The Sanatorium Audiobook By Sarah Pearse cover art

The Sanatorium

Reese's Book Club (A Novel)

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The Sanatorium

By: Sarah Pearse
Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
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About this listen

Reese's Book Club Pick | A New York Times best seller!

“An eerie, atmospheric novel that had me completely on the edge of my seat.” (Reese Witherspoon)

“This spine-tingling, atmospheric thriller has it all…and twists you’ll never see coming.” (Richard Osman, New York Times bestselling author of The Thursday Murder Club)

Sarah Pearse's next book, The Retreat, is forthcoming.

You won't want to leave...until you can't.

Half-hidden by forest and overshadowed by threatening peaks, Le Sommet has always been a sinister place. Long plagued by troubling rumors, the former abandoned sanatorium has since been renovated into a five-star minimalist hotel.

An imposing, isolated getaway spot high up in the Swiss Alps is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But Elin's taken time off from her job as a detective, so when her estranged brother, Isaac, and his fiancée, Laure, invite her to celebrate their engagement at the hotel, Elin really has no reason not to accept.

Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge - there's something about the hotel that makes her nervous. And when they wake the following morning to discover Laure is missing, Elin must trust her instincts if they hope to find her. With the storm closing off all access to the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.

Elin is under pressure to find Laure, but no one has realized yet that another woman has gone missing. And she's the only one who could have warned them just how much danger they are all in....

©2021 Sarah Pearse (P)2021 Penguin Audio
Mystery Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense Women's Fiction Exciting Scary

Critic reviews

“CHILLING! The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse is an eerie, atmospheric novel that had me completely on the edge of my seat. Let’s set the mood.... You’re in a remote location - at a hotel - and there’s a snowstorm. The winds are howling, the snow is pelting in every direction, there’s a missing person, and a dead body shows up!” (Reese Witherspoon)

“When guests at a five-star resort in the Alps disappear mid-blizzard, vacation’s over for detective Elin Warner. It’s The Shining but with a full house.” (People)

“Creepy, deeply claustrophobic, mind-numbing, teasing, twists and turns galore, this book is a towering example of a masterful hand at work. If only Hitchcock were still around to film it.” (David Baldacci)

All stars
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Characters not well developed and story line is long and drawn out unnecessarily. Very unsatisfying ending.

Boring

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There were moments of intrigue and suspense…however it was also filled with repetitive statements and a lack of sound character development…

Moments of Intrigue

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very complex story. not your typical murder mystery. plenty of tension. once hooked its hard to turn away

twists, turns, bind corners, in fact and mentally

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Boring characters and predictable plotline. It had potential and some decent imagery, but was overall less than what I had hoped it would be.

Disappointing

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There was so potential in the story but somehow it dragged. I cu ufmtmmmutouldn't get very involved in the plot

missed potential

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i thoroughly enjoyed it, narration very good, lots of twists and turns. good murder mystery.

very good

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Only thing I didn’t like is there is an an unanswered question they could very well make a second book but they don’t allude to that and just feels unfinished.

Why?

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I understand wanting to write a story about a place that harbors a ghastly last, but this story did not capture any of the intrigue. The story was not at all captivating, thus making it easy for one’s mind to wander. I got lost so often keeping up with character’s I couldn’t tell you who of what it was about. I also found the writing poor. There was a lot of repetitive word use, which is annoying to listen too, I couldn’t imagine reading.

Don’t bother

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I wouldn’t say I was on the edge of my seat at any point, but it was decently entertaining.
I didn’t love it and won’t be recommending it to any of my friends who love suspense or horror.
It’s a run-of-the-mill murder mystery and adds nothing to the genre, I will likely forget it soon.

Murder mystery, that’s all

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Initially was not sure what I thought of Ellen. The chip on her shoulder and her anxiety a bit inhibitive to my connection as a reader. She was definitely getting in her own way. HOWEVER this impression was only at the beginning. It sounds a bit sick to say that once the body count started racking up, the story and the character's place within really kicks in. Atmospheric, grim, and full of enough twists that I enjoyed the guesswork of the mystery. I relished the discovery of the ins and outs of the snowbound hotel with a slasher murder problem and a horrific medical past!

Solid 4.5

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