Reviews with content warning for Torture - The Sanatorium

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

64 reviews

moeisme1972's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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thexwalrus'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? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

wow. i could not put this book down, even when i knew it would be smarter to do so. i just had to keep reading because i needed to know what was going on.

pearse is brilliant at crafting atmosphere and describing imagery in a way that makes it all feel extremely real. i could hear the wet-sounding wheezing behind the mask of the murderer each time it was mentioned and i could feel that tense energy that comes with watching a blizzard unfold outside your window. she chose an awesome location and a fantastic, thrilling plot and combined them perfectly.

the sanatorium setting was eerie in its own unique way, despite the renovations it had gone through. abandoned sanatoriums and asylums are my #1 most feared horror location, so that may be biased, but pearse did some great research into what made sanatoriums work in treating TB and used that to her advantage! it was great to see things like big windows and wide open spaces be used effectively in horror like this.

i ended up loving the main crew of characters so much more than i expected to, and the plot kept me guessing until the final reveal happened. this was such a fun winter read and i cannot wait to read pearse’s next book.

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spenny21's review against another edition

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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? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I really enjoyed this book. I did find it to be a little repetitive with how the main character interacted with other people but I didn't know anything going into it and was looking for a creepy read, it checked all the boxes.

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brennap6's review against another edition

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dark 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

2.75

I finished it, that’s all I can say.
The main character was such a bad detective it was unbearable.

She never found out a single thing. Every single thing she learned she stumbled onto. Every new piece of evidence she found, she made an immediate and wrong conclusion (and told everyone she knew). It’s shocking anyone survived the book with her being around.

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elyssajoh's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-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

1.0

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starrysteph's review against another edition

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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

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