Reviews

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

readeer's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

or10n's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.0

This book ended so well. The BEGINNING was a different matter. I finished the book and then reread the first couple chapters, which provided the much-needed opportunity to make more sense. In that reread context, they were thrillingly executed. In the initial context, they only served to confuse and conflate the female leads. For probably the first half of the book, I wasn't sure who the main characters were going to be. It wasn't until characters began leaving the narrative that the cast took shape in my mind. I love British women murder mystery authors, but it's not uncommon for them to introduce too many characters at once, and all with incredibly similar WASPy names. It really took off in the second half for me, and I ended up loving the story. The epilogue was cool, but I'm not sure what purpose it served for the story as a whole. 
I know I talked a lot of shit, but this is a very good book and well-deserving of 4 stars. Maybe keep a detectives notebook on hand when you read the first few chapters though. ;)

sotarian's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

klontz's review against another edition

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? Yes

2.0

The atmospheric setting made me pick up the book. The short chapters were the main reason I didn’t DNF. I lost hope for this one about a quarter of the way through due to flawed characters—not in their traits but in poor writing. For the first in a series especially, this detective is not an intelligent one in any sense of the term.

There could have been slightly more mystery involved if the author spent less time attempting to develop her main character(s) and more time on introducing a vast and varied cast of characters from the hotel guests and staff… at least it would have left more options for guessing the who of whodunnit.

I stayed to see how the sanatorium connection played out and was significantly underwhelmed at best.

The epilogue is a cash grab and cheapens what is already a huge swing and a miss.

I don’t follow Reese’s selections specifically by any means, but I’m baffled this one made the cut.

Also as a cover designer myself, I was really bummed to see quickly that the building on the cover doesn’t match the book’s description in the slightest. Not always the fault of the designer, but I should have known early on that this would be an indicator of a running theme of lack of attention to detail from the author and publishing team as a whole. 

**********************
Spoiler alert:

How does Elin have such trauma around a past experience seeing someone with a deep head wound that the entire book focuses on it, and yet when she sees one of the characters at the hotel with a similar wound she’s entirely

unaffected?!

bethanylouise17's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

gamergirlangie's review against another edition

3.0

I enjoyed the setting of the book. The sanatorium turned into a luxury resort was very "Nancy Drew: Treasure in the Royal Tower" so that was nostalgic for me. The imagery however was very depressing. And not in a literary, artful way. I found myself very frustrated with the book and how depressing and frankly annoying the main character was. I have read books where the main character is struggling but this one didn't seem to fit into the narrative well. It was almost like the author was trying too hard to make her have issues and not actually develop those issues into the story. The mystery intrigued me and I wanted to know who the killer was, but the main character distracted me far too much from that. All and all, it was an okay book but more annoying than enjoyable.

npacitto's review against another edition

5.0

Could not put it down!

Really liked this one. Lots of twists and turns and the ending was not obvious to me. I liked the imperfect nature of Elin. She’s not a super-sleuth like many detectives.

sydinreallife's review against another edition

5.0

I really enjoyed this book! The open-ended epilogue was also much appreciated as there is room for a sequel. :D

dee1808's review against another edition

I could not connect with the main character at all I get that she has

a traumatic past

but I felt like the first part of the book focused on it so much I couldn’t push through it to even get to the mystery 

catalinda04's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0