' 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

starrysteph's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

erleabee's review against another edition

Go to review page

Very good book. Thrillers are not great for my anxiety or mental health at this time. I did read up on the summary of what happened and who did it to ease things.

Content Warnings

widgetknits's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

2.25

Content Warnings

bandysbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

This was a good thriller/who dunnit? that kept things interesting the whole way through. I did find some of the characters kind of annoying, but I don’t have the impression that they’re supposed to be particularly likeable.

Content Warnings

More...